Far from You - Hardcover

It doesn't seem to matter that when Mina died, seventeen-year-old Sophie Winters, Mina's best friend, had been clean for months or that it was Mina who dragged Sophie out to the woods in the middle of that fateful night. The cops have decided that the masked man who attacked Sophie and killed Mina was Sophie's dealer, that it was all just a drug deal gone wrong, and that Sophie should feel lucky to have just been shipped off to rehab and not juvie. Sophie, however, is intent on finding the real murderer, following up on a lead aspiring journalist Mina was pursuing for a story. Along the way, Sophie must come to terms with the car accident that led to her reliance on Oxycontin and with the fact that she and Mina had moved from best friends to lovers, a development that Mina insisted on keeping secret. Between Sophie's addiction, Mina's death, and their hidden affair, this could have easily veered off into melodrama, but Sharpe instead wrings the hurt out of each of these elements in slow but deliberate strokes, creating a lacerating picture of grief and regret. Through flashbacks, readers come to see that Sophie's addiction is not the result of one single moment but a series of decisions made in times of understandable pain, as unplanned as the romance the childhood friends find themselves falling into. Secondary characters are credibly nuanced, particularly Mina's older brother, whose attraction to Sophie is tangled up in his guilt about causing the car crash that left her in chronic pain. The murder mystery is compelling (and, thankfully, unconnected to Mina's sexuality), and its resolution serves as a reminder that love is irrevocably tied to loss and that few people get out of it unscathed. KQG BCCB"

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. - Kara Dean Booklist"

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 SLJ"

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) Kirkus"

* "Sharpe creat[es] a lacerating picture of grief and regret. ...The murder mystery is compelling, and its resolution serves as a reminder that love is irrevocably tied to loss and that few people get out of it unscathed." "Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)""

* "This beautifully realized debut delves into the emotions of a girl recovering from drug addiction and grief, all wrapped up in a solid mystery." "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)""

"This romance is full of struggle and strong emotions, likely to find an appreciable YA audience." "School Library Journal""

3Q 4P S Seventeen-year-old Sophie Winters has just survived an attack by a masked man in the woods; her best friend, Mina, was not so lucky. When police decide that Mina's murder is the result of a drug deal gone bad, fingers are pointed at Sophie. Sophie has been fighting an addiction to pain pills since an accident three years earlier, and although she has finally beaten the addiction, no one is willing to believe her. She is forced into rehab, and by the time she is released, people who were friends have turned their backs on her, including Mina's brother, Trev. When Sophie starts digging for the truth, more layers of mystery are uncovered, with additional characters and elements introduced. The last chapters answer most of the story's questions, including the true nature of Mina and Sophie's relationship and why Mina was murdered. Although high school teens may well be hooked into the story's murder mystery, which is introduced immediately, Sharpe's first novel seems to have a bit of an identity crisis, taking on too many angles for a single story. Elements of a love story, a love triangle, drug dependency and recovery, as well as additional subplots of a mysterious disappearance and pregnancy, are a great deal to untangle cleanly. Throw in a series of flashbacks from very different times in Sophie's life, and there are too many threads to weave smoothly. Themes and content make this most suitable for mature young adult readers.-Mary Ann Darby. VOYA"

Wrongly blamed for a friend's death because of her past addiction to painkillers, 17-year-old Sophie endures a forced stint in rehab while struggling with peer animosity and trying to figure out who is really responsible for what happened. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.