After
Realistic Fiction/ Suspense
By Amy Efaw
Reviewed by McKayla Parkin
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Devon Davenport is a straight A student, with amazing soccer skills. She is a very independent, young woman because her mother is more interested in men than caring for her daughter. Men were never of any interest to Devon because she didn’t want to be anything like her mother. Devon had made a mistake she didn’t want to admit to. She was unable to convince herself she was pregnant after she began to have morning sickness, and all the symptoms of pregnancy. After she began to slow down and become groggy, she made excuses to stay out of practice. She went on for nine months wearing baggy clothes, and making up excuses to friends who wanted to hang out, to her coach, and to her doctor. Not being able to convince herself she was pregnant, she never formally went to the doctors while being pregnant, so she “didn’t know” she was pregnant. After nine months went by, Devon was home alone and had her child in her bathroom. Panic set in. She wrapped her baby in a towel, set it in a garbage bag with garbage, brought it out to the back alley, placed it into the garbage can, and walked away. Later, a man was walking his dog through the alley and found the baby. The police had investigated who had abandoned and neglected the innocent newborn child. Devon was put into a juvenile home for attempted murder, abandonment of a dependent person, criminal mistreatment, and assault. After a week of preparing with her lawyer, Dom, Devon went to court to find out if she’ll remain in the juvenile home, or go to jail. Will this young, intelligent, athletic girl be sent to jail?
After is the type of book you’ll never want to put down. The author, Amy Efaw, does an outstanding job at grabbing the reader’s attention. It definitely reminded me there are people out there that do bad things, unintentionally. The main character, Devon Davenport, has to put all her regrets about her past aside, so she can fight to stay in the juvenile home. This book takes place in the present day. I would recommend this book to girls who enjoy books that have happened before. At the ending I was expecting it to say how long she’s remain under custody, but it only told where she stayed while under custody. This book was the best book I have ever read.
