Chapter by Chapter

This book! Ughhhh…How many different kinds of crying did this book make me experience? Let’s see…ugly crying of course, joyous tears, brokenhearted tears, tears of frustration, tears of pain…so many feels you guys! So. Many. Feels.

Not After Everything by Michelle Levy follows high school senior, Tyler. Tyler pretty much had it all…high school football star, the guy every girl wanted and the guy every guy wanted to be, a scholarship to Stanford…then it all came crashing down. Tyler comes home from football practice to find his mother in the bathtub, dead. What if he had just come home sooner, would he have been able to stop his mother from taking her own life?

Tyler has pretty much given up on school, his friends, and especially football. Not only does he struggle with dealing with the loss of his mother, but his abusive father is not holding back his hatred for his own son. The abuse that poor Tyler has to go through is indescribable. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and terror that he has to live with on a daily basis. Not only the physical abuse, but the mental and emotional abuse as well. To be told on a daily basis that he is nothing, that he should be dead, that he’s not loved nor was he ever wanted. That his father would in no way, shape, or form support him with his needs like food, gas, toilet paper… My heart continued to cry for Tyler!

And does he say anything? Of course not…for fear that he would be ripped away from the only “home” that he has ever known and be placed in a group home. And it’s because of this fear that he continues to fearfully come home and take the abuse doled out by his father.

Thank goodness for Jordyn…the goth angel that is everything that Tyler needs and is everything that Tyler wants. And her family? They brought me to tears too! I can’t even you guys…you need to experience this book.

Not After Everything by Michelle Levy is a bittersweet book that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Be sure to have some tissues on hand when you immerse yourself in this book.