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A review by foxholebookcourt
As Far as You'll Take Me by Phil Stamper
5.0
As Far As You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
"Love is something entirely different. It's realizing the storm's been raging so long you forget you're drenched, until the sun kisses your cheek, dries your tears, and shows you where your real home is."
As a queer person who has struggled a lot by being stuck in a place full of hateful bigots, and as a queer who is ready to leave this place and go on a six month trip in January, I wholeheartedly thank Phil Stamper for this honest and sweet book. Despite being on a reading slump for a while now, I was excited and captivated enough to manage to finish it.
For the reasons mentioned above, the plot of the book really resonated with me and made it a lot more gripping and interesting. Not to mention that the book wasn’t really as predictable as I had thought at the start. No spoilers, but half way through I was sure I knew how this would end, only to realise that it’s taking a different direction. With which I was quite satisfied. The ending surprised me, but in a really good and original way. It was perfectly fitting for the tone of the book and for Marty’s (our protagonist’s) whole character.
Which brings me exactly to the characters, who were also obviously another thing this book did really well. Marty was very well fleshed out and there was genuine character development from the start to the finish of the book. The diary entries in between certainly helped with that as well, and I ended up really wanting to find out what would happen to this character. The side characters (the friend group) were also loveable, and our ‘bad guys’ were human enough to also intrigue me. Except Megan. We hate people like Megan. Don’t be a Megan.
All in all, I really loved this book and I recommend it to everyone who’s into stories about accepting your queer self and overcoming bullshit thrown your way (with a pinch of found family). I swear, you won’t regret it.
"But you can have more than one family. You can choose your family."
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
"Love is something entirely different. It's realizing the storm's been raging so long you forget you're drenched, until the sun kisses your cheek, dries your tears, and shows you where your real home is."
As a queer person who has struggled a lot by being stuck in a place full of hateful bigots, and as a queer who is ready to leave this place and go on a six month trip in January, I wholeheartedly thank Phil Stamper for this honest and sweet book. Despite being on a reading slump for a while now, I was excited and captivated enough to manage to finish it.
For the reasons mentioned above, the plot of the book really resonated with me and made it a lot more gripping and interesting. Not to mention that the book wasn’t really as predictable as I had thought at the start. No spoilers, but half way through I was sure I knew how this would end, only to realise that it’s taking a different direction. With which I was quite satisfied. The ending surprised me, but in a really good and original way. It was perfectly fitting for the tone of the book and for Marty’s (our protagonist’s) whole character.
Which brings me exactly to the characters, who were also obviously another thing this book did really well. Marty was very well fleshed out and there was genuine character development from the start to the finish of the book. The diary entries in between certainly helped with that as well, and I ended up really wanting to find out what would happen to this character. The side characters (the friend group) were also loveable, and our ‘bad guys’ were human enough to also intrigue me. Except Megan. We hate people like Megan. Don’t be a Megan.
All in all, I really loved this book and I recommend it to everyone who’s into stories about accepting your queer self and overcoming bullshit thrown your way (with a pinch of found family). I swear, you won’t regret it.
"But you can have more than one family. You can choose your family."