After by amy efaw

After 

Amy Efaw

 4 star read

Reviewer: Emily
Author: Amy Efaw
 Format:Paperback
Source:book depository

 Genre: Young adult, contemporary

About Book

                                 

BEFORE it all, Devon was a good student, a good athlete, an all-round good girl. But then IT happened- the thing that was so horrible, so shameful, so impossible to imagine that Devon simply chose not to admit it to anyone, even herself.

But denial cant make things go away, and now Devon’s in a juvenile detention center, facing a possible life sentence for her actions.

Does she deserve that punishment? Did she know what she was doing? Or was her denial so deep that she was unable to register the seemingly unavoidable changes happening to her?

Told with empathy and precision, Devon’s story is a gripping page-turner that will challenge your beliefs about conscious and consciousness.

                       My Thoughts

                                   

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made - Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there's only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible - she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon's unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

Now whilst both those desciptions sound amazing they really don’t give you an insight as to how heartbreaking this book really is. From the second I picked it up I couldn’t put it down, I just had to know what would happen and how it would end.

In the beginning I hated Devon for what she did and just wanted to see her get punished. Firstly she dumped her newborn baby into the trash without a care in the world. Id only just given birth to my son so I was judging her on something I didn’t truly understand. Whilst I might never have been able to do that I am not her.

Throughout the book we see that Devon is very driven, smart and would do anything for her team. I started to really like her at this point but still had what she did in the back of my head so I was undecided. I wasn’t sure what I would have done, she was so far in denial that she honestly didn’t admit to herself she was pregnant so when it came time for her to have the baby she didn’t know what was going on. I think in the back of her head she knew all along but after the traumatic experience of labor, going through it alone and not really knowing she was pregnant made her react instead of think. She made huge mistakes and ruined her life but I see why she did it, I just don’t agree. In the end she did the first and last good thing she would be able to do for her daughter.

By the end of the book I was crying like I did throughout the book, finding out the baby was ok and Devon accepting what she did as wrong.

Overall id give this book a 4/5 stars because it was amazingly written and really got me into the head of Devon and change my opinion of things and for a mother that’s a really hard thing to do when it comes to innocent babies involved.

Beautifully written, heartbreaking and giving you a look into why some people do things. The mind is a powerful thing and I truly believe that if you think something and will it to be true that eventually your mind will help you overlook the facts.

To anyone who was thinking about reading this but wasn’t sure I say please do, this book is worth the time to read.