Sixteen-year-old Bliss hates her smalltown life, especially the part where her mom is trying to live out her dreams of becoming a beauty queen through Bliss. Then one day she sees a poster for a roller derby match and the next thing she knows she's trying out for the team.

I really enjoyed this book. It's written in that first-person chatty style that is all the rage with YA and chicklit these days, but despite being a bit exposition-heavy in the early chapters (having read more in these genres lately, I have come to dread the "let me pause the story so I can give you my entire history" bit that usually comes in chapter two), I really enjoyed the narrator's voice and liked Bliss a lot.

The story is cute and female friendship is front and center. While there is the stereotypical mean girls that kind of made me roll my eyes at how cliched they were (one at school and one on the opposing roller derby team), it's balanced out by the fact that there are a ton of supportive (female) friends, so it doesn't come off as "girls are bitches" like so many stories do. There's a romance subplot, but it takes a backseat to friendships, too.

The one thing I really disliked about the book was how white it was. Aside from Bliss's best friend and possibly one of the roller derby girls whose derby nickname is Juana, everyone is white. And this takes place in Texas! But aside from that one girl, there weren't even any incidental characters with Spanish names. And her best friend Pash is mentioned as being Arab-American, but that's all we get. No actual country to give her any sort of specific heritage. It's just like Arabs are a big mob who come from Arabvania or something. And aside from the initial introduction (where she's mentioned as having exotic good looks, gag) and one or two mentions of kids at school being racist, she might as well have been white. ( )

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

While wandering through the young adult section of my local library, I came across DERBY GIRL. I had seen the book in the bookstore on other occasions but never bought it. I picked it up at the library and took it home with me. Not knowing what to expect, I started reading, and was instantly enthralled by the life of Bliss Cavender.

Fans of A&E's Rollergirls will especially enjoy this book.

Bliss is too big for Bodeen, Texas. Bliss is a sixteen-year-old high school student that can't wait to get out of her small town. Her mom is obsessed with beauty pageants, and expects Bliss to follow in her footsteps. However, Bliss is better known for receiving the "certificate of participation" rather than the tiara. She is more comfortable in her 80's thrift store T-shirts rather than teased hair and evening gowns.

On a shopping trip to the big city of Austin, Bliss snags a flyer advertising Roller Derby. In her younger days, Bliss was pretty good on four wheels, and she hatches a plot with her friend, Pash, to sneak back to Austin (an hour from Bodeen) for try-outs. After a shaky start on skates, Bliss soon remembers the feel of the wheels under her feet and is totally addicted.

Sneaking out twice a week under the guise of an SAT-prep course, Bliss soon becomes Babe Ruthless and a fan favorite for the Austin Roller Derby scene.

Covering the topics of fitting in, parental disagreements, first love, and finding out who you are meant to be, DERBY GIRL does not disappoint. The story moves quickly without any needless sidelines to interrupt the plot. Ms. Cross's style is hip and spunky. She uses many slang phrases as well as abbreviations to keep in touch with the teen audience.

Bliss is a lot of fun and independent. It's refreshing to read a story where the lead character is comfortable with who she is meant to be and stays true to herself the entire way through the story. ( )

Susan says: This is the very entertaining, entirely cool story of Bliss Cavendar, a Texas girl from a small town who discovers Roller Derby and gets her heart broken in one short book. This book is cool even when a not-so-popular girl is making the wrong choices – for instance she lies to her parents, loses her best friend and has sex with a guy she doesn’t really know that well. But then she comes into her own later and discovers what she’s been doing wrong and what she’s been doing right. The ending is a little forced – with everyone in her life showing up at the Roller Derby championships where of course her team wins even though she has lied about her age, But it’s still cool and exciting and Bliss’ enthusiasm is contagious. A great story that’s going to be made into a movie. ( )

Fun to read! Those of us from Texas can really relate. ( )

I learned a little bit more about roller derby with this book, but was just a little bit disappointed with the romance. Bliss lives in a tiny nowhere Texas town about an hour outside of Austin. By random chance, she decides to go to a roller derby and falls in love and decides to join. While derbying, she meets this boy who's in a band. And while the romance with the boy is going on, all the derby stuff takes a backseat to the story. She's still doing it and she still loves it, but the boy becomes the central focus of the story. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the derby had stayed the focus of the story. It would have been a more female-empowering message that way. But still a fun read.
Bliss lives in a tiny nowhere Texas town about an hour outside of Austin. By random chance, she decides to go to a roller derby and falls in love and decides to join. While derbying, she meets this boy who's in a band and develops a romance, despite warnings not to. So, of course, the romance fails and she’s back to derbying with more heart again. She also has to keep it all a secret from her beauty pageant mother, who wouldn’t understand. ( )