Monday, July 14, 2014

Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

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.

I'm not a reader of murder mysteries. Yet something about the dark setup here just drew me in! The tag line on the cover reads: "the truth won't let her go." But that's not the half of it. Sophie's palpable desperation to tell the world what really happened is hard to read. She's trapped under the weight of everyone's disappointment. And she knows she deserves it, up to a point. It's horrifying nonetheless.

Wow!

This book jumps back and forth in time, which demands the the reader pay careful attention to the "tags" at the beginning of each chapter, which help anchor the moment in time. But the story is constructed skillfully enough that the non-linear narrative is never annoying. Reading this, I got whiffs of Gillian Flynn's twisty stories. (Although the characters here are FAR more likeable!)

You will feel for Sophie, cry for Mina and want to hug Trev. And the killer? You won't see him coming!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Don't Touch by Rachel M. Wilson

Breaking the spine is a meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not been released, but you should pre-order today! This week's book that we're excited about is Don't Touch by Rachel M. Wilson.

I picked this one because I met Ms. Wilson at a conference this spring. She read an excerpt of her work, and it was funny and sad and brilliant all at once. So I am 100% sold on reading this the day it comes out. Can't wait!

A powerful story of a girl who is afraid to touch another person’s skin, until the boy auditioning
for Hamlet opposite her Ophelia gives her a reason to overcome her fears.

Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
Touch another person’s skin, and Dad’s gone for good.

Caddie can’t stop thinking that if she keeps from touching another person’s skin, her parents might get back together... which is why she wears full-length gloves to school and covers every inch of her skin.

It seems harmless at first, but Caddie’s obsession soon threatens her ambitions as an actress. She desperately wants to play Ophelia in her school’s production of Hamlet. But that would mean touching Peter, who’s auditioning for the title role—and kissing him. Part of Caddie would love nothing more than to kiss Peter—but the other part isn't sure she's brave enough to let herself fall.

Perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson, this debut novel from Rachel M. Wilson is a moving story of a talented girl who's fighting an increasingly severe anxiety disorder, and the friends and family who stand by her.