Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I love a book that features teens being mess and dives into the conflicts within the queer community, but I just did not think it was well written.

This book was a DELIGHT.

If you love like late 90’s, early 2000’s teen movies, you will LOVE this. I think I saw it described as a Mean Girls meets John Tucker Must Die and yes, 100%.

The characters are all amazing, the laugh out loud dialogue, the humor and also the heartbreaking emotions. Acker is so amazing at the quiet and passionate moments.

Also, the songs with each chapter were A+.
I have no notes.

I loved this book so much. James Acker is on my automatic buy/read list now, I will read whatever he writes.

Thank you @netgalley and @inkyardpress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley but all opinions expressed are my own.

Going into this book I hadn't read The Long Run so I wasn't as familiar with the characters yet. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters. I love that the chapters are song titles and that the songs chosen were ones that really encapsulate what it's like to be a junior in high school. There were flashbacks, a dual narrative, and a story that either captures the emotional rollercoaster a teen is currently going through or brings an adult back to their teen years.

I think often adults write YA off as an unimportant and not well written genre, but what I always love about YA is that no matter who you are there is always something for you to relate to. I cannot wait to order a copy of this book for work so I can recommend it to my teens. Acker's raw emotion really shines throughout the book and I love that the main characters (Phil & Jacks) are messy like most real teens rather than the seemingly "everything is fine and perfect" teens, like some other YA main characters I have encountered.

Overall I cannot recommend this book enough and absolutely loved it. I would give it 10000/10 if I could!

I'm going to be honest, I once again did not read any summaries so I had no idea what to expect going into this book. I was not ready for this brutally and unflinching raw story. But holy freaking hell it was so so good.

This book follows two teenage boys while they go through a pretty brutal year of high school. There are some flashbacks to their friendship they had when they were younger but now theyre enemies. Jackson is the school president and everyone loves him except for his ex-best friend Phil. Phil is resident bad boy is constantly getting shit from students and teachers alike. His seemingly perfect gay boyfriend Cameron outed him and everyone wishes Phil could just be a little bit more like Cameron without seeing the facade that Cameron is.

When Cameron dumps Phil but makes a vlog saying Phil dumped him, Phil, Jackson, and Cameron's ex-girlfriend Veronica, all band together to get their own revenge.

This book is freaking good. It really tackles a lot of high school clicks and what it's like to be out and the stereotypes and expectations that people in society have for queer people.

The adults in this book made me absolutely furious. The guidance counselor... oh freaking hell, she deserves to have the worst days ever for forever.

I think one of my favorite parts of this book was the tenderness towards coming out that both Phil and Jackson have. They both realize that coming out with something that people should be able to do in their own time and when they're ready and the fact that Phil had his coming out taken away from him is really horrendous. I really appreciated that Jackson is allowed to go at his own pace and just figure out for himself when he's ready. Also, Ronnie is super badass and I want to be friends with her.

TEENAGE DIRTBAGS by James Acker is the story of ex-best friends, who might also be lovers, exacting revenge on the boy who used one of them and broke his heart. The complex relationships are what really shine in this book. Every character interaction has the weight of baggage from past events, and the interiority of the two POV characters is interesting and appropriately complicated. It also has a nice dose of comedy to keep the tone fairly light. The revenge plot line is fun, and I like how it becomes complicated by the resulting chain reaction and very grounded feelings of guilt. Parts of the book suffer from slow pacing and muddy writing that occasionally obscures the action and character motivations, but it's overall an enjoyable read.

Last winter, at the Snow Globe Ball, Cameron Ellis did the bravest thing ever and came out to his school, confessing his love for his boyfriend, Phil Reyno. It was shocking, it was storybook; it went viral in minutes and Cameron Ellis is now the town’s darling gay son. His boyfriend, Phil … not so much. He’s a delinquent with a drunk for a mother, he shouts “faggot” like it’s his personal mantra, he gets bad grades in everything but detention, and he’s poor. At least people look at Phil now with some slight indulgence since Cameron sees something in him … until he doesn’t.

