A huge thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

ABOVE ALL ELSE is one of those rare books that tackle a very difficult subject, especially in YA. Two teens who have been best friends for life, who dream of adding Mount Everest to their checklist of mountains to summit, and fight against past trauma and their growing attraction to each other.

This is the first book besides INTO THIN AIR or ALIVE (can you count that one as mountain climbing? I don't know. I feel weird adding it to this list, but I'll do it anyhow) where I'm experiencing what it's like to scale a big arse mountain. The author did her research and I felt as though I were there in Nepal with Rose and Tate. Although I do not know what about the process of adventuring at Mount Everest, I can tell that Levy did her homework with the detail she added to the story.

I believe what really sucked me into the story was how badly these two kids wanted it. I mean, they've trained and it's taken a grueling cost to their bodies and mind, and even though family issues and relationship confusion sometimes tried to get in the way, they (Rose especially) knew that they had to focus with all of their might to reach that summit and accomplish their dreams. Levi did a fantastic job in conveying that, boys, self-doubt, and other people's achievements should not overshadow what you want to accomplish. It's a great message and I love it.

Some people will say that the romance got in the way of the plot BUT I thought it was great to throw in there how addicting new love and sex can be, but when set a scale of your dreams, it does not weigh even an ounce. COuld it have a bit more developed? Sure. Did he affect my rating? Not at all.

I have to say that even though this book has a good ending, it will tear your heart out and stomp on it a few times before flushing it down the toilet. My heart. MY HEART!!!

What I loved most: The setting.

What I disliked most: if I had to choose, it would probably be Tate's decisions, which I did understand but still made me angry

Warning for semi-graphic sex scenes, language, death

Gorgeous cover and gorgeous writing! I have no experience or real knowledge of mountain climbing, so I can't speak to the accuracy of that information presented in the novel. However, I will say that the writer made this experience feel accessible to those who don't have that knowledge or experience. The characters were fun and the overall plot was enjoyable, if a little predictable. A solid YA read.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!

DNF at 40%. For some reason this book didn't grasp my attention and I didn't connect with the characters the way I usually do. I am glad there are so many others who enjoyed it but this book just wasn't for me sadly.

Above All Else by Dana Alison Levy is a full length, stand-alone story that gave me all the feels.
Meet Rose and Tate. Both are 18 year olds, just graduated from highschool and are passionate climber. They're about to living their dream, conquering Mount Everest. What they don't expect is a life altering experience, blood, sweat and tears that about to change them for forever.
Above All Else is a highly emotional read, excellent written and beautifully thought out and wonderfully told, a gripping story full of drama, suspense and unexpected twists and turns.
I loved reading this book, connect with the characers, observe their growing up. 5 Stars.

Wow. That’s the only word that seems to fit this book right now. I went into this book with expectations of a romance in the snow of Everest. But it was so much more. It was about finding your passion. Of heartbreak and of courage. It is one of those books whose story tugs at your heart and one that you will never forget. I highly suggest reading this book because it will change your perspective on courage and conquering challenges.

I enjoyed many aspects of this book, specifically related to climbing culture and in particular Mt. Everest climbing culture. I've read a couple of books about climbing and while I have zero urge to do it myself, I have to admit that I find myself fascinated by the people who have that sort of determined mentality.

I feel like this book does a good job discussing Everest and the socioeconomic and environmental effect the climbing craze has on the surrounding area.

It was obvious that the subject was very well researched by the author, which I really appreciated.

My issues with the book, and the reason it doesn't rate higher with me, is that it felt like it wasn't sure what it wanted to be, especially for the first half of the book. There are stylistic writing choices made that just made the text feel very juvenile to me. So many moments where words are strung-together-using-copious-hyphens-when-it-isn't-actually-necessary. There are other moments where phrasesaresmashedtogetherlikethis for a variety of reasons. There are also cases where both methods are present. Now, there are a few cases where this works, but mostly it just makes the text difficult to read for little reason.

