Far From You by Tess SharpeRelease Date: March 27th 2014
Publisher: Indigo
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:
Nine months. Two weeks. Six days.
That's how long recovering addict Sophie's been drug-free. Four months ago her best friend, Mina, died in what everyone believes was a drug deal gone wrong - a deal they think Sophie set up. Only Sophie knows the truth. She and Mina shared a secret, but there was no drug deal. Mina was deliberately murdered.
Forced into rehab for an addiction she'd already beaten, Sophie's finally out and on the trail of the killer - but can she track them down before they come for her?
Far From You is a book that I requested ages ago from NetGalley, and then promptly forgot about because the release date was so far away. Then, back in March, I signed up for the LGBT Month and Far From You was suddenly brought back to my attention again, especially after Judith read it and told me I should. So I did.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Far From You at first. I knew very little about it. But what I got out of it was a beautiful story about two best friends, one of whom is murdered one night, and the other accused of being the cause of it. Through a series of flashbacks, Sharpe introduces us to how the characters were before the murder, and she shows their individual struggles.
Sophie was a fantastic main character, with so much trauma and baggage, and yet still so much heart. I could have read about her for a lot longer than 350 pages. She takes whatever life throws at her – a bloody freight train – and by the end of the story she has battled so many different demons, and yet she still manages to come out of it stronger than ever. Honestly, she’s a character I will be admiring for a long time.
You might have noticed that it’s an LGBT read. Sophie, our main character, is bisexual, and a lot of the story does focus on that. However, Tess Sharpe does a great job of balancing the mystery of who killed Mina with the romantic elements of the story. In fact, these two elements are interwoven so tightly with the plot that they don’t feel separate at all, Far From You was a big ball of wibbly wobbly mystery romance-y stuff. And it was wonderful.
As your resident Sherlock of the blogosphere, I am a little bit embarrassed – but mostly thrilled – to announce that I got the mystery completely wrong. I wasn’t able to figure out who killed Mina, although I had plenty of ideas. It wasn’t until the moment before the killer was revealed that I started to question them, and something startled niggling at my brain. I think Sharpe did a wonderful job of keeping everything in the shadows, and I had a lot of fun trying to piece everything together.
Far From You manage to invoke so many emotions in me that at times I was overwhelmed. I adored Sophie, and I wanted nothing more than to help her and be there for her when nobody else was. I loved Mina and felt so bad for her, since we got to know a lot about her through Sophie and the flashbacks, and I just want to cry about how she had her life cut short.
This is definitely one of my favourite reads of the year, and I’m going to go around pushing it on everyone because I think that it contains some very important themes and messages. I really want everyone to love and appreciate this story as much as I did, so go and buy Far From You from your local book store, stock up on tissues, and put on your hunting cap. It’s one hell of a ride, and I would love to be able to experience it for the first time all over again.
I’m already so excited to read this and your review has further cemented the fact. I’ve been on hiatus and took a break from reading, but once I get back into it, this book is going to be at the top of my wish list! Also, while you might be embarrassed you got the mystery wrong, this makes me excited because sometimes I can be quite the sleuth myself and guess it early on. So glad you enjoyed it!
Mission accomplished! I hope you love it as much as I did. I’m actually thrilled that I got the mystery wrong! I love it when books do that, because I often complain about them being so predictable.
I love a book that is able to evoke such emotion!
Me too! It’s always great when I feel passionate enough about a book that it makes me cry.
I loved this one! I found it so well written; it was as if I was feeling what she was feeling too.
*high five* I’m so glad. And I agree, it was so easy to connect with Sophie!
Yay ,a 5 star review, I read this a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it, one of my fave books of the year so far.
Eep! I’m so happy that you enjoyed it. It’s a fantastic book!
Sophie sounds like a great heroine and I’m glad to hear that the mystery is not predictable. I didn’t get to it this month, but will definitely be picking it up soon. 🙂
Don’t forget to link-up your review:
http://nijiclovers.blogspot.com/2014/04/lgbt-month-week-5-3-more-days.html
She is an amazing heroine, I adore her! I hope you do manage to read it soon because it’s beautiful.
I haven’t really been keen on reading this one, but I might just try it out. I like strong protagonists, and stories that are able to mesh the romance and action really well.
Please do! It’s beautiful and wonderful and I adore it.
So glad you enjoyed this one. I loved it and it’s one of my favourite books this year too 🙂
*high five* You have such good taste XD
Whoop whoop! This one sounds so amazing and I’m happy I got to read your review on the book! I love the cover and the concept is amazing 🙂
Happy Reading
Patrick @ The Bookshelves
And I was so happy to write it 😀 It’s a beautiful book!
Thank you so much for forcing us to read this! I absolutely loved it!!!
SUCCESS
Amber you keep making me want to read books. I already have too many books on my to read list D:
But this book sounds really good and I should probably definitely give it a try…
Wow this sounds rather excellent! I really need to read more LGBT (especially the B and T parts of LGBT), and to be honest, I totally didn’t know that Far From You is LGBT! (or maybe I did, but forgot about it lol)
Definitely going to have to read this one and see whether I can guess the mystery…
Ohhh I want to read this books so much!!! thanks for the review 🙂
How come I haven’t heard about that one yet?! Adding it to my TBR shelf 😉
I had read some very good reviews for this one and so I added it to the TBR wishlist and your review is making me want to get it soon, even more since this weekend it’s all about Diverse books.
Really glad to hear the mystery was so well done that kept you guessing till the very end! Great review!
seems such an interesting read…I believe I never read any kind books about this topic…
Thanks for the great review! The cover is gorgeous.
This book has been on my to-buy-when-it-comes-out list for a looong time and I’m really glad you liked it!
Wow 5 stars. I definitely want to read this book! Great Review!
Great review, the cover is interesting!
This sounds awesome, on the wishlist it goes
Sophie sounds like a really great character and I love how this book balances between LGBT, mystery and with all that is emotional. I’m so happy you loved it. Great review 🙂
I AM DYING TO READ THIS BOOK, so I really hope I win it in your giveaway! Thanks for the chance to win it!! 🙂 <3 It seems SOOOOO GOOD!!!
This book sounds so good! I can’t wait to read it =D
This seems like an interesting read. My LGBT shelf has been stagnant for awhile so I better add this on my TBR pile right now! Thanks for the giveaway.
I’m just so happy that you ended up loving this book. *pats self on the back* And while I wasn’t as invested in the mystery and the characters as you were (though I also know who the killer was) I LOOOOOVED the romance. It was just so perfectly done and I love that it was not The Issue but rather just a part of who Sophie was and omg. I want more from Tess Sharpe.
You’ve just convinced me to read this book. Ahhh! Before this the only reason why I wanted to pick this book up is actually because I want to read more books containing LGBT. But now you’ve mentioned things about the mystery and figuring out who killed Mina, now that’s another reason for me to pick up this book.