Tanya Boteju

Daya Wijesinghe sees a bruise as a mixture of comfort and control, but joining a roller derby team push her toward big truths about love, loss, strength, and healing.

Bruised

Whip It meets We Are Okay in this vibrant coming-of-age story, about a teen girl navigates first love, identity, and grief when she immerses herself in the colorful, brutal, beautiful world of roller derby—from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens. To Daya Wijesinghe, a bruise is a mixture of comfort and control. Since her parents died in an accident she survived, bruises have become a way to keep her pain on the surface of her skin so she doesn’t need to deal with the ache deep in her heart. So when chance and circumstances bring her to a roller derby bout, Daya is hooked. Yes, the rules are confusing and the sport seems to require the kind of teamwork and human interaction Daya generally avoids. But the opportunities to bruise are countless, and Daya realizes that if she’s going to keep her emotional pain at bay, she’ll need all the opportunities she can get. The deeper Daya immerses herself into the world of roller derby, though, the more she realizes it’s not the simple physical pain-fest she was hoping for. Her rough-and-tumble teammates and their fans push her limits in ways she never imagined, bringing Daya to big truths about love, loss, strength, and healing.

Kim 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars 

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, an emotional YA contemporary novel. I thought it did a good job with handling grief, loss, and love throughout the book. 

In terms of the characters, it was nice to see the character's journey through the ups and downs, like how the readers get to see their flaws. Flawed characters that are continually working on themselves. It was interesting to read Daya's journey from grieving over her parent's death to getting to know roller derby. 

I was fascinated about roller derby and it was cool to get to know more about the sport. The book did a good job setting the scene from roller derby practice to the actual game. 

Bruised is a coming of age novel that talks about grief, loss, and love. 

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for sending me an e-arc. 

CW: grief, parental loss, death,car accident, self-harm, emotional abuse, and bullying.

Heather Harrington

*I received a copy of this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

After surviving a car accident that killed her parents, Daya has spent every moment seeking pain as a way to feel something other than emptiness. Whether it's throwing herself into skateboarding or bashing her hand into her headboard, she uses her bruises as a way to feel alive but soon she finds that's not enough. When she discovers roller derby, Daya believes she's finally found something to keep her emotional turmoil at bay. Not the most social person, Daya is at first hesitant at the thought of being on a team, but the allure of all the hard-hitting contact is too great an opportunity to pass up. The more time she spends with the rest of the girls, not to mention a budding romance with the soft-spoken shy team manager, the more Daya starts to open up to a whole new world of emotions. The road to healing will be a long one, but for the first time, it's one that Daya is looking forward to skating down. 

I didn't know much about this going into it, and while I can appreciate the topics it dealt with, this just wasn't for me. Daya was taught her whole life to be tough and that any sign of being emotional was to be taken as a weakness. This leads her to be very abrasive and hard-headed which made her came across as being very mean. I understand that she went through a lot and that she feels as if these cement walls she placed around herself are the only way to deal with her issues, but her actions made her feel unlikable. Everyone around her tries to help her and she just completely shuts them all out and instead turns to really unhealthy means of letting out her aggression. I did like watching her inevitably grow by the end, but I just wish it happened sooner. There were some bits I liked, namely all the representation throughout and the actual roller derby aspect. I don't know much about the sport besides the movie Whip It, so it was fun and exciting to learn more. Overall, this is a story about grief and healing from loss, and despite it not working for me, I still think it'd be an impactful read for someone else.

Yanin 

This story was one I could relate to. I loved how the author wrote about the characters' emotions and baggage. I found myself often saying "why is she like me?" This story discusses many everyday problems with ease. The story touches upon emotional and physical pain, trauma, and more. 

I fully recommend this book to anyone mature enough to read it. Although there is mentions of self-harm. There is also a spicy scene although it isn't too explicit. 

In conclusion, I absolutely adored this book and I am very grateful I got to read it and get attached to the characters like I did.

Bruised

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