Kurz vor dem Rand

My name is Ari, and this is the story of my first love. It doesn't end well, I'll tell you that right away. So if you're into happy endings, you might want to put this down and go buy yourself an ice cream. Honestly, I don't care.

Every day, a group of friends meets to skate at the skatepark, which for Ari, the protagonist, is a lifesaving activity. She can hardly remember a life without a skateboard. After a tumultuous childhood, she seems content living alone with her father Bob, working as an apprentice at a painting company, and hanging out with her skater buddies, who see her as "one of the guys." But then a new boy appears at the skatepark: the quite impressive Tom. Tom skated aggressively and very fast, and he stood on his skateboard more confidently than some people do on solid ground. It was pretty impressive, I had to admit. Confident and without hesitation, he flipped and spun the board beneath his feet; everything looked incredibly easy for him. When Ari's mother returns to town, her life is completely turned upside down: Is she really happy being seen as one of the guys? And does her mother deserve a second chance?

Eva Rottmann writes sensitively about the ups and downs of teenage life. Fast-paced and humorous dialogues, close to the everyday language of young people, make you want to read this book in one go.