Cameron breaks up with Phil because his ideal junior year — where he gets the leading role in the school play and has the best year ever — doesn’t have putting up with Phil in his plans. Phil is too loud, too aggressive, too … not the right kind of gay. Phil isn’t polling well with Cameron’s fans. His audience doesn’t know why Cam is with Phil and, it seems, neither does Cameron. So Phil’s out and Cam’s looking for someone better for his image and reputation, and Phil is pissed.

A chance meeting has Phil connecting with Ronnie, Cam’s ex-girlfriend, the one he dumped for Phil. The one whose life was ruined by Cameron’s friend squad, whose reputation was run through the dirt for not knowing her boyfriend was gay. She hates Phil for his part in it, but she hates Cameron more. Enlisting the help of the smartest boy they know, class president Jackson Pasternak, Phil and Ronnie enact a plan of revenge to bring Cameron Ellis down, and his skwad of sycophants with him.

Love makes strange bedfellows, but revenge makes best friends.

This book is just plain fun. Yes, there are many predictable moments — especially if you’ve seen teen shows and movies like Mean Girls, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Carrie — but that adds to the charm. Especially since every action taken by every character, be they the villains or the heroes of the book, comes with consequences. Grand declarations and great acts of public cruelty are met with actual, realistic repercussions, and I love it.

Philip is poor. He lives with a single mother who drinks, too often and too much, and who struggles with trying to get sober and get her life in order. Phil’s older sister has moved out and now he is in the parent role, taking care of his mother, cleaning up after her, covering for her. It leaves him angry, but not ashamed. His father is an aspiring comic who left his family to take his act on the road … and who used his family, their lives, their pains, and their messes, as part of his routine. Something none of them appreciate, especially when Phil is still struggling with being gay.

Cameron Ellis’ grand moment, romantic as it may have seemed, outed Phil before he was ready. Now, he’s the poor gay kid, the angry gay kid, the problematic gay kid — especially compared to the rainbow wearing Cameron with his family-friendly message of acceptance. Cameron pushed Phil into the role of boyfriend, and then dumped him, and Phil’s still struggling with how he feels about everything. Did he love Cameron, or the idea of Cameron? Was it the acceptance he wanted, the circle of Cam’s friends when he didn’t have any of his own?

And now there’s Jackson, Phil’s ex-best friend. The first boy he kissed, the first boy he came out to. His first love. Jackson is every adult’s idea of the perfect high schooler, active in every club, class president, grades a neat and orderly row of A’s, and able to chat comfortably with teachers and adults. He’s also fighting anxiety and struggling to understand himself, let alone anyone else. He’s always loved Phil, first as a friend and then as something more, something undefined. Jackson doesn’t know what he is, what label to give himself, and he knows he’s not ready to find one just yet.

Jackson has a powerful moment, baring his heart in a scene I think a lot of people will relate to, with his uncertainty, his insecurity, his fear, and his anger. It’s sad, it’s emotional, and it’s a beautiful character moment. Phil’s anger and pain are at a high boil for much of the book, but Jackson’s slow simmer is just as heady. The two of them have a great deal of baggage behind them, and need to work to get back to a place of friendship, let alone romance, but they do the work. They have the conversations, the ugly ones and the sweet ones.

For Jackson, Phil, and Ronnie, the chance to bring down Camreron, someone who hurt them and got rewarded for it, who did terrible things and got applause, to get revenge on the whole skwad is … fun. It’s addictive, having power over people, taking down Cameron’s friends and causing all of them as much pain as they gave Phil and Ronnie. Until it goes too far, until the people they’re hurting realize what’s happening and who’s behind it. Every action has a reaction and no one makes it out of this without some fallout. Some injuries will never be healed, some wrongs will never be righted, and … that’s life. But everyone ends up better than where they started with a chance to be happy (the main couple, and Ronnie, the people most affected by Cameron’s cruelty, do get their happy endings).

