If I’m being honest, I forgot I had requested all these titles a few years ago, but now I am going in and adding the star ratings I gave each one from then.

I don’t remember their plots enough to write a full review as it was a while ago, but now I am making an effort to become a reviewer.

I did read it before on wattpad, or at least i have a distant memory of it.
But it was not finished when i read it and then i suddenly forgot it, but i got super exicted when it came to request on netgalley. But it was not as amazing as i remember it to be, i did not enjoy how the writing was and the set up it ruined alot for me. Plus how they grew together, so quickly...it was a little odd.

‘Saving Everest’ by Sky Chase was a book that handled some pretty heavy topics and flowed well. The friendships that developed were wonderful, and the romance was cute. Be mindful of trigger warnings!

Saving Everest had some parts that I hated and some parts that were good, but overall this book was just okay. I didn't care for Beverly, but she was at least better than Everest's character. He seemed unrealistic to me and I didn't care about his troubles throughout the story at all.

The romance was cute in most of it, however. Not my favorite, but it was kind of enjoyable.

I didn't care for the ending - it was extremely rushed and didn't seem like a conclusion at all.

Overall, this book was okay, maybe even good, but not super great.

I started reading this one but didn't hold my interest. I thought the concept was good but I wish I could have connected with the characters more.

This book had a message but it got muddled due to the choppy writing style and subpar character development.

Everest, the star high school football player, attempted suicide and when he returned to school, everyone began bullying him. His family was not supportive and not even his girlfriend and popular crew had his back. He found an ally with Beverly, a quiet classmate who has always had a crush on him. The friendship allowed Everest the safe space to explore and understand the mental and emotional anguish that was causing him pain. Of course Beverly was a poor black girl and Everett was a white athlete from a well known family.

Despite so many cliches, the author attempted to tackle issue of depression, family genetics, race, social isolation, closet gay best friend, suicide etc. Considering that this story was set in high school, it is the perfect setting for this story. It just took me forever to get through the story. The writing just needed a lot of work. I did like both Ev and Beverly a lot, they were just one dimensional, and need to be developed better. I hope this author maybe tries to rewrite this one because the message is very necessary. I just cannot recommend it in its current form.

A very nice book! Definitely captures the spirit and the challenges of school/families/race/depression and the stigma of attempted suicide. Despite the heavy subject matter, this book is full of sweetness and hope. Recommended!

I enjoyed this book, but felt like some components were missing. There were a lot of things that I had questions on - such as, more detail in to why Everest attempted suicide. More detail into Everest's history. I did enjoy reading about Beverly, and liked her and Everest as a couple. However, I felt like the book ended a little quickly, without wrapping everything up.

I enjoyed this book! There were some parts that could have been expanded on, such as depression, however, the romance between the characters was sweet, and enjoyable to read about. The writing was done well, and was clear and well put together.

This was a sad beautiful story it talks about sad topics such as suicide and mental health and it pulled at my heart made me cry at times but if you have mental health it could be a trigger warning

Saving Everest was such a sad story, but it's an important read and deals with sensitive subjects. Suicide is such a huge issue in our society, especially for teenagers. As a teacher, I see students all the time coming to terms with their friends suicides or suicide attempts.

I loved the characters, but oh did my heart break for Everest. Once the whole school finds out he tried to commit suicide, they start bullying him. I did find this a bit unrealistic. I know teenagers can be mean, but I think most have so much more heart then this. It also saddens me how is dad treated him. I just wanted everything to be ok for him!

Overall, this was a good story. I do think the writing could have been a little better. With a few changes, I think this story could have definitely been a 5 star read.

I really dislike giving low review ratings but I feel like it’s my responsibility to be truthful and give my honest opinion on something.

I did read this entire book. It was not what I was expecting and almost didn’t finish it. At first the description intrigued me but the story itself didn’t sit well with me. First off the term “Black Beauty” that was used to describe one of the MC felt unnecessary to me. Let’s not mention the fact that the father of Everest said “good think we’re having chicken tonight” while Beverly was at the dinner table with them. What was the point of adding that to the story?

