Pink Polka Dot Books: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Sophie just got home from rehab... the thing is, she wasn't actually on drugs when she went in. After the murder of her best friend Mina, Sophie was found with pills in her pocket. As a former addict (she was in a major car accident that left her with a pain pill addiction, which she kicked months before), everyone believed the murder was a drug deal gone wrong. The truth is, Mina was meeting someone that night and never told Sophie who. The truth won't help her though, because nobody believes her.

Now that she's home, Sophie is determined to find out who took Mina from her, all the while struggling with the guilt and questions left behind in Mina's death.

I've long been looking for an elusive type of YA Mystery.... that is- one that I love and can't put down!! Far From You wasn't EXACTLY what I've been wanting, but we're getting close people... really close!! This book started out slow and a little confusing. The timeline bounces around all over the place. We go from now (post rehab), to post accident (pill addiction problem), to after kicking the pills (but before Mina's death), to the day of the murder, to the aftermath of the murder, to way way back before anything happened at all. Take the complicated nature of a lot of the relationships thrown in with the alternating timeline chapters, and my head was spinning a little trying to just understand what was happening.

About 1/3 of the way through, the set-up was complete and the actual mystery of why Mina was killed started to get going. THAT'S when I started getting into this book. Unraveling what happened to "wannabe reporter" Mina involved another unsolved crime, and it was page-turning as hell. I had many suspects, and while I did eventually figure part of it out, I was still surprised in the end, which is good!! I love a surprise twist!

So this wasn't the perfect YA Mystery that I've been hunting, and here's why: The slow/confusing start coupled with the fact that I wasn't in love with the romantical aspects in the book. I thought it added another layer of confusion to the plot that wasn't needed. I felt the mystery and drug addiction aspects were plenty to keep the story interesting without allllll this other drama going on. I also really wanted the book to end about 15 pages before it did. I'm not actually sure what was gained in those last pages, but I read an ARC, so maybe it was cut??? Once the mystery is solved and the reader finds out if main characters were/weren't okay, that should be the end. I feel like beyond that, I am able to envision futures for these people without it all being spelled out.

OVERALL: A very good and complicated YA Mystery. This wasn't THE YA Mystery that I've been looking for, but I still found it page-turning, unique, and twisty. I would have preferred less of the romance aspects and more of the mysteries, and I also felt it dragged at the end, but overall a solid debut.

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