Review posted here. 
 Wow. Just...wow. While I was visiting the Simon & Schuster booth during TLA in April, I was talking to one of the guys and he shoved a copy of Winger at me and told me that I simply had to read it because it was so wonderful. I am SO glad he did. 1. This gave me a book to take with me to Andrew Smith's signing, where I met him and the lovely A.S. King, and 2. This book is freaking brilliant. I mean it. I think this is top 5 for this year, if not all time, and is most definitely the most heartbreaking this year if not all time. 
 So one of the best things Winger has got going for it is it's male pov written by a male. This ship is real, y'all (unlike Ryan Dean, I try not to swear, even in my writing)! I mean, Ryan Dean is just such a....boy. A teenage boy at that. I had no trouble believing all the ridiculous things he thinks, says, and does throughout the novel. Peeing in a gatorade bottle rather than going to the bathroom? Check. Being pervy with every single female character (by "every single" I mean all of them, not single as in relationship status because...well, RDW has some homewrecker moments) in the book, particularly in his thoughts? Check. Ryan Dean is really astute and a remarkably good narrator, but he's also straight-up dumb sometimes, but that's okay because it fits so well with reality as well as the world of the book. 
 See, when Ryan Dean is acting like a hormonal idiot, Andrew used his other characters to take up the slack. There's Joey Cosentino: the Voice of Reason. I don't care that Joey is gay, I am totally in love with him. Joey's job is to point out every time Ryan Dean is being stupid, but he always has RD's back, on the rugby field and off, and I have nothing but respect for him. He's a Nice Guy, but he's not above getting dirty to defend himself or calling someone out when they need to be put in place. 
 There's Annie: the Best Friend and Love Interest. It's way cool seeing Annie face reality when it comes to her relationship with Ryan Dean. I, being a girl who at one time was sixteen, innately know what's going on in Annie's head so it's way cool understanding her thoughts while actually reading from Ryan Dean's mind. Love it. 
 There's Chas: the Hostile Roommate & Teammate/Romantic Competition. Chas's purpose really confused me during much of the novel, but his presence actually puts Ryan Dean into the role of bad guy at one point, which forces the reader and Ryan Dean to actively acknowledge his fault. Also, Chas is instrumental to the resolution of Ryan Dean's story. 
 There's Seanie (the Comic Relief, insofar as sometimes Ryan Dean has to be serious for a second and not be funny himself) and JP (the Other Romanic Competition). These guys...well, I didn't care a whole whole lot for them because Seanie is just an oddball and JP is a douche, but again, we see Ryan Dean in a different light because of them. Ryan Dean makes a lot of mistakes, and Seanie and JP are kind of the collateral damage. 
 There's Megan: Love Interest/Temptation. While Annie is the attainable-but-unattainable best friend/crush, Megan is the unattainable-but-attainable (yes, there's a difference) hot girl that Ryan Dean wants because she's hot, but shouldn't want because she's otherwise taken. Yet, while Annie is spending her time wrestling with her feelings for Ryan Dean, Megan decisively chooses to spend some quality time with Ryan Dean pressed up against the water fountain, if you know what I mean. Megan helps Ryan Dean transform into the Wild Boy of Bainbridge Island. 
 There's Casey: the Bully. Grade A douchenozzle. Spends all his time picking on everybody else. His presence gives Ryan Dean the opportunity to be both the victim and the hero. 
 There's the staff: Mr. Farrow (Perpetually Absent Authority Figure), Ms. Singer (Perpetually Present Stick-Up-Her-Butt [possibly a broomstick] Female Authority Figure Who Might Be a Witch Constantly Cursing Ryan Dean), Mr. Wellins (Pervy Teacher Who Reads Sex Into Everything), Coach M (Authority Figure Who Actually Means Something to the Students), and Nurse Hickey (Hot Nurse With Suggestive Name). These characters aren't hugely present, but each one has a unique relationship with Ryan Dean so I figured I'd include them. There are others as well, like guys on the rugby and football teams, Isabel, Annie's parents, etc, but not too intricately included in the story. I did just kind of reduced all these characters to a small label-able characteristic or two, but trust me when I say they're important. 
 So the characters are all great. The story, at least at first, was a bit slow for me, but it picks up. I thought Winger was supposed to be just a funny novel. And it really is a hilarious look at Ryan Dean trying to fit in at his school, trying to navigate the waters of romance, trying to not die either on the rugby field (by an opponent OR teammate because it was touch-and-go sometimes), trying not to be cursed by Ms. Singer. Winger reads like a journal with Ryan Dean frequently breaking the fourth wall to talk to the reader, rating things on his ridiculous scales like my rating above, and drawing awesome cartoons. Seriously, the drawings add an awesome artistic element. I really hope this trend gets a kickstart because I love it. So I'm reading Winger, expecting it to continue the funny when WHAM! Out of absolutely nowhere, Andrew Smith decided to punch a hole through my heart. It took me a couple of weeks to read Winger, but one night I decided to just finish it in one sitting. It was about 1 AM so when this crazy unimaginable, unexpected, heart-wrenching event occurred, I couldn't take it anymore. Oh, sure, I finished Winger at about 1:30, and then for at least an additional 20 minutes I sobbed like my 3-year old niece when someone tells her no. So...thanks for that, Andrew Smith, you cruel genius you!