This book is just fun. The pace is a bit fast, months of prep or work are skipped past so the story can get to the action scenes, and the action scenes walk that fine line between being too Hollywood and fake and being just realistic enough, while still being cheesy fun. All in all, I had a great time reading this book, and if you like revenge dramas and romances, this is the book for you.

Ok, I need y’all to hear me out on this one. I know everyone’s vibing with the currently trending covers that have illustrated characters on them. I really like them too. But you’d be doing yourself such a disservice if you sleep on Teenage Dirtbags. The unconventional and raw cover perfectly encapsulates this incredible sophomore novel from author James Acker.

Teenage Dirtbags is a dual POV, queer, YA story featuring Jackson and Phil. It’s set in the same universe as The Long Run, but during junior year (the year prior to Bash and Dro’s story).

Jackson is perfection personified. President of Student Council and multiple school clubs, Ivy League bound, and #1 teacher’s pet. Phil is a fuck up. A loner with absent parents and school detention on the regular. These two couldn’t be more opposite, and yet they used to be best friends. That is, until their differences got in the way and they stopped speaking.

But when Phil gets outed and gaslit into a relationship with the pathologically charming Cameron, the wall he built around his heart begins to crumble. He thinks he’s finally found the connection and love he’s been craving. And then Cameron shows his true, narcissistic colors. In a state of post-break up sadness, Phil comes face-to-face with Cam’s ex, Veronica (Ronny). The two form an unlikely friendship, and start to formulate a Mean Girls-esque plan to get back at Cam. But they’ll need Jackson’s help.

If there’s one thing you should know about me and YA, it’s that I love YA that tackles real issues. Yes, teenagers are young. But that doesn’t mean they’re not experiencing real world shit. And this author always uses his writing to expertly explore that. This book tackled tough topics like homophobia and parental neglect while also highlighting things like queer love and compassion.

Ultimately, Teenage Dirtbags is a story about two people finding their way back to one another. At times, that journey is raw, messy, and lonely. But the journey also leads to bigger feelings of comfort and self-acceptance.

In conclusion: Ronny for President.

I loved The Long Run! To see a new book by this author was really exciting!
Teenage Dirtbags by James Acker is a well written contemporary queer YA novel!
This was a well-developed, fun, character-driven romance.
It's been a while I have read such a heartwarming, comforting read. But I would say it's the effortless writing style that drew me in straightaway.

Thank You NetGalley and Inkyard Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Squeaky-clean class president Jackson and troublemaker Phil used to be best friends. But when Phil's boyfriend, Cameron, publicly breaks up with him and smears his name - after having outed him as part of his own viral coming out video - the two ex-best friends team up with Veronica, fellow ex of Cameron, to get revenge.

This book reminds me of a queer Mean Girls meets Do Revenge or John Tucker Must Die. I gobbled it up in an afternoon. This is a coming of age novel with both bite and heart. The main trio were well developed and nuanced. Jackson and Phil give off golden retriever and black cat energy - Jackson is the ultimate overachiever, and whereas Phil might seem stone-cold, he's got a soft interior and it's not his fault that he keeps getting in trouble. Ronny is chaos personified - she's 100% That Bitch and I loved her for it.

This book was loud and over the top and had the perfect blend of silly and serious. Sure, it's about the classic teenage revenge, but there's also some good analysis of socioeconomic inequality, imperfect families, and what it means to be queer. Coming out is something that looks different for everyone, but it's also not something that only happens once - it's something that happens over and over and over again. Queer people aren't a monolith, and there's no such thing as "perfect" representation.

To me, this is contemporary queer YA done right. There's heart. There's meaning. There's teenage shenanigans and plotting. I deeply enjoyed this - 4.5 stars for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

An expected 1000/10 book. James Acker is one of my favorite authors ever now. And thanks James for letting me talk your ear off about how much I loved the book!!