So we have this hyper-juvenile text, and then at the 40ish% mark we jump into an intimate relationship with our two main characters that was barely hinted at for the first chunk of the novel. They go from 0-100 in the course of about 5 pages, and it feels just out of nowhere for me. There's like one scene where they share an overly-long glance, but other than that, there isn't much build up to them being obsessed with one another. I think a romantic subplot could work here, but I wish it'd been a little more evenly paced throughout the book.

Where the storytelling really works, in my opinion, is while they are on their climb and actually moving up the mountain. Unfortunately, they don't even get to Base Camp until about halfway through the book, and most of the actual climbing/descending happens in the last 15-20%. There are many moments in this last section that affected me, to the point that I actually cried a couple times at the end of the book. I enjoyed the coming-of-age aspect of this as well, and wish we could've had a bit more of the father/son relationship between Jordan and Tate.

This book explores PTSD and trauma in a way that felt very authentic and sensitive to me and my experiences, but I would be aware going into this book if you are at all sensitive to those things.

All in all, while I enjoyed the story, I wish it had dug a little deeper into the characters and really settled on what kind of tone it wanted to set and what audience it is catering to. I would absolutely recommend this to young people interested in Mt. Everest and everything that goes into climbing.

This was intense! I'm not a hiker or climber and the things Tate and Rose go through are crazy and not something I could ever do. The best part of this book is the authenticity. The author clearly did their research and I felt like this was nonfiction at times because it was so real. I had no idea what went into prepping to climb Mount Everest, the years of smaller climbs to work up to Everest, the weeks of acclimating to the higher elevation, the toll on your body. This was paced in such a way that we slowly saw the changes in the characters as they got closer to going for the summit and felt realistic.

The romance was a cute part and I liked that it was more of a backseat to the main climbing story. It gave an extra piece to the plot while not overtaking it. Seeing into both Tate and Rose's heads was great and I thought the PTSD was well written.
Overall, this was informative while staying interesting and fun. The ending had me holding my breath to see who was going to make it.

Wow! That was not the story I was prepared to read! Above All Else's description made me think I was going in for a cute YA romance while trekking up a crazy mountain, but it is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. Don't get me wrong, it is a YA novel (in that the main characters are 18 and you have the whole waiting-on-college-letters-ahhhh! trope) and there IS indeed romance involved, but definitely not in the way I thought there would be and I actually love that. Look at these super vague descriptions as to not give away the plot twists! Let's just say they exist and they are what make this book so so so special.

Anyway.

I loved Tate. I loved Rosie. I got annoyed by Tate. I got annoyed by Rosie. I fell back in love with Tate. I fell back in love with Rosie. Stop messing with my heart, kids! But to get serious here, Dana Alison Levy wrote well-rounded characters that are complex and, well, realistic. None of the story-lines were over dramatized. What these characters were out doing on that mountain was intense and dangerous and life changing and Levy made sure not to make that fact the secondary part of the novel. I think that's what I love the most about this book - the challenge of climbing Everest and everything that comes with that was the MAIN plot of this book. And let me tell you, it sucks you IN. I was at the figurative edge of my seat NEEDING to know what happens next as if I was reading a thriller novel! So much fun (in the 'I'm crying because so many heartbreaking intense things are happening right now and I can't handle it way').

One thing I'd say is that the description for Above All Else probably needs some beefing up because I think this is a way bigger book that it leads on.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advance e-copy in exchange for this review!

Above All Else takes you on an adventure while learning about two teenagers trying to learn about themselves and the world around them.
Tate and Rose are two young people who push themselves to the limit by climbing mountains. Their biggest adventure awaits them in Nepal as they plan to trek up the magnificent Mt. Everest.
Levy writes beautiful and descriptive scenes. While Rose and Tate climb mountains, the cold, the ice, the hard falls, the sound of Nepal when they arrive and the intense driving in the streets. I was lured in page by page of this book.
She makes us feel the weight of the climb- the intense need for oxygen and the strength it takes to keep going up.
The character build is very good, too. Tate is relatable. He tries his best even if it doesn’t look like it, he has attention deficit disorder, his main focus is climbing and that’s it. He doesn’t need or want more. He’s comfortable with who he is and he is annoyed by his parents for expecting more out of him. I feel many teens can relate to his character.
Rose is just as relatable for teens. She is ambitious and brave and completes all her goals. She wants to be great and get into a great school the exact opposite of Tate.
However, they are still close friends and their love for climbing makes their bond strong until the day Tate has a terrible accident that makes him question himself every step towards Mt. Everest. This makes you want to turn the page every step of the way to see how it all turns out.
This is a story of friendship, mental endurance, family, and the courage to face your fear straight on, even if that fear is 29,000 plus feet high.

