Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Title: Far From You
Author: Tess Sharpe
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Disney-Hyperion (April 8, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
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.

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I love a good mystery and I have said many times before that the YA genre needs more of them and while I picked this up because of the mystery aspect of it, I quickly came to realize that this was so much more than a mystery. In fact it was more a love story than anything else and while that was a little disappointing at first, I quickly became caught up in the story and was okay that the mystery part of it was as weak as it was.

This isn't really your typical anything story. Not mystery, not romance and not even friendship. Instead it is more of a story about one girl not only trying to find her way through the loss of a friend, her addiction and where her life goes from there but also about discovering herself as well. Dealing with feeling and memories that she has been trying to bury for as long as she can remember and trying like heck to hold on to what she has left.

This really wasn't what I was expecting at all from this debut novel and I wouldn't necessarily say that was a bad thing as much as I would say it was...different. It made you think about things in a whole new way and really pondering the underlying messages in the story.

I wouldn't say I loved this but I didn't hate it either. It was unique and original and I think one of those stories that you are either going to love, going to hate or are totally going to feel indifferent about.

Would I try this author again? Absolutely, I think she has talent and I would like to see what she can come up with next.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*