Book Review — Jerkbait by Mia Siegert

Jerkbait is a book that I needed a long time ago. Not only has homophobia in sports been a thing for way too long, but the assumption that men in musical theater must be LGBT is another thing that needs to be quashed ASAP. These types of stereotypes and assumptions need to be done away with, especially when you consider how some sports (ahem, women’s soccer, ahem) are handling the fact that some of the players are queer exactly the way they should — but just letting them live. LET THEM LIVE! Anyway, Jerkbait! I was hooked from the very first sentence and could hardly stand to put the book down to work, to eat, to sleep. I finished it in 3 days, and I regret nothing.

3 Things I Loved

1. Tristan’s budding relationship with Keisha. I loved this mostly because it was just so sweet. I could tell from very early in the book (basically when Keisha was introduced) that she had a crush on him, but he was too blinded by Heather to notice. So when Heather was removed from the picture, Tristan was finally able to see things in a different light, and the relationship progressed naturally. No insta-love, is what I’m saying! I’ve had enough of insta-love. And a plus — it was an interracial relationship that was acknowledged as such!

2. The coming out scene. No spoilers, but Robbie’s coming out was exactly what I hoped it would be — an olive branch, a hand reaching toward his brother so they could save each other. I just loved it.

3. The way that Tristan and Robbie grew to care for each other so fiercely. They’re twins, so it’s not like they didn’t love each other from the start. But they didn’t know each other. Sharing a room, sharing secrets — it made them closer and helped them protect each other throughout the book. I loved watching that relationship grow and progress.

Anything Problematic?

I had a very hard time reading the scenes about the bullying and hazing that went on in the hockey locker room and in school. It’s not a problem — those things really do happen in locker rooms and schools, unfortunately, but it made me ache for the people who are unable to protect themselves from the assaults.

I also really hated just about everyone outside of the main characters (and Keisha) in this book. A lot of the guys on the hockey team came around, as did the parents, but they all SUCKED throughout most of the book. The parents especially. I’m going to go back to my earlier statement — LET THEM LIVE, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

Rating

People should be reading this book. If you have any sort of affiliation with high schoolers, athletes, or both, I think this should be required reading for you. Therefore, I’m saying that Jerkbait is BLUE. It is available where books are sold.

Originally published at diverseladybookproject.tumblr.com.