Basically the story goes as followed: super popular boy tries to commit suicide, fails, whole school knows, bully’s him for it dramatically, befriends Beverly in the library where she always is at, spends lots of time together, start to have feelings for each other, as cliche as it is they fall in love with tons of added drama that wasn’t necessary and made the story longer than it probably should have been.

There was no background info on where or why Everest’s depression came full force or why his father treated him so poorly 24/7. It’s unfortunate that this story wasn’t what I hoped it would of been.

Everest Finley, the most popular boy in school tried to kill himself. This decision makes him a piranha among his peers when he returns to school, he's ostracized. Nobody from his peer group will have anything to do with him, not even his best friend.

Seeking escape from either hateful eyes or eyes full of pity, he escapes to the back corner of the library where is meets <b>Beverly (Evie) Davis. She instinctively knows they're going to be good friends. She's a loner with no friends and Everest needs a friend. They meet daily for lunch and slowly a group of misfits starts to join them. When Evie pushes Everest to sing during open mic night at a local cafe, it begins his healing process. His popularity grows and he discovers it's his real calling in life.

Everest and Evie grow closer as friends and eventually begin to see each other in a different light--as possibly more than friends. Meanwhile Evie is dealing with a mother who is more like a friend than a parent. All in all, it's an odd group of characters that find each other at the right possible moment.

Everest is an important story but I couldn't tell you why Everest attempted suicide from all outward appearances he had it all and then lost it. He was encouraged to get help but didn't connect with the therapist and he stopped seeking treatment. There will be teens that will read and perhaps be influenced by this work so I think it critically important for Everest to have sought another therapist versus self-healing himself.

Recommended: Read It!

I received this e-galley from Wattpad Books via Netgalley.Thank you so much!

This is the second time when i start to read this book.The first time was on Wattpad but i stopped(i don't remember why), and now after i received this e-galley i thought to myself that i have to read it and see how Everest's story ends.
When you have it all,or at least that's how people think about you,doing something as reckless as trying to commit suicide is not something people will forget about.They don't care about you or what drove you to that point.

Well,Saving Everest is that kind of story that makes you think about how lucky you are right now with what you have in your life and how bad it could be.

What made me finish reading this book was the way things started to happen:how Beverly entered Everest's life and step by step started to change it.How things evolved and became something more,something that managed to make me like this story.

Yeah,i have to admit that it could have been much better,but somehow i got to the point where i started to think that it could have been much worse.
This type of story,the ones who reach deep inside your heart ,are the ones who can make you feel a lot of things.The type of story that make you realize that what you have right now maybe is not peferct,but it could be much worse.

I liked the friendship that started between Beverly and Everest.Something everyone should have in real life,someone you can count on and someone who can be there when you need him/she to be.

Overall,the story was good and it described perfectly how someone,a friendship,could save your life and how much it means.
Beverly,well,she was the kind of character you can't hate.Always happy and always taking care of everyone else.She was pretty much my favorite and i liked how she managed to enter Everest's life and became his best friend.

Everest.Damn,i don't really know how to say this,but how can a character like him do something like that?Eh,probably i will never understand what was behind all that suicide act,but the author described the why and i think i understand a little(i'm not sure).Everest,yeah,i liked.I would have loved to get a glimpse of the old Everest,the one before the big event,but it's ok.

There were a lot of characters that made this story much better and with every chapter everything evolved.What i liked here the most was the fact that even if this story didn't have many roller coasters ,somehow managed to keep me on my toes and it kept me wondering what could happen next.

So,if there will be an next book,in the future,i will read it..Even if it won't be about Beverly and Everest.

Even though it gives a big warning about depression/suicidal thoughts/behavior right up front, it didn’t seem like this was the main plot. This was more teen romance novel then anything else.

I received this ebook copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful, sweet and tearjerking! I love Sky Chase's writing and fluid storytelling. It's one of the books that I have to keep my eyes on because I don't want the book to end. Everest and Beverly's love story is detailed and intricate as they share their childhoods and pain with each other. Lovely romantic novel!!

