A review by alertnerd
As Far as You'll Take Me by Phil Stamper

emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

17-year-old Marty leaves his unaccepting parents, a toxic best friend and an oppressive Kentucky town behind when he decides to spend his summer (and maybe the rest of his life) in London. There he hopes he’ll be able to be his true true self, find his dream job in music and maybe even fall in love. But with his anxiety worsening, the cute boy he met maybe not being what he seems and his chances to live his dreams shrinking, Marty has to figure out what to do next.

Phil Stamper does such a great job of tackling multiple heavy topics in As Far As You’ll Take Me. The way Marty’s anxiety was depicted was like nothing else that I’ve seen in YA novels. Marty was messy and made some mistakes that made me want to scream, but he was also super endearing and I was rooting for him to figure it all out throughout the entire book.

I also want to talk about Sophie because I love her!! Too often in YA books with a queer male lead, the female best friend is usually my least favorite character. They usually treat the main character terribly, are flat, or are just there to make forced-in pop culture references. Sophie felt fully fleshed out and I really appreciated that. She had her own story arc, her own flaws and her own development. Sadly, that’s pretty rare to see.

Another thing I really liked was the focus on friendships and how those are just as important (and sometimes more important) as romantic relationships. We see Marty grapple with a lot of different new friendships as well as work his way through some of his old friendships and that was really refreshing to see.

I was worried about how this would end and where all of Marty’s relationships would be, but (no spoilers!) I was really happy with how this one ended.

CW // eating disorders, religious trauma, forced outing, anxiety, homophobia

Note: In the ARC there are a few Harry Potter references, but Phil Stamper already said they won’t be included in the finished book

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for this ARC!
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