King of the Screwups is an easy to read book that I was unable to put down. Aunt Pete helps Liam to understand that his parent's are not perfect and that he is a wonderful kid who has a bright future.

No matter what he does or wears, people still like him. At school everyone loves him when all he wants to do is be 'uncool'. There are no boutiques or Gucci stores for Liam to shop at. Instead she lets him stay with Aunt Pete, his cross dressing uncle.Īunt Pete lives in a trailer park that's practically in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, his moma former modeldoesn't make him stay with his grand-parents who hate both Liam and his mother.

Finally his dad gets tired of all the problems Liam has caused for him and kicks him out. Everyone loves him, everyone except his dad who believes that he is a screwup who never does anything right. The truth is youll want Liam to finally succeed. Then the current action begins, some sad, some hysterical, some normal. Many of the chapters start with Liams reminiscing about events when he was young, how he accompanied his mother on fashion shows and was fine and how hed screw up when he was with his father. If youre a fan of the movie Shes All That, Liams school friends are Zach Silers (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) friends and the girl next door, artsy, bitchy Darlene, is Laney Boggs (Rachel Leigh Cook). You can visualize them in their bright colored spandex and eye makeup. Pete and his band mates Orlando (also Petes boyfriend and Liams English teacher), Dino (a cop) and Eddie are a sight. Going, author of Fat Kid Rules the World (which I really liked) and Saint Iggy, has written the perfect beach read. He finally gives up trying to get it right, cutting school, getting drunk. Liam decides that the only way to get through his new school without screwing up is to be unpopular, but everything he does makes him more popularin other words he screws up. Thus, Liam moves from posh Westchester to sticks of Pineville, NY. Sarah finagles and without Allans OK, gets his gay, cross-dressing, trailer park-living, DJ, glam-rock band brother Pete (who Allan hasnt spoken to in 17 years) to take Liam. He arranges to ship Liam off to his paternal grandparents, who hate him. When, right before senior year starts, Liam really screws up (his father catches him drunk, making out with a girl on his fathers desk), it is Allans last straw. Liam has an eye for fashion and window dressing but that is not an appropriate career for Allan Gellers son. His mother, Sarah, is a former runway model. His father is the eminently successful and totally domineering Allan Geller. Even when he tries to screw something up, it backfires and it comes out right.

King of the Screwups by K.L. Going