Review Detail

FAR FROM YOU is the only Lisa Schroeder book I hadn't read, and I was hesitant to check it out because I am not a fan of angels, which the cover emphasizes. I ignored my reservations and read this novel in verse, and there were hardly any references to angels anyway.

Alice is a teenager who has felt sad and angry since her mother's death years before. While her father has moved on to a new wife and a newborn daughter, Alice continues to write sad songs and complain about her family to her tattooed boyfriend Blaze and her best friend. Even they are tired of her inability to accept her stepmother, Victoria, into her life. When Alice, Victoria, and the baby are stranded in a car during a snowstorm, they get to know each other better and hope that it isn't too late.

I've never lost a parent nor had to watch the other move on, but I think I need to take a break from books that feature this trope, as I always end up on the side of the step-parent, not the mopey teen! That may also have something to do with my age. Regardless, I found Alice to be a prickly narrator and difficult to love. I usually mark the pages with quotes that I'd like to share, yet none stood out in this novel. The combination of those factors make me recommend this book to hardcore Lisa Schroeder fans only. Everyone else, read CHASING BROOKLYN instead!