Phil is messy and I loved him to pieces. He’s a boy who’s hurt and thinks nobody understands him. Expect his best friend Jackson. Until Jackson doesn’t. The fall out that they have is monumental. Now they aren’t speaking. Jackson sees Phil kissing a boy. A boy who has a girlfriend. After a very public outing that gets blasted all over, Phil and Cameron are the world’s it couple. Until they aren’t. And things just get worse and worse.

James’s storytelling is amazing. I fell in love with the writing and humor. So much of it had me gasping and laughing so hard. I actually FELT the audacity these people had. And I loved loved so much that we get some characters from The Long Run that come back and visit for a little while. My sweet babies aren’t gone yet! This is such a wild high school I would not want to be in tbh.

Jackson is almost as messy as Phil but he’s better as keeping it inside. He has the perfect good boy shield where he can be class president, so sports, be in the play, and be nice to everyone. He doesn’t have to call people names and steal public property and get in fights with girls in the hallway like Phil does. Speaking of, I loved Ronny too. The comeback she and Phil had was so extreme and I’m here for it. Their friendship was so nice. She seemed exactly like Phil in the way she was hurting and didn’t know how to express it. Matty and Ant were just bullies and I wasn’t very happy to see Matty come back from The Long Run. At least we know how his friendship with Bash ends.

This is a story about hurt and longing. About best friends who are more than best friends and they didn’t know what to do with all those feelings. About revenge and getting back at people who hurt us. Cam was a literal demon and I wanted to punch him through my screen. The story ended on such a pleasant note just like The Long Run. Full of promise and hope and boys who should be allowed to be best friends and be in love. Y’all need to read this if you want a good contemporary YA full of heart and a good amount of rage.

There were things I really enjoyed about this book and then there were things that just didn’t really hit the way they were maybe supposed to. I LOVED the slight Mean Girls vibes revenge that Jackson, Phil and Ronny enacted on Cameron and his Skwad (yes, that’s how they spelled it). Theo absolute chaos that ensues was so satisfying to watch, especially for Cameron who made my blood boil pretty much from the first page I met him. I also really loved Jackson and his journey to figuring out who he is vs who other people need/want him to be. I thought he was written so well. Phil was also written very well and while I didn’t relate to him like I did with Jackson, I thought his character journey was pretty excellent too. My biggest issues were the pacing and the sometimes vagueness of the writing. It wasn’t a slow paced book necessarily, but it does take a while for things to really get going while also hinting at things about Jackson and Phil’s relationship in the past. We do find out what happened to derail their friendship, but it felt like there were a lot of hints during past POVs that never came to fruition. Overall, I do think it’s an important book about friendships, toxic relationships and realizing you are worth the trouble, no matter what.
CW: homophobia, bullying, mentions of self harm, mental illness, fat phobia, toxic friendships

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley/Inkyard Press for a copy of Teenage Dirtbags in exchange for an honest review.

When “Opposites” Attract
I adored James Acker’s Teenage Dirtbags. It has a sense of realness and teenage high school fantasy all blended up together. Even though all the characters are larger-than-life caricatures in some ways, there’s a sincerity to them. There’s a Mean Girls quality to Teenage Dirtbags. But Acker’s book is not as shiny. There’s a rawness here that feels overblown yet natural.

Class issues do not get explored enough. As a culture, we tend to want to ignore class. It gets in the way of keeping the lower classes believing in the American Dream. That way, the government and the upper classes never have to deal with eliminating poverty. It is highly refreshing when media is willing to go there.

Even more astutely, Teenage Dirtbags doesn’t blame its rich characters for their wealth. After all, they are not “at fault” for their privilege. That doesn’t mean they’re not responsible for learning how to deal with their privileges and how they treat people. Jackson and Phil grapple with this in their relationship. It comes across as super authentic.

Also genuine is the kids’ need for revenge. The warped way they find peace (and anguish) in tearing apart “the skwad’s” lives is captivating. It’s refreshing that Phil and Veronica, the girl Cameron cheated on to be with Phil, are able to be friends instead of blaming each other.

