Devon Sky Davenport was a straight-A student and soccer star with Olympic dreams until That Night. The next morning she is lying on the couch in the seedy apartment she shares with her single mother who works two jobs and is seldom around and even when she is, she neglects her daughter. Devon is staring at the TV with the sound off, feeling numb to the pain of the cramping in her belly in a kind of dissociative state even when the police come to the door. So begins the trauma of discovering what she has done. That Night she gave birth to IT but she does not seem to remember how it all happened, which seems hard to believe at first but Efaw traces events in flashbacks through the book until the reader can understand how this might have happened. The character development is strong and the book ends on a surprising twist. ( )

Real..... Sad.... I wanted a different ending but understand why the author ended it this way.

Review: After by Amy Efaw. 06/13/2018

I enjoyed the writing style, character development and the theme. Efaw didn’t hesitate or twist the truth of the subject matter. She managed to maintain the perfect balance by being straight forward about dreadful details and yet descriptive enough not to go overboard. The story was fascinating in the saddest form but I believe how issues can be so stressful that the mind is in denial.

The story is about Devon Davenport, a teen in trouble hiding the fact that she is pregnant. The whole nine months she carried on as if she never had an issue even to the point of making herself press all negativity to the back of her mind. She backed away from most of her activities, her friends, her soccer coach and her neglectful, narcissistic mother. Efaw did such a great job of having Devon as the narrator describing the teen’s emotions, and details of moments of denial throughout the book.

Efaw slowly reveals the plot as Devon recalls and develops insight and realism into what she had done. As the reader I understand both sides of being scared, going into labor, and the awful crime of placing her living new born baby in the dumpster behind there building. Even at that moment with all the labor pains and her baby being born Devon was still in denial.

It’s understandable the baby needed justice and loving care. Near the end Devon comes to terms with what she did and knew she must be punished so the story continues….. ( )

Picking up After was hard for me. The crimes described in this book are unimaginable and horrific. It was hard for me to keep an open mind. In my opinion these kinds of crimes are unforgivable and inexcusable. With that being said I opened the book with the mindset of trying to keep my mind open.

At many times I found myself very annoyed with Devon. She was so meek and resistant. At times she came across as dumb. I understand that she was going through a lot, but geez, toughen up. She acts like such a victim throughout so much of the book and I couldn't find myself able to really feel sorry for her at all. Let's be clear here she is not the victim in this story. If it was rape then I could have understood her actions, I really could have. But it wasn't.

I found the setting of a juvenile detention center to be very interesting. I don't think I read any book that was set in one, but it certainly makes for an interesting environment. I was curious of the stories of the other girls.

Overall I give this 3 stars, but it's probably more like 2 1/2 . Interesting storyline and plot, but such an unlikable main character with so little depth or feelings to her. I think I would've enjoyed the story so much more through Dom's point of view. (the lawyer) ( )

I started becoming disinterested about 3/4 of the way thru. I don't know why. ( )