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down I think I read this book within two days, the connection I had with this book was unreal, and that's what I look for in a book!

Wow. I picked up this book expecting your typical teen love story, as expected with most YA novels, with the backdrop of the trials of climbing Mount Everest. I was pleasantly surprised to find a novel with much more depth, that focused on the excitement and horror of scaling Mount Everest, with the young love tied into the climbing saga.

Rose and Tate have been training to scale Mount Everest for what seems like all of their lives. But a series of events happens that causes them to question their desires for wanting to reach the summit, and if those reasons are worth the dangers. I don't have much knowledge of climbing at all, but I really enjoyed the detail that the author included of the process to scale Mount Everest - I could tell that she had done her research and wanted that information to be a guide to so many of the characters' decisions and actions. I was also incredibly surprised by the ending, and in an attempt to avoid spoilers, I will just say that I expected a triumphant and happy ending, and instead found myself pondering a somber and heartbreaking ending that still left me feeling satisfied, because it felt very raw and real.

The main reason that I rated this book as 4 stars instead of 5 is because this book is marketed as YA for ages 12 and up, but there are a couple of fairly graphic sex scenes (and then many memories of those moments from the characters throughout the rest of the book), and I just don't think that that level of description was necessary for the book, especially with the intended audience. The salacious level of detail could have easily been left out, and should be left out with the intended audience for this book. When I pick up a YA novel, it is because I do *not* want to stumble upon all the sordid details of intimate moments between characters - these moments can be written without the salaciousness. For this reason, I have to knock it down a star, and strongly urge that these scenes be edited out before print later this year.

However, I do strongly recommend this book, with the above caveat. I would not recommend this to the "12 and up" age group due to its mature subject matter (both in the bedroom, and the emotions that are dealt with on the mountain), but I would recommend to adults and older teens. I believe the author captured the complexities and confusion of ambition and fear and excitement and all the other emotions encountered when you are facing a dream you've been working towards your whole life, albeit an extremely dangerous dream. This book left me with a lot to ponder at 2am when I finished the book. I know that I will never desire to climb Mount Everest, but in many moments of this book, I felt like I was alongside Rose and Tate and the rest, and that was a thrilling adventure on its own.

I truly just couldn't get into this book. It was relatively fast paced but I guess because I didn't find the characters or plot relatable in any way, I just couldn't find the will to power through at a fast pace. The ending of this book is it's saving grace and I live by that.

I've never climbed Mount Everest. I've never wanted to. But I can understand wanting to push yourself to do something like that, something so extreme and so dangerous its more about proving to yourself you can do it than anything else.

Tate and Rose have spent their entire lives climbing together, encouraged by Rose's mother and Tate's father who are both keen climbers. For years now, their focus has been on Everest and they have trained and fundraised and done everything they could to get there.

But now that the trip is actually happening, neither Tate nor Rose are as excited or as focused as they need to be to meet the challenge. Rose's mother is ill and couldn't accompany them to Nepal, leaving Rose feeling like she's missing a limb or something, while Tate's hiding a new terror of climbing he's developed since a nasty fall a few months back and pushing back when his father nags at him about failing to live up to his expectations.

And to complicate things even further, it appears that after all these years of being just friends, their relationship is changing, moving toward being the romance their friends always assumed they were already embroiled in.

With the mountain's summit growing closer and the challenges of climbing it with limited oxygen become more apparent, each of these climbers is going to need to dig deep to find their own strength and reason to keep going.

