It was a little silly but over all it was a good book on grief. I know nothing about wrestling so the glossary of terms at the beginning helped a lot.

Julie is just surviving life. And it seems to help that her late dad's favorite wrestler is commentating along through what's happening in her life. As she goes through along what life has to offer, she may just understand why a wrestler is in her head.

This book was beautful and more! I cannot explain thoroughly how this book was so gentle and kind to someone who's grieving. I liked how it was taken lightly that I feel there were not a lot of triggering things in the book. The book was funny, and kind. It navigated feelings in a way that it was open to interpretation.

It does help that there was a glossary of wrestling entertainment terms in the beginning of the book. Given, I did watch World Wrestling Entertainment when I was still a kid, but all the terms just went over my head. And I truly loved the parallels of the fakeness of wrestling and the realness of life in this book. And the fact that the author shared his interest with a mix of dread on how readers will take it is somethwing so genius. It gives readers who are interested in it that they are seen, and there are readers that have no interest in it, that they might see wrestling entertainment in a different light.

Anyway, the characters are so lovely too. Julie is our main character, but you have to love the other characters because you get to see the subtle changes in Julie because of them. And the lovely thing about this is that, it's not only Julie that you see grow but the other characters are growing too. I swear, I cannot help but to see how lovely they are but not in a way that it was too overly sweet.

As much as wrestling is an in-your-face type of entertainment, this book has been so subtle, and honestly, so healing for me too. I mean, the cover is even so subtle too! So yeah, maybe you can say that I'm bias, but this is the first time I read anything from this author, but truly I just liked it so much. Also, this book made me look at Top Gun in a different light too.

If anything, there are times that confusion do set in because of the wrestling terms and the world of wrestling. But they do fall into place as the book settles in.

As mentioned, this book is amazing for me. I feel like this is one of those books that will not be forgettable because of the uniqueness of it. I also learned that this author has been around and this book made me interested in reading other books of his,

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC of this!

(3.5 stars) an enjoyable little YA that deals with grief and is also funny. I would definitely recommend this one, and you don’t have to be a fan of wrestling to enjoy it. I feel like I learned a lot about wrestling from this book too.
My only thing is I wish the wrestler voice in Julie’s head had more to say. Haha. Also the plot and characters were a little silly. Overall a nice little YA book.

This is my first book by Bliss and it certainly didn't disappoint. What a read...this story follows Julie's struggle with grief after losing her father after she recently stumbles upon old VHS tapes of his favorite pro wrestler. While I know little to nothing about wrestling, I loved Julie's character development and felt anyone could relate to the themes of love, loss, and grief in this coming-of-age novel. While I'm fortunate to not fully understand what she went through, this book creates plenty of empathy and understanding, something that I feel more of today's teens could use. Thanks so much for this ARC!

I am a fan of Bryan Bliss's "No Parking at the End Times," so was eager to read this new title. "Dispatches from Parts Unknown" is a book about how a girl deals with the grief of her father's death. Since he loved pro wrestling, she pulls his old tapes out for comfort. Growth and change happen throughout the book, but I won't ruin the storyline by expanding. Bliss writes that although readers may not connect with pro wrestling, they will recognize what it feels like to love something in a primal way, something that ultimately brings healing. This book is a great testament to that. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
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