I really enjoyed Above All Else! I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read this book.

Rose and Tate are both such relatable characters. I couldn't help but root for them and want them to succeed. They both have their goals and I love how they grow and learn throughout the story. I really liked Tate's character development and how he learned the importance of doing what he feels is best for him and saying 'no'. I found both characters a little bit annoying but it was realistic.

I really liked the romance in this book. Childhood best friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes! Most importantly, I liked how Rose did not give up on her goal and dream just because of Tate and that Tate did what he knew was best for him despite Rose continuing to climb. I love how they've both been there for each other through everything.

The parent/child dynamics in this book were great as well! Tate and his dad's relationship is far from perfect but I like how they talk and begin to resolve things as the story progresses. Rose dealing with her mom's sickness and continuing to climb without her was also touching.

This book was very well researched. It was fascinating to read about the local Nepalese culture and I'm really glad Dana Alison Levy mentions the effects tourism has on the environment, the poverty in the area and Rose's guilt for paying thousands of dollars for the Sherpas to risk their lives over and over.

The challenge of climbing Mount Everest was very real. It was not romanticised and the characters struggled.

Although I don't climb myself, I could definitely feel Rose's drive and passion and love for climbing in the beginning of the story.

I was so immersed. I definitely cried at the end. (and there were Disney song references!)

"Realization floods through me that this thing we're doing, this climb, is beyond hard, a challenge almost no human on Earth would want to do."

I really wanted to like this book. I even feel apologetic now, as I sit here and say that I've made it as far as I can: 43%. There are a few things that I liked, but the overwhelming majority of my thoughts are negative. I'll explain in detail below why I stopped the book despite wanting so badly to enjoy it.

Positive:
- World building! The suffocating air, the altitude, the bad decision of looking down, letting the dizziness from the height overwhelm them, the adrenaline as their hands shake on a particularly slippery edge. The imagery is more than decent, and although I've never climbed before, I feel that I do have a pretty good idea now of why I never will. :P *shudders*

Negatives:
- I don't know if it's just because it was an advance copy I received, but the formatting was *so* messed up. Paragraphs jumbled together, some spaced out too far, and the chapters didn't even start correctly. Words were separated from their start, and although I tried to look past it, this deceptively small detail made the reading experience a lot more difficult for me.
- Lack of character development. I loved the concept (who can say no to an intimidating adventure and challenge?), but the execution of the characters made it confusing. I was frequently conflicted about where the characters stood. Sometimes they wanted to climb, but other times, they didn't. I couldn't tell what their motivations were, and as a result, I couldn't connect to them.
- A random relationship? There was also a sudden relationship that blossomed (or more like, exploded) in the middle of nowhere. Even though readers can occasionally appreciate a spontaneous romance, Tate and Rose's relationship felt forced and extremely uncomfortable. There was seemingly no attraction to begin with, and then all of a sudden it seemed like they were thrown at each other as a coverup for the lack of development in their characters. Fact: They were better as friends.
- This reason is probably why I can't continue reading: The writing style is very elementary. If this book is meant for YA, which it is, there should be a lot more sophistication in the scenery, movement, and dialogue of the characters. It's lacking in all of those fields. When I read a book, I want to be immersed in the story, not cringing because of some strange dialogue choices or misplaced tenses. It eventually got to the point that I couldn't look past the writing and began to fix the sentences in my head instead of actually investing myself in Tate and Rose's story!

Conclusion:
I think this book would have worked SO much better had it been marketed towards a middle grade audience. The writing is clear but inelegant for the more advanced reader, and the concept could be extremely interesting and marketable if only the execution were smoother.

Would I recommend this book?
Honestly? Not really. I don't think you'd be missing much. If Levy were to release a new and revised version of the story, where things are a little cleaner and the character development is a bit stronger, I would be more than willing to give this story another chance.

A copy was sent to me from netgalley and edelweiss and all of the opinions stated are my own and no one else’s.

2/5 stars. DNF @ 52%. I binged this book. You would thing that that means it was good, right? Wrong. The first 30% of this book was really amazing but after that the romance between the two characters went WAY too fast. Sometimes fast paced romances work for me but this one? Nope. I was honestly enjoying the fact that they were hiking mount everest better then the damn romance. Which if you know me that is a very rare occasion.

This book is not for everyone, and I believe it’ll only work for a certain demographic.

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 can't rate this. I didn't get far enough to be able to give it a rating. It was just a bit too slow and uninteresting to me.

I think it has potential and people will like this, but it just wasn't for me. It didn't move fast enough for my liking and I couldn't connect with any characters.
The layout of the ARC definitely didn't help either.

Well, this really cemented my complete lack of interest in mountain climbing, and scaling Everest specifically!

The descriptions of preparing for the climb and the ascent itself were certainly a highlight of the book, tense and vividly drawn; even reading it felt as if it required some fortitude. (Still, and it might just be my personality so there wouldn't be any convincing me, but I spent the whole book absolutely baffled and offput by the driving desire to make the summit. Despite all of the intended passion of Rose's chapters, it ended up with me feeling that people should in general stop trying to climb Everest.) I also appreciated the discussions within the text of how the Everest industry impacts the local people and communities, and that it doesn't pretend to have clear cut answers.

The relationship aspect was not as gripping for me - I wonder if Rose and Tate's relationship would have struck me more with more of a buildup/backstory rather than the intro in media res. Interestingly, although I'm more of a planful, checklist-y Rose, I found Tate's POV to be the more engaging and relatable. I also felt that the narrative seemed to lionize Rose's mother Maya, concluding that she was right to push Rose despite outward signs that she might not be as invested in the Everest goal as she had been when it was initially proposed because she knew her well enough to know that when the moment arrived, some inner desire to climb would be revealed, without interrogating within the narrative the ways in which Maya's diagnosis factor into Rose's continued devotion to the goal; this element also felt contradictory to a key discovery of Rose's, that you can only make the climb for yourself. I also felt that so much of Tate's PTSD storyline was undermined in the later part of the book - it seemed as if a lot of the elements which were so mindfully portrayed and discussed earlier ended up pushed conveniently to the side in favor of the drama/trauma of those last scenes.

I would definitely recommend more to adventure/survival readers, though YA contemp/friendship/romance readers might enjoy as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I've been suffering from insomnia during this quarantine, and this book was a fabulous way to keep busy while I was awake. I am really surprised by the lower ratings, because I thought it was fascinating, well-researched, and really romantic. I'm a bit of a sucker for best friends to more stories (Romione shipper for life), but what I loved about Rose and Tate is that they both had flaws and recognized them in each other and didn't try to minimize them. I love climbing books -- from Into Thin Air to Peak -- and this one was great. Yes, it's about climbing Mt. Everest but it's really about honesty, relationships, finding your person, and parent-child closeness. I highly recommend it, and I plan to add it to the high school library this Fall.

A wonderful read, about the of these two best friends and the hardships they end up facing along the way; how they deal with them. If you like adventure and facing challenges life throws at you this book is for you.

i enjoyed the writing, it flowed really nicely, and i really loved all the characters in this (like not a single boring or unnecessary or one-sided character wow), the romantic (side)plot was super unnecessary tho

thank you for netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!