Far From You

Starred review from March 1, 2014
This beautifully realized debut delves into the emotions of a girl recovering from drug addiction and grief, all wrapped up in a solid mystery. Sophie and Mina have been best friends since second grade. When they were 14, they were involved in a car accident that nearly killed Sophie, who became addicted to OxyContin during her recovery. Sophie has kicked her habit with the help of her bounty-hunter aunt and clings to each day that she stays clean. As the book opens, however, readers learn that Mina has been murdered. Since the murderer planted OxyContin in Sophie's pocket, everyone, including Sophie's mom and the police, believes that the girls were trying to buy drugs. Sophie knows the murderer will go free unless she uncovers a story that Mina was investigating for the local newspaper--but pursuing him will put her in grave danger. Sharpe writes in chapters alternating between scenes from the past and present as she moves the story forward. Within the mystery plot, she focuses mostly on Sophie's battle against drugs and against those who refuse to believe her--and on an emotional secret the two girls shared. She doesn't settle for simplistic, one-dimensional characters, giving each flaws and virtues, strengths and weaknesses, from Sophie's parents to her friends. An absorbing story full of depth and emotion. (Mystery. 14-18)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-The day Sophie is released from rehab starts the "now" of this story, which alternates with flashbacks from the past. Readers learn that the teen has had two close calls with death, the first in a crippling car crash with her friend Mina and Mina's brother Trev. The second was when Mina was murdered in front of her in what is assumed to be a drug deal gone bad. Because Sophie is a recovering drug addict, even her parents don't believe her when she says that the murder has nothing to do with drugs, hence her stay in rehab. Now that she's free, Sophie is obsessed with finding Mina's killer. Somehow she must overcome everyone's belief that her relapse caused Mina's death and enlist help in solving the crime. The mystery is a major theme of the book, and the author gives no clues before the revelation. This kind of plot twist is sometimes successful, but here the ending is so out of left field that it lacks believability. As readers follow Sophie's sleuthing, they learn that Mina was more than just her best friend; she was also her first love. This romance is full of struggle and strong emotions, likely to find an appreciable YA audience.-Genevieve Feldman, San Francisco Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 Debut novelist Sharpe attempts a delicate balancing act between past and present in this murder mystery about secrets and truth. The story begins with the crime, which is then unraveled by our narrator, Sophie, as she describes how she got to the point where her best friend, Mina, was murdered. Sophie alternates between telling her current story and relating past events, starting with the car accident three years before, which ravaged her physically and led to an OxyContin addiction. It will not take the reader long to realize that Sophie and Mina were not only best friends but in love with each other; Sophie's heartbreak is as much about this as it is about Mina's death. Despite Sophie's eagerness to find the killer, the hunt for him feels a bit abandoned as past events are continually revisited and analyzed. Fortunately, Sharpe's writing is beautiful and her characters are fully realized, which should carry readers through to the book's sorrowful finale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
Sophie was there when her best friend, Mina, was murdered, but she doesn't know by whom, or why. So Sophie launches her own investigation, knowing that Mina's death isn't related to Sophie's painkiller addiction, as everyone else seems to think. This tense, tragic page-turner has plenty of chills, but just as compelling is the depth of Sophie's physical and emotional pain.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)