I don’t want to find something to criticize for the sake of doing so, but I have to here. The book’s title felt anachronous to me, as did most of the music used in the book. Unless I am totally off base, and teens today listen to ’90s and early Aughts jams?

Should You Read It?
Yes! The grotesque over-exaggeration mixed with the real creates a perfect melodrama of what it means to be a teenager. I felt right back in it. Teenagers will identify with this, and adults will feel nostalgic.

James Acker’s Teenage Dirtbags hits shelves on April 09, 2024. Pick up a copy at your local indie bookstore or library. 📚💰📲

I won't lie -- this book had a bit of a slow start and I considered DNFing it, but then it quickly picked up and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. This book is like a solid mashup of a bunch of your fave teen media that deals with angst, cliques, romance, and the overall overwhelming experience of existing as a teen alongside other teens; think Do Revenge, Sex Education, Mean Girls, Glee... the characters are as chaotic yet relatable, their lives as raw and honest, and you'll find yourself immersed.

I absolutely loved this book and I am not a *YA reader*. This book reminded me of my own high school experience, but didn't make me feel bad--it was that angst but knowing everything is gonna be alright. I loved that it started off with such tension that led beautifully into what ultimately led the boys back together.

The book flips perspective back and forth between Jackson Pasternak and Phil Reyno. There's a lot of comparing between the two, the differences and the similarities, I felt for both and related to both. Phil has trauma and Jackson has his own setbacks as well. Through the silly revenge plot they make against Cameron (a sociopath? psychopath?--portrayed beautifully/ugily well) they end up re-evaluating all those comparisons in a new light.

How teens are portrayed in Sex Education, Freaks and Geeks, Kids,...all have a somewhat similar rawness that the teens in this book do, but those references almost seem too polished in comparison. (And yes, I use movies and shows as reference because I'm not a YA reader normally. I'M SORRY.)

The author captures sadness so well in a single line: "You're the only person who's come to see me." And the honesty at which these kids talk to one another are little openings that are so real because of the history established.

This sadness is also in the reflection that teens do while in their older teenage-hood--on their place in the world, including their place with the adults in the world. The parents and adults were limited in the book but their absence didn't feel *orphan hero story* due to the presence that was captured.

"But you have such a pretty voice, Jackson, you and your father. I think you could use more fun in your life."..."You could use silly. You've acted like you were forty since you were fourteen, my love, something silly could be incredibly enriching. Not for the résumé or the colleges, something silly and simple."

I think as adults, we want to say that we've figured ourselves out more than this time as a teenager--many of us will say we will never know enough, let alone about ourselves. But the magic of this teen mindset is that finding yourself--what you are and what you are not--seems the upmost importance and James Acker captures this well, especially for those of us who never felt like they worth being seen--or were only seen for what they lacked, or were only seen as something to be used.

James Acker’s writing really works for me. I flew through this book in a single day because I was so invested in the characters and the plot. I have such an appreciation for queer YA books with messy characters and plots that aren’t concerned with “good” representation. It makes the books feel so real and raw as opposed to shiny stories devoid of any real conflict or emotion. The story in Teenage Dirtbags follows Phil and Jackson, two ex-best friends who team up to get revenge on Phil’s ex-boyfriend Cameron. Will Phil and Jackson be able to mend their friendship in the process? And what happened to tear them apart in the first place?

AAAHHHH!! This was so excellent. Phil and Jackson are both fully formed characters with their own unique voices. The book is a dual POV story, but I never got confused about which POV a certain chapter was in, which can happen with other books where the characters all sound the same. I loved seeing how they slowly started to spend more time together and open up about their lives. Nothing brings people together quite like trying to get revenge on an awful ex!

Outside of Phil and Jackson there’s a great range of supporting characters. From friends also helping with the revenge, to Cameron and his group who also need to be taken down, and people that readers will recognize from James Acker’s first book, The Long Run! Sandro and Bash are side characters here, so it’s really fun to see them again. This book actually takes place the year before The Long Run so reading it won’t spoil what happens if you haven’t already read it. (Though I HIGHLY recommend checking it out because it rules. And you’ll get to fully appreciate the fun crossovers with the characters.)

