Playing Tyler review

Playing Tyler by T L Costa

Book Synopsis:

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, that's 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.

Shona's review 4 of 5 stars.

I will put my hands up and admit that my desire to read this book was based solely on the cover and increased hype on Strange Chemistry's Facebook page. Every time I logged into Facebook I would be greeted by this cover and the more I saw it the more I wanted to read it. When I was offered an ARC of this I jumped at the chance. So thank you Netgalley and Strange Chemistry.

The first chapter from Tyler's point of view was... uncomfortable. It took me a few re-reads to get used to his inner monologue, but after that first chapter it wasn't an issue. Tyler himself was instantly likeable. As was Ani, she isn't your typical love interest. This girl has her own story to tell , her own life to live and her own insecurities to deal with when it comes to meeting boys. All too often in books with a romantic edge to them we get one super confident character and the other is usually really shy and awkward and unsure of the other persons feelings. In Playing Tyler we get two people who are really confident at what they do, but incredibly awkward with each other and unsure how the other is thinking or feeling. The build up of their romance was well written.

The only issue I had with this was how early I saw the twist coming. But honestly it doesn't spoil the enjoyment of the book. I know how cliché this sounds, but Playing Tyler is a real page turner, I found myself at stupid o'clock in the morning with my eyes hanging out of my head while I continued to read, refusing to put it down so I could sleep.

Purchase Link:

Amazon http://amzn.to/14zWVr4