DNF @50% / 2 Stars / 1 Steam Fan (maybe)

I requested this book to support a debut black author and to step out of my comfort zone by reading more YA novels. Sadly, this book did not do it for me. There are major content warnings for depression, attempted suicide, racism, and social awkwardness that failed to be handled in an interesting way to keep me reading. The 50% of the book that I did read was very slow and uneventful. Around this point is where the formatting of the ARC went off the rails to the point I couldn't read the novel anymore without being completely frustrated. Everest is the popular kid in school that attempted suicide. Upon returning to school he has to deal with his classmates knowing that he attempted to take his life. Beverly is the one black girl in the high school, she stays to herself, and when Everest happens to enter her space they become friends. There are a bunch of family issues that are the obvious root of the problems both Beverly and Everest are going through. I really wish the formatting hadn't been so bad and I hope that it is fixed before final print. I may revisit the book if that was to happen.

This specific video review will be included in the October 2019 wrap-up.

For other video book reviews check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Romance Book Talk.

This is a story of two high school students that come from different sides of family dynamics. Beverly lives with her mother and Everest lives with both parents and a younger sister.
Everest is popular in school but is unhappy with his life because his father wants to groom him for the family business, which Everest wants no part of, so Everest attempted suicide.
When he returns to school everyone tends to shy away from Everest and not as friendly with him like before his suicide attempt.
Beverly always noticed Everest in school but hardly talk to him and when she saw how Everest was being treated the she befriends him.
I love how the author developed the characters, their emotions and you can imagine them and feel what they are going through. The lesson I saw in the storyline is that you can be friends first by getting to know each other, you don't have to have a sexual relationship first. That it doesn't matter what family background you were born into and raised you can overcome any obstacles and pursue your dreams and not the ones that others say you should.
Even though this is a YA genre I recommend it to any age person to read..
Cassandra H.
This ARC is from Netgalley and my review is of my own honest opinion.

I cuss alot. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal. it's just how I am. Also, I don't know if i will be able to edit this review, but everything is done in HTML attributes in terms of italicizing, emboldening, and underlining. They're absolutely necessary for emphasis. Thanks!


1.5/5 stars.
It was like kombucha girl the whole way through except I finally said no and gave up. I have such a headache. I had 135 annotations within the first 10 chapters. It's a joke to say this book is about depression or any type of mental health awareness or recovery. I barely made it through. Genuinely half the crap said, were things that people with knowledge of depression/suicide/recovery will never dare say because it's hurtful and we have heard it before from people we trusted and needed to help us. They throw it back in our faces. Everything I have ever heard said to me about my being depressed and suicidal, how I'm faking it, how I'm doing it for attention, how I choose to be this way, I just need to do exercise, was all here in some shape, form, or way. As someone who has been severely clinically depressed for a long time, this book was insulting. Secondly, trigger warnings are necessary and so is proper research when dealing with something like a suicide attempt.




<u><b>A General All Around View on my thoughts:</b></u>

- <b>A Quick Summary:</b> The book follows Beverly, a shy 'outcast' and unpopular girl who befriends Everest, formerly known as the king of his school and essentially is perfect, one day while in 'her spot' in the old library, just after Everest had returned to school after a failed suicide attempt. Everest is deemed something like an untouchable by the rest of the student body because of his attempt ad is ridiculed over it. He loses his friends and basically that’s about it and him having fame at the end, but I’m guessing was added to make the story longer lmfao

- THERE NEEDS TO BE A TRIGGER WARNING.

- Was the whole thing about her being black necessary?

- There was so little empathy and care for the topics at hand, it was hurtful. The lack of research and inability to portray the themes correctly ruined anything the book had that could have made it redeemable, which was next to nothing as was. You're led to believe this is a teen fiction story that portrays teen depression and suicide and maybe recovery as a central theme and main plot point, but the reality is just that the author wanted it to be deeper than it was or somehow more than two kids falling in love. Beverly basically tells Everest that he just needs to be happy on more than one occasion, which anyone with mental illness knows how much it hurts to hear that from anyone. It's like being told I chose to be this way. I was going to finish this book. I really was going to, but I gave up. I made it to page 84 before I literally just could not do it anymore. I read the ending, skimmed the rest of it and got what I needed with the first few chapters.

- The writing sucked so much it was laughable.