I can’t recommend this enough for people who are fans of fun, messy, and queer YA contemporaries. Sure, the characters don’t always do or say the “right” things, but that’s what makes the book feel so genuine.

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Long Run" by James Acker, so I was super excited to have a chance to review this book. And "Teenage Dirtbags" did not disappoint! This book had the sort of gritty realism that I love about Acker's writing, with very complex characters and a romance that isn't perfect by any means, but is perfect for the story.

The absolute highlights of this story are Phil and Jackson. They are both such fully realized characters, and even when they make realistically bad choices, the reader is still rooting for them. Jackson specifically is not like any other YA character I've ever read, and the unique way he experiences the world is not just a quirk but integral to how the plot plays out. Additionally, Phil and Jackson's past creates such a great basis for their reconnection- they have so much to work out, but when they do figure out what they want from each other, there's so much comfort for both the characters and the reader.

The other characters in this story are also written so well, and are really what carries the story forward. Even the side characters that are portrayed as "bad" through the lens of Phil and Jackson have more motives than what can be seen on the surface, which really grounds the story in realistic teenage experiences. It was also fun to see Bash and Sandro appear in this story before the events of "The Long Run"!

I also really appreciated how queerness is handled in this story. There's not just the one narrative that many YA books follow: liking someone, dating them, then coming out publicly. Coming out is not a one time event, it's a constant throughout queer people's lives. It's also not always voluntary, like how Phil is forcibly outed by Cameron, who's built an entire internet persona around being gay. And Jackson doesn't have his sexuality figured out by the end of the story, he just knows he likes Phil, which is an experience many teens have. I appreciated that Acker didn't feel the need to wrap up Jackson's sexuality like a problem to solve- it's okay for him to figure it out beyond the bounds of the story we see.

This plot of this story is engaging and fast paced, following in the footsteps of other drama-heavy teen stories of the 2000's. However, at the core of it is a relationship (and friendships) that carry so much heart, even if that heart is hidden behind sarcasm and teenage angst.

Teenage Dirtbags is a surprisingly beautiful story of friendship and love, with a dash of gay Mean Girls plotting!

While Phil is angry and reckless with a proclivity for the word ‘faggot’, you can’t help but relate to him, understand him, and come to love him. At the start of this story, we meet Phil who is in love with his boyfriend, Cameron Ellis. However, Cameron is not the nice guy, boy next door, that he portrays at school and on social media. He ruins Phil’s life, twice. Phil, desperate to get revenge on his lying ex-boyfriend, enlist the help of his Ex’s ex-girlfriend, Ronnie, and his former best friend, Jackson. The three plot to take down not only Cameron but his whole friend group, the Skwad. Their scheming brings them together in unexpected ways and teaches them all valuable lessons, hard as they may be to learn.

I really enjoyed The Long Run, so much so that I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy a story where we never really got to see Bash and Sandro together HOWEVER I was drawn in to this book very quickly and hooked! You get to know the history and the depth of characters you didn’t know you needed more of from The Long Run. I loved learning about the start of Phil and Ronnie’s friendship and the complex history Phil has with his sexuality and romantic relationships. This is such a brutally honest portrayal of high school that is so well written that you walk away with hope for each of the characters. James Acker does a wonderful job showing the complexities of class differences between friends, classmates, and within a community.

great romance, well done, strong cast, strong work. would ecommend.tysssssm for the arc :D quite fun

The name of this book really caught my eye, and I am really glad it did. I really can't give a lot of details without giving the plot away, but the characters are what make this book. First, they are realistic, deep, and believable. They have faults, and like teenagers, they have not quite figured themselves out just yet. This book doesn't follow a strictly linear timeline, but it isn't hard to follow either. The only critique of this book I have is that sometimes the character's dialogue feels too mature for the age of the characters, but it is easy to overlook. I think this book will appeal to YAs and adults alike. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Acker.