I received an arc of this book from netgalley, although as you can see I did not read it before its 2020 pub date. 

This is a story about two high school graduates who decide to climb Mt Everest. Rose and Tate have been best friends their whole lives and bond over mountain climbing, so climbing Everest seems like a natural thing to cross off their bucket list. But Rose’s mom is sick and can’t climb with them as planned and Tate has PTSD from a bad fall during their last climb, and tensions are high as they tackle one of the scariest and most deadly climbs in the world. And of course, a lifetime of friendship is on the line as romantic feelings bloom as well. 

The writing style of this book was very dry and hard to get into, and while we had alternate POVs between Tate and Rose, I never really felt like I got to know them and their voice felt very similar to each other. 

I also didn’t totally buy the romance here. All book long, they talk about how they see each other as siblings and how boys and girls can be friends with nothing happening and then BAM they’re having sex on a mountainside? I didn’t feel the vibes at all. 

Plus, I know Tate is dealing with a lot of his own mental health issues, but the dude is kind of a douchebag. He is so selfish thinking only of himself and not of Rose’s feelings or her situation with her mom. And he constantly is yelling and blowing up in anger and she just is so calmly taking it from him. Idk. He gave me such a huge ick and I was screaming at Rose to not get with him and to just head off to college in the fall and leave him behind. 

The mountain climbing aspect of this book was actually very interesting to me as someone who has no knowledge of that world. I’m not sure how accurate everything in this book is to real life, but I do feel like I learned a lot there. 

TLDR: skip this one