More of a three and a half stars. Funny, engaging book, reads quickly, great first person POV offers you a look inside a 14 y.o. boy's mind. Scary place. 
 Winger -- Ryan Dean West -- is a fourteen year old junior at Pine Mountain private school. He got in some trouble so he's starting his junior year in Opportunity Hall with the other fighters and thieves instead of in the boys dorm with his friends. It's an eventful few months, as his friend Annie told him he'd need to suck it up and be tough to make it through the year. 
 Ryan Dean's in love with Annie, who doesn't want to be in love with a boy two years younger than she is. Still, Ryan Dean doesn't give up as he fights with friends and foes alike. He makes friends with Joey, a rugby team-mate and fellow O-Hall resident who just happens to be gay. Joey's sort of his protector and conscience. 
 Narrative interspersed with comic frames and internal monologues set as play scripts. You really get a feel for who Ryan Dean is. An honest (maybe) telling of events as he grows up, maybe even becomes a man when he realizes the difference between sex and love. 
 Kind of a new century's A Separate Peace, takes a twist at the end that you're not exactly prepared for, but that isn't really a surprise, either. 
 Swearing, rude humor, violence. For older teens.