Far From You by Tess Sharpe

It doesn’t start here.

You’d think it would: two terrified girls in the middle of nowhere, cowering together, eyes bulging at the gun in his hand.

But it doesn’t start here.

It starts the first time I almost die.

Published by Indigo in March 2014

Pages – 341

Summary

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?

******

Mind-blowing! Page turner! Epic plot! Unputdownable! Want me to go on??

This book has to be one of my favourite reads so far this year. I couldn’t believe how caught up in the story I was. You start off, thinking you are reading one type of book and then half way through, the author hits you hard with a curve ball, and you realise there is so much more going on than you realised.

I loved Sophie right from the start. She isn’t your normal druggie, her need was purely for pain relief after suffering massive injuries in a car crash. Her reliance on medication, makes you feel extremely sympathetic and motherly to her needs. The friendship bonds that tie her to Mina are strong, especially after all that happened, so it isn’t surprising that she is eaten up with the need to find out who killed Mina.

The story jumps backwards and forwards between the present day and different periods in Sophie’s life, so you get to unravel all the secrets that tie up the events unfolding in the plot. The story twists and turns, rises and plummets and I found myself holding my breath way too many times as I read it.

I was spellbound and completely mesmerised by this tale which I am struggling to fit into one genre. It crosses so many - from thriller to romance, psychological to LGBT. Although this book dealt with  LGBT issues extremely well, it was more than that, it was a love story at the heart – the relationships didn’t need to be labelled and categorised – it was just pure love.

This is one of those tales that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. I was so sad to finish it and it took me a couple of days to find a book to follow it.

Tess Sharpe is about to make her mark on the publishing world. I would advise all readers to sit up and take notice of her, because she is going to be huge. If this book isn’t made into a film, I will print this review off and eat it!