Review: Playing Tyler by T.L. Costa

Playing Tyler by T.L. Costa

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Pages:304 

Format: ARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Goodreads:  Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.

Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games and, well, thats probably not going to get him into college.

Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.

That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.


Kritters Thoughts:  A video game that isn't as it seems, a pair of teens who may or may not fall in love and a lot of drama - this book went to places that I couldn't have even predicted, but I definitely enjoyed it.  With both a young man and woman as narrators of this story, I loved seeing the story through both of their view points, it made the book feel complete.  

The twists and turns were fantastic.  There were times that I tried to make a guess as to where it may go and I was absolutely wrong and completely ok with it!  To be fair, I had a difficult time reading Tyler's narratives because the author wrote his including his internal thoughts with careful detail to Tyler's battle with ADHD and his thoughts were all over the place - I couldn't follow it, but I knew it made the reader really understand what all was going on in Tyler's mind at any moment.  It had to be honest.

I do state below that this is a perfect YA read and I think it is perfect for both boys and girls.  My one note is that there are difficult topics tackled in this book and some foul language, but putting those aside, I think any young adult would love this book.


Rating: perfect YA read

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.