Leave it on the Track by Margot Fisher (2025)
In Moab Utah, queer teen Morgan 'Moose' Shaker loved, more than anything, roller skating with her two dads.......(and with her shy, growing crush on a popular girl at her school coming in second.) Then an indescribable tragedy at the rink left her fathers dead and Moose with terrible severe injuries, both physical and emotional.
Now under the guardianship of her half sister Eden in Portland Oregon, Moose not only struggles with recurring PTSD from her ordeal, she's thrown into a new life, new environment and a sibling she barely had any contact with growing up, now in charge of looking after her. Eden, who skates in a local roller derby team, offers Moose a lifeline, something to engage with......by trying out for the league's junior team. Reluctantly at first, but then with full determination, Moose secures a place on the team, makes friends with some of her teammates and finds herself in an all new crush and a whole new set of challenges. (Once again, physical and emotional.)
Author Margot Fisher surely knows how to make your heart ache for Moose and cheer her on as she takes her up-'n-down journey through the literally rough and tumble sport of roller derby, her nightmarish flashbacks from her past and the rapturous, sometimes awkward moments of her first love. Some bad choices and bad behavior lead Moose into a crisis that further upends her world, but as a reader, I never lost sympathy and hope for her......and the good news for us, neither did author Fisher.
There's plenty of diversity and unforgettable characters on the roller derby team and the book doesn't flinch as it takes you on a punishing, knockabout thrill ride in its descriptions of the actual games. But there's always plenty of heart on display here, along with the multiple contusions, abrasions, and assorted sore ribs, knees and muscle aches.
You'll want to stay at Moose's side every step of the way as she navigates herself through gut wrenching tragedy, new found maturity,, romance and the chances to start the healing of her own internal hurts........and all this on roller skates, no less!
4 stars (*****) It's swell on wheels.
No comments:
Post a Comment