Not After Everything

May 18, 2015
For a while, Tyler Blackwell had it all: great grades, a cheerleader girlfriend, football stardom, and a probable scholarship. But after his mother kills herself, he quits football, alienates his girlfriend, and spends most of his time dodging his brutally abusive father. Guilt-ridden and broke (his father cuts off all support), Tyler is ghosting his way through senior year when he gets a job at a photography studio. There he realizes that a coworker he had dismissed as a goth loser is actually his childhood friend Jordyn. Their relationship changes Tyler’s life: he can be honest with Jordyn, she urges him not to give up on football or the scholarship, and her parents provide a model of family affection. By the end of the school year, Tyler’s life is back together; if it’s all a little too good to be true, given the tragedy Tyler has endured, readers won’t begrudge him a happier future. Believable dialogue and emotions—especially Tyler’s simmering rage at the outset of the novel—make this a solid first showing. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency.

Starred review from May 15, 2015
"I wish they would all stop tiptoeing around me just because my mom offed herself over the summer."The summer before his senior year, 17-year-old Tyler Blackwell had it all. A popular jock with a cheerleader girlfriend and the promise of a scholarship to Stanford to prove he had brawn and brains in equal measure, Tyler was destined for better things in better places-until an early-summer afternoon changed everything. A tough and uncompromising look at a young man's struggle to come to terms with his mother's suicide and to survive the horrifically abusive father who blames him for her death, Levy's debut novel is both powerful and difficult to read, largely because she does an excellent job capturing both Tyler's volatility and his vulnerability. The first-person narration is raw and honest, the voice of a real teen searching for answers while walking a razor-thin line between salvaging what remains or throwing it all away. This novel isn't for the faint of heart. Tyler's interactions with his father are graphic and unrelenting, and anticipating when and how he will strike will leave readers as anxious as Tyler. Thankfully, Tyler's rekindled relationship with an old friend and her family provides some respite-a chance for Tyler and readers alike to catch their breaths. Raw and unforgettable. (Fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Tyler is drowning in a sea of helplessness and it doesn't seem to be worth the effort to swim up for air. Right before the start of senior year, his mother committed suicide-and Tyler was the one who found her. He was supposed to go to Stanford on a football scholarship. He was supposed to stay interested in his hot girlfriend. All he can manage to do is avoid his dad's growing emotional and physical abuse and keep earning a paycheck after school. The teen's new job brings him back in contact with Jordyn, an old friend turned goth girl. While everyone else at school has been giving him a pass, Jordyn doesn't cut him any slack. Tyler actually starts to let himself feel again as things with Jordyn and his father escalate. Levy has delivered a dramatic narrative that manages to be tragic and intense, but ultimately hopeful. The protagonists are fully developed and three-dimensional teens and their story is captivating. Fans of Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything (HarperCollins, 2013) should add this to their must-read lists. VERDICT A moving story with tons of heart.-Emily Moore, Camden County Library System, NJ

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
Grades 9-12 In his junior year, Tyler was an outstanding student and football player, already granted a full scholarship to Stanford. But that was before Tyler found his mother in a blood-filled bathtub with her wrists slit. Now in his senior year, Tyler is so jangled that he can barely make it through the school day. His beautiful girlfriend grates on his nerves. Tyler now lives with his abusive father, and they're both out of their minds with grief and anger. Forced to earn money just to buy food, Tyler gets a job at a photographer's studio, where he reconnects with an old friend, Jordyn. Tyler is drawn to Jordyn, even as her loving family only reminds him of his own broken home. In this debut novel, Levy digs into Tyler's psyche, capturing both the pain of loss as well as the burden of self-blame. At times the emotional intensity is blistering, more on par with adult books, but it's capped with a satisfying ending. A good recommendation for fans of John Green's Looking for Alaska (2005).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)