- It needed to be outlined. Desperately. It was an entire scatterbrained fuck up with no real plot other than these two getting to know each other, which is fine, write a teen fiction romance, but don’t you fucking dare try to market as anything else and don't you dare try to claim it's positivity on mental health when it is clearly not that. Depression, suicide, recovery, his best friend being gay, it’s all less than a subplot. It’s just there to be there. The depression/suicide literally only acts as a device to bring them together.

-Sis, really did it and went in on the Im NoT lIkE oThEr GirlS and pretty much exposed herself for hating women when she was describing the assistant that Everests dad is having an affair with. Apparently she <i>dressed like she was trying to satisfy every man's wet dream</i> and had <i>more boobs than brains.</i> p.11 Seriously, fuck off.

- Multiple contradictories as if the author forgot what she was writing or didn't remember what she wrote. Half sleeves are very very hard to be mistaken for singular tattoo m'am.

- There is a scene where Everest's naming colors and then he says something about them. I thought it was nice. It was well written and poetic in a way.

- The confessions from his Uncles journal he describes as gorging himself on which is weird because it's shit like, "Don;t like my wifes cooking." I dunno, would've been different had he been the Zodiac Killer then maybe I'd believe his confessions were just that interesting.




<b>The Representation of Depression/Suicide and lack of research</b>

- I said it already, Imma say it again, Everest's depression/sucide is done out of convenience and acts only as a way to bring him and Beverly together. That's it.

- There does not exist a real, believable representation of what depression and suicide are. This is someone who <i>thinks</i> they know what depression is like. It's fake and shallow and lacked real research or knowledge of the topic. The first read flag came when, yeah, you guessed it, little bitch Bev said #positivityisallyouneed.

- Her entire take on depression is <i><b>You just have to be happy. You need to think positive.</b></i>. It's very dismissive and we see it the behaviors exhibited, thoughts, and things said.

- The reason the whole thing falls flat is because the author never makes even a slight attempt for Everest to get better. Instead he is deemed 'reckless' by Beverly and is told he needs to stop being so, and that he just needs to be positive. There is no doctors’ visits, no making a point that he is taking medications or seeing someone for his depression, which is stated more than once that he still has and is still suffering. Nothing. Just, tHiNk PoSiTivE.

- There's this thing where Everest is constantly referred to as psychotic, crazy, a nutcase, etc. Like, he's sad. Not Norman Bates. It's fucking disgusting. Shut the fuck up. Please. Just stop. It's enough.

Receipts // The ignorance jumping out
- <i>"...'I'm fine.' I assured her as the depression zoomed, bolted, and leaped through my veins, begging to be cut and released..."</i> p. 61 I contemplated just leaving this quote as the entire review just to highlight what a joke it is to claim this book is something about mental health awareness.

- <i>"...He talked a lot of game for someone who didn't even want to continue with his life..."</i> How fucking dare you claim you care about someone and throw this back at them. It goes to show a lot about a person. This is throwing someones mental health back in their face and it's shitty.

- <i>"...You don't want to die. You just need to figure out how to start living..."</i> Not how that works. Please, go see a therapist. Please get some anti depressants. Talking does wonders.

-<i>"..."I want to die," I told her, straightening my back..."No, you don't." She spoke with confidence and assurance. "Tell me this: Why haven't you tried again? If you really wanted to die, then you would have done anything to get the deed done"..." p. 63</i> I-just because someone is suicidal does not mean they are always actively looking for ways to commit suicide...

- <i>"..."You've been sad for too long. I wanted to do something and show you that it's okay to be happy..."</i> p. 74. Fuck you. ItS oKaY tO bE hApPy. Anyone with a real understanding of depression and suicide would never even think to say this.




<b>The Writing</B>

- The writing itself mostly just sucks. There are so many awkward sentences, paragraphs, scenes and descriptions that either needed to be rewritten entirely, a simple rearranging of words, or even just all around, unnecessary to include. All around, it read like it was not edited or they went through and did edit it and eventually said fuck it. Like we did what we could. We got what we got.

- There is an attempt to be deep, poetic, flowery with the use of metaphors and similes, but it doesn't work. It's easily undermined by some awkward sentence structure or something else said later on. It is super cringey to hear.

- Repeatedly was told something and then shown.