I enjoyed this book because it really brought home just how dangerous and how difficult it is to climb Everest. The characters were real and flawed and the romance between Tate and Rose felt like it grew organically.

I particularly liked the detail about climbing and the way you prepare for something like summiting Everest and the care and attention the Sherpas put into ensuring their climbers make it through the experience.

If you're interested in climbing, or maybe, like me, don't know much about it, this might just be the book for you. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read it in advance.

Rose and Tate have been best friends since they were 2 years old. Not only do they see each other every day, they have the same hobby - climbing. Years of planning went into organising the climb of a lifetime - Mount Everest. It is dangerous and only nutters would climb it. But do they make it to the top?

This story was a bit of a is starter for me and find it difficult initially to get into it. However I carried on and it did pick up. To the point where I had to read on.
Although some parts were predictable, the story was lovely.

The characters were well developed and it was obvious that the author researched this topic thoroughly!

Brilliant read, nearly had me in tears bear the end.

This is an emotionally gripping story of 2 life-long friends that go to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. This has been their dream and goal for years and they have trained hard. On their trip, they come to terms with their relationships, face their demons and learn who they really are.

This book is one I will remember for many years. I laughed, I cried and I rejoiced with Rose and Tate.

A cute story with a serious undertone exploring mental health issues such as PTSD. The author has done a beautiful job describing the region of Nepal, as an avid traveller myself, I felt as though I could really taste, smell, and hear what being in Kathmandu would have been like. I wish the buildup to Rose and Tate’s relationship was teased a bit more, rather than progressing what felt like suddenly. I also wish we got a bit more depth into exploring why they felt the way they did in certain situations. But overall I really enjoyed this one and would reccomend it to any travel lovers out there looking for a quick read.

Great story about two families who have planned the climb of a lifetime on Mt. Everest and the reality of the dangers that await them.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC copy

As a climber myself I have never before read a decent and realistic mountaineering fiction, so I started this book almost expecting to write a negative review. But I thought Above All Else was fantastic. The author captured the same horrendous atmosphere of Everest that "Into Thin Air" portrayed. She realistically gave the insight into the mind of passionate climbers questioning their dreams and morals.

Above all else honestly was the best fiction about mountaineering that I have ever read. The story was gripping and the characters were loveable. The author tackled PTSD, MS and Summit Fever with sensitivity and a heartwarming romance between childhood friends made for a great addition to the story.

Although I've climbed numerous big mountains, I've never been to Everest and after reading "Into Thin Air"as a child, I decided I never want to go. This story has only convinced me further that my decision is the right one!

Above all else by Dana Alison Levy is brilliantly engrossing and it is a book that grasps the attention immediately.

This story is told from the perspective of two experienced climbers, Tate and Rose as they participate in their life dream expedition to summit Everest.

It was the constant build-up to the climb and the danger of it that gave this book its piquancy of the philosophy of climbing and the horror of it.

The story Pushed the boundaries in a compelling read that forced me to wonder about being in the same circumstances as them.
Again and again, this book interpreted Rose Keller and Tate Russo trying to deal with everything they have left behind and the trauma that followed them through their journies from past events that they haven't dealt with.

Also, it involves remarkable characters and an epic exploration of the world’s highest mountain in raw and vivid descriptions, and the greatest survival that got them to the insane realizations of going through with it and why attempting it in the first place.

And I want to add that in this book you're either Rose, very determined to prove that she can climb the most dangerous mountain in the world for the person she loves the most that she left behind, or you can be Tate, very knowledgeable to his limits so well that he was focused more on the safety of others while trying to stand up for his choices, even if they weren't approved by the people he cares about the most.
I'm a Tate.

3.5 stars

First, let’s talk about how much I love this cover. So pretty I could stare her all day.
Both Rose and Tate are such well-developed and well-rounded characters. And, more importantly, their relationship was well-developed. Romance is there, but that's not what this book is about their friendship has a deep connection and it was actually quite riveting to read.

This was an overall captivating story, and everyone that the adventure seeker should read it.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!