Naked and Far From Home
YAReads Blog Tour
Synopsis:
Tia Mercury was a freshman in high school and had her first serious crush – on a senior who wouldn’t touch her. At least not until she turned eighteen.
Clinton Daniels was not your everyday teenage boy, and because his tougher-than-nails father wouldn’t let him forget it, Clinton became a loner. And learned to distrust everyone.
Until he met Tia.
She was sweet, she was funny, and she knew nothing about good music. It was the nineteen-eighties for goodness sake – time to turn off that AM radio crap. So, while Tia drooled over Clinton, he was busy making her mix-tapes.
She was falling in love. He was ignoring his heart.
See, Clinton had a secret. But sharing it could cost him their friendship, and he was not willing to risk losing the only person he ever loved.
Naked and Far from Home is a serious story that spans a decade. A tale about unconditional love and what two people are willing to look past to prove that love.
My Review:
This book had the most unusual love story I have ever read. It was very complicated and confusing but I think I understand what the author was trying to get across: love isn't always simple and it isn't as straightforward as we would think. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I thought the overall plot was twisted (all over the place) but I found some of the twists to be entertaining or surprising. I also found the love story surprising but I had my issues with that as well. Overall it was a very fast paced read (I finished it in one day) and it kept me reading, though not always for the most positive reasons.
Spoilers...
The twists that I found to be appropriate and believable were her mom's sickness and the reveal of her father's identity. The fact that her "father" that left her wasn't her biological father was probably my favorite twist of the novel. It was surprising but also explained why her dad left her mother. I also really liked the scene where she met her half brother. It was cute and I liked how their relationship changed throughout the book.
That being said one of the issues I had with Tia and Clinton's relationship stemmed from her half brother. I found it sort of weird that after Tia died Clinton started dating and eventually marrying Tia's half brother. I didn't completely understand Clinton's sexual orientation (which I think is part of the book, the idea that you can't label how he feels) but I still couldn't completely condone his relationship with Tia's brother after she died. I like that her brother helped Clinton through her death and with the child but I know that I wouldn't want my husband marrying any of my siblings after I died. It wasn't the fact that it was her brother, it was just that it was her sibling.
My last problem with Clinton and Tia's relationship had to do with Clinton's drinking problem. I didn't like it at all that he would drink and then drive Tia home. It is one thing to risk your own life but to risk the life of someone you claim to love is something else. He knew he was drunk but he still made the choice to drive her home multiple times. This was the only part of the book that really made me dislike Clinton.
MY RATING: ***
Interested in buying the book?
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/
Great review!!! Thanks for joining the Naked and Far from Home blog tour!!!
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Thank you so much for your review, and reading Naked and Far from Home. :)
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