I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

So what does one do when one can’t sleep (too much on my mind, wedding, dentists, moving)? Read some books! I decided it was the right time for this one. Sadly, I have to say I didn’t like it that much, and that was mostly to do with Sibby. Oh, and Freddie, oh and Charlie Parker Drysdale. But the biggest problem was Sibby.

Sibby who seemed like a very cool kid, I have never done skateboarding, but I do love people perform tricks, so I was excited for a girl character who could skate like no other. Or well, she is pretty good. She still has tons to learn but I feel that she may turn pro if she keeps it up.

My biggest problem with Sibby is how she acts. What she says. What she thinks.

Standing up against a bully? Yes, that seems simple, and in this book it is all made very simple, but sorry in real life that is just not always a possibility. I can tell you that if standing up against a bully, or bullies was the thing to fix it that I would have been way less damaged now. Sadly, standing up isn’t always the solution, if anything it can make things way way more worse. So I would say pick your battles wisely. Sometimes you just need to step back, or keep silent.

Borrowing means you ask someone’s permission. Stealing is when you just take things with you. I don’t give a hoot that no one is using that board. There is still an owner somewhere, and you can just do all sorts of tricks without asking around first. Now she had to do a lot of grovelling and saying sorry before things were OK again.

That she kept calling Charlie Parker Drysdale for his full name. Yay, great that he wears those clothes, still not a reason to keep on calling him that whole name. Gosh darnit. Just call him Charlie.

How rude she was to her new friends. And sure, they were pretty EH at times (will talk about that in a bit). How she kept longing for her old home and old friends instead of opening her eyes and see that in just a few shorts days she was accepted in a new group. That doesn’t always happen that easily.

Wearing no helmet/safety stuff. What the hell girl. You doing all kinds of tricks that could easily land you in the hospital even with protection and you do it without? Dumb. So so dumb. I get that she wanted to skateboard, but come on. Safety first.

How she kept saying that rules weren’t for her. And even saying that Skateparks shouldn’t have rules. So you want everyone to just skate and not give a dang about anything? Whut? Girl… Or the rule about safety? Not important? shakes her head

Taking someone’s phone, editing a video, and then sending it to that person’s best friend. No. Privacy please.

And yes, I could go on, but I feel this is enough reasons why I didn’t like Sibby.

Freddie is just your classic bully and I didn’t like him. Oh boohoohoo, does your life suck? So? Sorry, you can’t just go around bullying people. Sorry, this sounds very mean, but I am tired of having bullies in books that have excuses, like we should feel sorry for them. Bullying is bad.

Charlie. Please, boy, could you just tape your mouth? It is so very rude that you keep blabbing anything people have told you. And that he didn’t even notice until Sibby mentioned it. Wow.

Esther. I did like her, but I did get tired of her saying certain things. Like that she would buy a board, or that she would do x and y, and some stuff about parents. Thankfully, Sibby is able to tell her how she feels.

The big show down was fun though, I was rooting for Sibby (yes, even if I didn’t like her she is still better than the bully).

I also liked Jake. He was quite a nice surprise and I am happy to how his character turned out.

So yeah, skateboarding was fun. The ending was good. The showdown was exciting. Jake was a good character. But the rest just wasn’t my cup of tea.