Audio: Bruised by Tanya Boteju

By: Tanya Boteju

Narrated by: Angel Pean

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Release date: 02-08-22

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Contemporary LGBT Young Adult

Own

If I pick YA, I try to pick issue YA. And this girl has issues. She lost her parents in a car crash and she feels guilty. She escapes that guilt by causing bruises on herself. Then there is some deeprooted problem about how her dad always told her to be strong. But sometimes it is totally ok to be soft too.

She meets a rollerderby crowd, and yes with her issues she wants to join, because think of the bruises she could get.

Family drama/angst. Self-harm. It fits together very well on this arena.

There is also a chance for romance and Daya meets Shanti at the rollerderby. And perhaps a chance to heal.

I enjoyed it. I did have a rough start cos I feel asleep but I soon got back on track.

Good narrator. She did well with everyone, especially with the whole soft and strong thing

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.