Format: HardcoverSource: Purchased
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sophie Winters nearly died. Twice.
The first time, she's fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bum leg, and an addiction to Oxy that'll take years to kick.
The second time, she's seventeen, and it's no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina's murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.
After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina's brother won't speak to her, her parents fear she'll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places and Sophie must search for Mina's murderer on her own. But with every step, Sophie comes closer to revealing all: about herself, about Mina and about the secret they shared.
My Thoughts:
I’m not sure where to even start with my review for this book. It seems like the more I liked a book the harder it is to review, and I loved this one so you can imagine my struggle as I’m trying to put my thoughts and feelings about the awesomeness that is Far From You into words. So, forgive me if my review seems a little unhinged.Do you ever go through phases where you just want to read a bunch of the same genre? Well, this is what’s happening to me right now, and my drug of choice (pun intended) is thrillers. So, what do I do? I go to Goodreads and ask for thriller recommendations and this little gem shows up as a recommended book (Thanks, Tonyalee!) and I’m glad that this book got my attention because it was amazing.
At seventeen years old, Sophie has been through more in her short life than a lot of people go through in a lifetime. She was in an accident when she was only fourteen years old that left her with pain that doesn’t go away, this in turn leads to an addiction.
Sophie is a recovering addict and she has been clean for months, but when she is the only witness to her best friend, Mina’s, murder, no one believes that the drugs found in her jacket wasn’t hers. The police have written Mina’s murder down as a drug deal gone wrong, but Sophie knows there’s more to the story, Mina never would have taken her to buy drugs, and Sophie is determined to figure out what Mina was involved in that got her killed. But the closer Sophie gets to the truth, the more danger she’s in.
Sophie is such a strong character, I can’t imagine the strength it would take to deal with the loss of her best friend without turning to the one thing that has comforted her for the past few years. But Sophie is determined to keep her sobriety no matter how much pain, physical and emotional, she’s in and this made it so easy for me to like her. Yes, she has a past, but who doesn’t? I know that I’ve done things in my teenage years that I’m not proud of but I’m not that same person, and neither is Sophie. Her struggle was real and raw and that made this book so much MORE, you know?
Sharpe’s writing style was impeccable, the transition between past and present was so flawless, you knew exactly which time frame you were in, there’s was no confusion whatsoever. In my opinion, the switch between past and present added so much more to the story. It was so fascinating to go back and see not only how the relationship between Sophie and Mina developed, but also what their relationship was like. It just made Mina’s death and Sophie’s loss feel more vast.
Overall, Far From You is an amazing story about loss, recovery and staying true to who you are. I applaud Sharpe for tackling such emotional and tough subjects and I look forward to reading more by this author.
