Teenage Dirtbags

February 5, 2024
Estranged friends reconnect to exact revenge in this unfiltered tale by Acker (The Long Run). Phil Reyno, a high school junior in Moorestown, N.J., has cultivated a reputation as a mean-spirited troublemaker ever since a dance in sophomore year, during which his then-secret boyfriend, Cameron Ellis, outed him in a speech that went viral. Eight months later, Cameron dumps Phil and posts a video claiming Phil dumped him. Enraged, Phil teams up with his former best friend and overachieving class president Jackson Pasternak, and angry wealthy classmate Ronny DiSario, to take down Cameron and his friend group. Even as Phil and Jackson reconcile their falling-out and Jackson realizes he might have romantic feelings for Phil, the trio’s plans come together without a hitch. But unexpected pushback from Cameron using secrets that Jackson has collected upends their schemes and poses a threat to the group’s blossoming friendships. Raw emotion and snappy pacing, as well as Acker’s clear-eyed understanding of how class differences shape relationships and knack for cultivating teenage angst, culminate in this compelling read. Main characters read as white; the secondary cast is racially diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Carlisle Webber, Fuse Literary.

March 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 It all starts when smarmy Cameron ditches alleged bad boy Phil and then claims to his legion of social media followers that Phil ditched him. Now Phil's reputation is tanked, and he's out for revenge, so Phil joins forces with angry Veronica, also dumped by Cameron, and the two then seek the help of Jackson, once Phil's best friend until the two had a falling out in the eighth grade. After some angry discussions, Phil and Jackson reconcile in a touching scene, and the three get down to business, starting with the social assassination of Cameron's coterie of followers. Cameron retaliates in a horrifying way that threatens to make the three plotters pariahs themselves. Will justice be served, and will Phil and Jackson (who seems to be straight) turn into something more than friends? If readers can get past the unlikelihood of Cameron and Phil having a relationship in the first place, they'll find an otherwise well-plotted and appealing mash-up of revenge and love stories. Something for everyone, in short.

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March 15, 2024
Former friends reunite for a revenge plot--and rediscover that their differences may be why they love each other. At New Jersey's Moorestown High, Jackson Pasternak is the golden boy from the town's most affluent neighborhood. Phil Reyno is the antagonistic punk living with his "very fun alcoholic" mother in a dingy apartment. They have nothing in common, but they were best friends until a few years ago. When Phil's boyfriend, the milquetoast yet strangely conniving Cameron Ellis, publicly outs him at the school dance, Jackson knows something is up. Now an internet-famous, picture-perfect gay icon, Cameron unceremoniously dumps Phil but makes him out to be the villain on his popular vlog. So Phil decides to get even by taking down Cameron and the Skwad, his frustratingly woke friend group. Throw in Ronny DiSario (Cameron's jilted ex-girlfriend) plus Jackson (the respectable boy no one would expect to be involved), and the revenge is on. As they hatch their plans, Jackson's and Phil's latent feelings for one another bubble up into a steamy and touching romance. With just enough plot twists to maintain interest without becoming disjointed, this enjoyable novel places readers in the minds and contemporary world of its protagonists while exploring the tempestuous nature of teen identity. Many central characters are white or racially ambiguous; Jackson is Jewish. A sexy, irreverently witty, gay romance that takes teen issues seriously. (Fiction. 14-18)

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