Hardcore skater Grady Grennen isn’t too thrilled about what life’s been dishing out to him lately. First, his heavy metal rock star mom overdosed a year ago, leaving him high and dry with his grandma. His half-brother, Louie, while loveable, is developmentally disabled, which doesn’t exactly make him the greatest sounding board for Grady’s thoughts and feelings concerning his mom’s death. Now, he’s been sucker-punched with more bad news: his grandma wants to take off across America in a Winnebago with her octogenarian lover, so Grady has to decide if he wants to go to school abroad on his mom’s remaining fortune, or live with Louie and his rigid, religious-right stepmom (and she’s no Julia Roberts!) Plus, there’s going to be this big concert in honor of the first anniversary of his mom’s death, and the band wants Grady to say a few words. But all Grady can do is wonder what the hell he’s going to say about his absentee mom who toured constantly and died choking on her own vomit. This book is just too cool for school. I recommend reading it as soon as possible before it is watered down and made into a CW Wednesday night series.
