4.5 Stars
Brooke Bradley is a high school sophomore on the verge of either discovering who she is meant to be, or completely ruining her life. With all of her focus devoted to getting her epic crush to finally make a move, BB attracts the attention of the last person she ever wanted… the resident skinhead and well known psycho, Knight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skin was an autobiographical romance which revisits all the hell of attending high school in the nostalgic 90’s. BB is young and naive, and just starting her journey and sexual awakening, when she falls into a relationship with the scariest dude in school. But the future psychologist within her knows when someone is working hard to hide their pain behind a do-not-approach attitude, and BB openly admits that she has never been good at being told what she can’t do…
In a somewhat backward journey, I found myself reading Skin as the last book in the 44 Chapters series. So with a unique perspective of BB’s encounters with Knight after their initial story, and of course where her path will ultimately take her, this story provided a deep look into a not yet matured young woman who is dealing with some very adult circumstances.
I have loved BB throughout this entire series. Her lifelong battle with anorexia is just beginning, and some of the decisions she makes seem to go from bad to worse, but through it all, BB is just looking for someone to love her how she deserves to be loved.
Ronald “Knight” McKnight is a tortured and talented artist. With a deep and troubled soul, his tendency to pick up strays shows the human side to him lurking beneath all of his anger. This skinhead by reputation is anything but a hater of a certain group of people… he just hates ALL people… except for one. And BB finds out the hard way of what being loved by Knight entails when she very reluctantly ends up dating him…
As a proud AF 90’s kid, this book eerily touched on many almost exact similarities to my high school days. Was this awesome decade the same mix of I-can’t-believe-the-stuff-I-did-back-then moments for the rest of you as it is for me?! Either way, revisiting that time through the maelstrom that lives in BB’s memories… and now the pages of the 44 Chapters series, I am once again thoroughly in awe of everything shared in the fantastic and unforgettable series.
I have voluntarily purchased and read this book in order to provide my honest and unbiased review.
Nightbird Novels 