- Lot's of overly descriptive words.

- A lot of switching between passive and active voices, sometimes mid sentence.

<i>"...Happiness wasn't meant for people like me, because it would always crash and burn. Fire. Ashes. Smoke..."</i>

- <i> "...my thoughts were clawing at my skin from the inside out..."</i>

- <i>"...He wore a beanie today and I thought it looked really nice..."</i> Bruhhh, I'm telling you I died. This one sent me. I thought that was so funny. Christ.

-<i>...wetness invaded my cheeks...</i> p. 10 Not even one line down he proceeds to say, <i>"...her tears rolled down my cheeks..."</i> like you don't say

- <i>...hearing a deep voice inside a badly lit library...</i>

-<i>...Everest the boy who tried to kill himself; the boy with sad eyes...</i>

- <i>...mist of disappointment...</i>

-<i>...It was hard to miss something that you didn't remember. It was even harder missing something you did remember...</i> You had me and then you didn't.

-<i>...My thoughts were too big to fit in my twin bed...</i> oh, ok.





<b>Laughable shit // This does tie in with writing </b>

-I don't know if it's an attempt at feigned naivety but she uses joint, blunt and cigarette interchangeably. A blunt can never be mistaken for either a joint or cigarette.

- An attempt to I think garner pity for Everest or shallowly show he is depressed, he turns to drugs. Everest goes to a place called the Basement where basically the druggies and "lowlifes," as he so eloquently puts it, hang out and for some reason, while there he does weed and alcohol because being cross faded is amazing you know, and our boy gets a half sleeve in a matter of hours??? Firstly, why would you trust a druggie to do your tat? Secondly, why let some random ass chick who is high dye your hair? Where did this dye come from?

- Our boy gets high and I shit you not tries to eat a taco but misses his mouth? I want to know what drugs he is on. I want some. I just know he couldn't walk. Have you ever been so high you couldn't walk? Angel dust and DMT and cocaine all in a bottle of tequila is what that sounds like.

- Beverly asks when the last time he was truly happy, which ?? I can confidently say if he has been depressed this long he surely doesn't remember because his memory is fucked, and replies when he was 10 at his Grandma's house. It's weird.

- <i>...You should masturbate with a knife sometime...</i> what an odd thing to say. I appreciate the attempt to be witty.

-<i>...smoking object...</i> Fuck you.

- they smoke a whole ass blunt at school. I--I'm from Colorado my man. I can't. I really can't with this one.




<b>Characters</b>
- You usually decide within the first ten seconds of meeting someone if you like them or not. This applies to characters as well. Within the first few pages or chapters they are on the page you are going to decide if you like them and I don't like these two. Even as I got further into the book.

- Their backgrounds were nicely written actually and gave me a good picture of who they were in terms of how they grew up and how that contributed to who they are, but I don't see much personality in either one.

- Beverly is an annoying insufferable ignorant headass, who if I could get my hands around her throat, I would. She continuously describes herself as unpopular, unnoticeable--despite being only one of two black girls in all white school and in her words, <i>...made me stick out like a sore thumb...</i> p.3 --having no friends and is a loner who doesn't even like sitting in the cafeteria.
<i>...although nobody talked to me, I still valued their company. I could deal with solitude, but I didn't prefer it.</i> First off, bitch, join a club. It's not that deep. You don't have friends because you don't bother to make any.

-Everest, seems like a decent kid. Former king of the school. A little slut shamey and judgey. I honestly, can't remember his personality too well.




<u>Everest's Suicide Attempt</u> (because I want to highlight how shitty this was shown and how bad research actually was, which yes, you do need in a book like this.

A little information beforehand: I have been depressed for a long time. It's genetic, I can't really help it. I take meds and I have attempted suicide more than once. I have been admitted to psych maybe fourish times. Two were attempts, the other visits were resulted from comments I made to nurses and any other people who needed to handle me. So, everything I'm about to say is generalized in a way and based entirely on if someone is doing their job correctly. I'm doing my best to apply what I know/experienced, what I've heard, and my own research and applying it to Everest's situation.

