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
Born in a backwoods cabin to a pair of punk rockers, Tess Sharpe grew up in rural Northern California. Following an internship with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she studied theatre at Southern Oregon University before abandoning the stage for the professional kitchen. She lives, writes and bakes near the Oregon border. FAR FROM YOU is her debut novel. 
Jaime’s Thoughts
Far From You by Tess Sharpe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Far From You was a title I had my eye on for a while and when it popped up on netgalley, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it. Then I downloaded it and it sat. And I wanted to kick myself once I finished it for waiting so long.
There seems to be a trend, or at least maybe I just keep picking up the books that this happens in, where the story is not told in a linear timeline. That is the case here. I will say that I never once felt confused or thrown out of the story based on the bits and pieces of Sophie’s history that we get along the way.
You very quickly find out that two major things have recently defined Sophie Winter’s life … an accident when she was fourteen that almost killed her, that instead left her with a bum leg and an addiction to Oxy. And the second time she should have died, but instead her best friend did. And Okay, maybe there were three defining moments for her life so far because I also think meeting Mina would rank right up there as well.
This book has a bit of a thriller feel to it, because while the entire town and Mina’s family blame Sophie for them being in the situation that got Mina killed, Sophie knows the truth. It wasn’t her fault and there is a killer free in their small town. She’s determined to figure out what really happened that fateful night. So the elements of suspense are there…. But in my opinion were incredibly weak. I latched on to a few very obvious clues pretty early on and if you look at my status updates you can see that I had it all worked out. That said, there was one twist to the ‘who dun it’ part of this story that I didn’t expect.
But for me, this book really turned into a story about the complexities of relationships especially the relationships that Sophie forges with both Mina and her brother Trevor. It was interesting to see the slow evolution and reveal of who and what they actually were to each other and the way it was all done via the flashbacks to the past, was truly well done in my opinion. I really absolutely loved Sophie’s transition in this book and the struggles that she has felt raw and real, both fighting her addiction and making sense of her feelings and who she is and who she wants to be. But I also feel like her relationship with Mina wasn’t as healthy as it could have been and she had these idealized feelings about who Mina was in her head, but I never saw that perfection in the flashbacks that we’re given. But that’s what makes this such a raw story… they hurt each other but they power through and recognize that who they are to each other is worth fighting for.
And the very end … well I absolutely loved the closing chapters of this book.
If you’re looking for a quick read that has some suspense, some complex characters and relationships with a beautiful and compelling story of love and friendship then definitely make sure you add Far From You to your to read list. I’ll definitely be looking for more from Tess Sharpe in the future!
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