Review: Here So Far Away by Hadley Dyer

Here So Far Away by Hadley Dyer
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: March 20th 2018
My rating: 2 stars. 

Award-winning author Hadley Dyer’s YA debut is smart, snarky, and emotionally gripping, about a rebellious cop’s daughter who falls in love with an older man, loses her best friend, and battles depression, all while trying to survive her last year of high school. Feisty and fearless George Warren (given name: Frances, but no one calls her that) has never let life get too serious. Now that she’s about to be a senior, her plans include partying with her tight-knit group of friends and then getting the heck out of town after graduation. But instead of owning her last year of high school, a fight with her best friend puts her on the outs of their social circle. If that weren’t bad enough, George’s family has been facing hard times since her father, a police sergeant, got injured and might not be able to return to work, which puts George’s college plans in jeopardy. So when George meets Francis, an older guy who shares her name and her affinity for sarcastic banter, she’s thrown. If she lets herself, she’ll fall recklessly, hopelessly in love. But because of Francis’s age, she tells no one—and ends up losing almost everything, including herself. This is a gorgeous, atmospheric, and gut-wrenching novel that readers won’t soon forget.

Lately I've been going into books without re-reading the summary of the book, I've been finding that I've been able to get into a book much more this way, and I like the process of figuring things out as they come along. So, you could say I was intrigued with the unravelling of George's life in Here So Far Away, from her dad having his leg amputated and not sure if he could go back to his job as a police sergeant, to George and her friends drifting away from what used to be a tight knit friendship and to her falling for someone she never expected. It was a lot for George to deal with especially as she didn't really feel that she had anyone she could confide in with her feelings for this guy, and to top it off, when things came into light later on, it was clear that George really couldn't tell anyone with both of them potentially getting into trouble. The time spent with this romantic interest, I really enjoyed, I know people may question how George could fall so hard and fast for him, but for me both of their feelings appeared truly genuine. Also with the obstacles in the way, it would seem the right thing to do would be to break things off, but despite attempting to, it wasn't always possible. One of the reasons for my low rating for this book, is that I felt as if I didn't really get the emotional depth and impact from the story that I would have expected. Several major things happened in George's life, one which even though I didn't see coming, I felt as if I wasn't left as reeling as I would have expected, which is a real shame as I felt this book had the potential to be a great read for me. This aside, I'm sure other readers will go on and enjoy this book a lot more than I did.