- After Everest's failed attempt, he spends <b>five days</b> in the hospital with his father visiting him twice and ignoring him, his little sister never coming to visit ever, and his mother calling him crazy and telling everyone he needs to be locked up. In his five days, Everest, who is considered a child, <b>refuses to talk with his shrink</b>. So, this is all very crucial, Everest is a minor who spends five days in the hospital after a suicide attempt refusing to talk to his shrink. All it takes is googling how a suicide is handled to know right off the bat that this will not fly. Let's break it down:

<b>a.)</b> Suicide is a very very very big deal and about 90% of the time it will be handled as such. Entirely dependent of the situation and what needs to be done, they might let you go hours afterwards and not even send you home with a recommendation for a therapists or an anti-depressant. Someone could vehemently deny they were trying to kill themselves, and maybe the doctors or nurses will buy it, and let them go. I know people who have accidentally overdosed on prescription and/or over-the-counter meds and ended up being admitted. Like I said, every situation varies, but normally protocol is a 72 hour lock down in psych, and/or then you might get a 2 week stay in a mental institution. Whether or not you get to go home after the 72 hours or even do the 72, is up to and how you want to behave. You’re on eggshells.
<b>b.)</b> <b>Everest is a minor, a child</b>. Everest would have been sent to a children's hospital with a ward for such circumstances and Child services <i>will</i>be called. This is serious. A child has made an attempt on their life, people will have questions about the home life. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they will for certain interact with the party. They could just observe. His parents’ actions spoke words. The nurses are watching you like a hawk. They will make it known to doctors and social workers if either party is displaying behavior that calls for even more concern. Normally, his parents would have been questioned by social services, either because of the suicide attempt to begin with especially seeing how popular he was in his community or because of the appearance of neglectful behavior.
In addition to this, Everest's parents brought him home, which isn't entirely rare, but circumstances would have made it entirely unlikely. He wasn't willing to comply with talking to the someone and his parent’s behavior was concerning, they would not have let them do this.
<b>c.)</b> <b>Participation is not an option. You must participate and you <i>will</i> comply, either on your own or by force.</b> As we know, he spent five days refusing to comply with speaking to a therapist which is not something you can usually do. You have attempted suicide.

- 72 hours isn't fun, btw. Those 2 weeks at the hospital, maybe.

One last thing, someone who does not want to get better, is not going to get better. It took a long time for me to want to get better and it's never done for someone else. Going to therapy, taking medications, wanting to be better. Fighting to be better. Nobody gets better for someone else. We do it because we want to be better. Depression is not sadness. It is being hopeless and numb. Depression is a fucking battle. Suicide is done as a last resort, because someone doesn't have a reason to stay, because they're tired and exhausted, because they can't see a way out, because they don't believe they will ever get better.

I ran out of characters on Goodreads but

Suicide hotline: 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: 741741

Drug Abuse National hotline: 1-800-662-4357

Trevor Lifeline: 1-866-488-7386

Sky Chase is brand new to publishing a book with her debut novel, but the description of her book Saving Everest had me interested from the get go. A novel about an interracial relationship that builds into more after someone has hit rock bottom.

I love hard hitting books about topics only some authors want to talk about. Saving Everest was one of those books. It starts right off dealing with a suicide attempt by the most popular kid in school and then moved on to the depression and issues that come after a failed suicide attempt. This story was one of survival and coming of age. I loved how Chase wrote characters who were relateable, from two different socioeconomic backgrounds, and with different interests. The story flowed smooth and Everest’s recovery followed a believable timeline. The characters were likeable and a lot of what they were going through reminded me of my own teen angst issues.

While I loved a majority of the book, there was one part that did bother me. The ending came on fast. The last two to three chapters seemed like they crammed a bunch of BIG decisions into small spots and then tried to wrap it up in the last chapter very quickly and kind of on a cliffhanger. I felt like the timing of the rest of the book was so good and then the end was rushed, which left me feeling short changed and disappointed. I’d have liked that information spread out over a few more chapters at least.

Aside from that I did thoroughly enjoy this story. I felt a lot of emotions while reading and sometimes that is hard to do for me. I look forward to Sky Chase releasing her second book and will be picking it up. Everyone should read Saving Everest if they love a good hard hitting, tear jerking, coming of age story.