Liam always seems to be screwing things up, but when his businessman father catches him making out with a girl on the desk in his office, he finally gets kicked out of the house. Instead of going to his uptight grandparents in Nevada, however, Liam's mother (who used to be a famous runway model, and has passed all her knowledge and beauty to her son) arranges for him to stay with his cross-dressing, glam-rocker uncle Pete, who lives in a trailer in upstate New York. Liam decides that in order to win his father's approval, he needs to be something other than the "popular kid" he's always been in the past. Despite his keen fashion sense and designer clothes, he tries dressing in Pete's t-shirts, reads the morning announcements, and generally acts as "uncool" as he can manage. Fortunately for him, his plan backfires in a variety of spectacular ways, and he learns that it might just be better to be himself than try to please his father (who is, frankly, an abusive jerk).

What I liked about this book the most was Liam's character. When he is being himself, he loves clothes, loves modeling, and cares about other people. It's also nice that Uncle Pete's gayness (and the sexuality of his bandmates), rather than being a major focus, is downplayed. I felt the book cried out for a sequel--will Liam get together with Darleen? Will Liam's mother ever leave his father? What is Liam going to do with his life? I hope he will become a world-famous model! ( )

Liam screws up everything he does. The things he does well are all worthless, according to his father. Finally, his father throws him out of the house, and Liam goes to live with his gay uncle Peter who hasn't spoken to his brother in years. Liam learns about choices, responsibility and living with what he is, rather than what his father thinks he should be. ( )

Full review at http://yannabe.com/2009/07/29/review-...

Summary: Liam is a high school senior, and everyone loves him. Except his father. Somehow, no matter how hard he tries not to screw up, Liam disappoints his dad. When his dad kicks him out, Liam’s only option is to live with his dad’s cross-dressing brother. Which pisses off his dad even more.

Review: I will definitely be reading more by K.L. Going. (Can you believe I haven’t read Fat Kid Rules the World? YA sacrilege!)

I love it when a main character breaks out of tired old stereotypes. Liam is straight and yet surprisingly comfortable in his own masculinity for a guy who’s inherited the sensibilities of his supermodel mom. Still, he has to figure out how to live in the real world, where even his dad is homophobic.

And my goodness, his relationship with his father is screwed up. I sometimes wished that I had a little more insight into why his dad was the way he was, but then again parents don’t come with an owner’s manual to explain all their hangups.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so I’ll be passing it along to my rarely-reading hubby. ( )

Liam Gellar's father is a successful business man and his mother a world-renowned model. Given that combination of genes, Liam should have the world at his feet. And in some areas, he does. When it comes to being popular and well-liked by his peers, he excels. When it comes to his classes, his grades and pleasing his father, well, let's just say he's coming up a bit short. Liam is hard on himself, constantly seeking his father's approval and never quite succeeded. This leads to Liam thinking of himself as a screw-up. It also leads to Liam driving his father crazy and getting kicked out of the house.

Instead of going to live with his strict grandparents, Liam opts to move in with his Uncle Pete, a local DJ with his own glam rock band who is estranged from his father. The estrangement comes from Uncle Pete's lifestyle and an incident years before when Pete embarrassed Liam's father at an important social event.

Liam moves in with Pete, determined to start over and prove himself to be the son his father wants him to be. However, things don't go exactly as planned.

"King of the Screwups" is the story of Liam and his struggle to find out who he is. It's also the story about Liam accepting who he is and realizing that he may never be able to fully please his father--and that's OK. Told in the first-person perspective, K.L. Boing gives us the unique insight into Liam's current situation and offers flashbacks of some of Liam's more memorable incidents growing up. All of this helps make Liam a rich, fascinating character and the world he inhabits is filled with others, including his Uncle Pete and his friends.

Where the novel struggles is in the relationship between Liam and his next door neighbor. Liam struggles to win the approval of the girl next door, who is exactly the kind of kid his father would want. The story has Liam desperately seeking her attention and approval, but it doesn't really examine the relationship much deeper than that and, in the end, it rings a bit hollow. The ending of the story seems a bit forced as well, with several threads coming to a head in a manner that doesn't feel as natural. It almost feels as if they decided it was time to wrap things up in the story instead of allowing the story to continue to unfold at its own natural pace.

In some ways, it opens up things for a potential sequel. I wouldn't mind spending some time with Liam and the rest of the characters from this story. ( )

When Mr. Popularity Liam Geller's type-A dad kicks him out of the house, Liam goes to live with his cross-dressing uncle Pete in a trailer park upstate. As Liam struggles to change, to be unpopular, his uncle battles to help him be true to himself in the face of parental disapproval.

Based on the flap copy, I thought this book would be funny and poignant- a great light read. Though it was in fact funny and poignant, it was also a painfully raw look parental mental abuse at its worst. I was shocked and appalled that Liam's mother stood by as his father attempted to crush every spark of life and humanity from his son, pandering to his egotistical need to recreate his son in his own image.

I read this book from start to finish in one evening- it is just that powerful a novel. This book was moving and raw and at times absurd- just like the life of an average teenager. Highly recommended! ( )