Phil Stamper

"A beautiful tribute to every queer kid who's ever had to leave their home in order to find one." - Leah Johnson, bestselling author of You Should See Me in a Crown The author of The Gravity of Us crafts another heartfelt coming-of-age story about finding the people who become your home--perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli. Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he's excited to start his new life--where he's no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents' disapproval. From the outside, Marty's life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he's made new friends, he's getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he's even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can't keep up the facade. He hasn't spoken to his parents since he arrived, he's tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn't even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home? Acclaim for The Gravity of Us An IndieNext List Pick An Amazon Best Book

As Far As You'll Take Me

As Far as You'll Take Me

Sarah Sammis

As Far as You'll Take Me by Phil Stamper is about a summer spent in England after the original plans fell through due to a botched audition. The book touches on anxiety, disordered eating, emotional abuse, and homophobia.
...

Most of As Far as You'll Take Me is Marty's journey of self discovery. He's learning how to live away from his parents. He's learning how to make friends that aren't ones thrown together at school. He's learning how to manage his anxiety. He's also learning how to recognize toxic relationships.


666699 - marginalized home labyrinth

From the break-out author of The Gravity of Us comes a heartfelt coming-of-age story about finding your chosen people. Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he's excited to start his new life--where he's no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents' disapproval. From the outside, Marty's life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he's made new friends, he's getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he's even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can't keep up the facade. He hasn't spoken to his parents since he arrived, he's tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn't even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home?

Dustin

I must have missed it, but if not, this book definitely needs a content trigger warning. It was a good book, but much darker than expected.
There were some sudden jumps at some point at the beginning and especially some emotions seemed rushed, but otherwise it was not a bad story at all.

Savannah Bergevin

3.5*
I really enjoyed this book being someone who struggles with anxiety on the daily I felt like I could really relate to what Marty was feeling

if you know me then you’ll know i’m a phil stamper stan. he’s one of my favourite authors and ‘as far as you’ll take me’ was my final book of his to read. i was very excited for this book and, while i enjoyed reading it, i feel like it definitely needs trigger warnings of some sort to warn readers that there is going to be disordered eating in this novel. as someone who struggles with my body image and eating, i found it difficult to read elements of this book. 

Seventeen-year-old Marty Pierce leaves small-town Kentucky for London, hoping to explore his sexuality and find work playing oboe, but homesickness, anxiety, and his dwindling savings worsen even as his dreams are coming true.

Alex

It was a good book, the overal story just wasn't that interesting to me, especially since I'm not interested in musical instruments and classical music so I couldn't relate much. It does bring up important mental health things and how to act in toxic relationships

Sandra Tammaru

When I first started reading this book I had just read some amaaaazing YA contemporary books and was feeling like I wanted some more. And this book was brilliant, yet not SO brilliant. I cant fault it in words, it was different and intriguing and so relatable and yet the feeling from me just wasnt fully there. But like I said it is an amazing book and im happy to have read it.

Ethan Hill

The first 100 or so pages were pretty rough but I liked the ideas it explored and how they were handled and the ending was really nice!

I didn’t have high expectations for this book, but it surprised me in a good way. It wasn’t the sweet romance I figured it would be. I liked how I got to see (read) how Marty developed! Also, it wasn’t too predictable. 

Emma Kamer

Mijs Franssen

Definitly one of my favorite books.

The fact that this book is based on Stampers own musical skills, London time, experiences with disorderd eating and relationships, make it even better.

You can tell when reading this book that it is an authentic story. As soon as I started reading I welcomed Marty into my heart, where he stayed for the whole book. Marty needs to 'Escape', as he calls in in the beginning, his home town in Kentucky. His coming out to his parents did not go really well last year and he needs to be free from his church ridden town. So he tells his parents he got into a summer program for music in London (which he didn't) and he goes there to live with his cousin for the summer. But Marty is desprate to stay there, he needs to find a job and an appartment so he can keep living in London as soon as he is 18.

SPOILER ALERT!!

I found the element of dealing with an toxic relationship good. It was heartbreaking to see Marty change everything about him to be loved. I was rooting for him, when he finally stood up for himself and him figuring out who he wants to be.

SPOILER ALERT DONE!

I found this book heartwarimng, loving and beautiful.

Jana Jenkinns 

3 Stars

CWs: bullying, toxic relationships, manipulation, homophobia, religious bigotry, graphic descriptions of body dysmorphia and disordered eating, self harm in the form of self-starvation, use of queer slurs, public outing without consent, near instance of sexual assault, anxiety and panic attacks, and several HP references.

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Set in London where our MC Marty decides to travel abroad, As Far As You'll Take me is a queer romance novel about music and discovering yourself. 


Things I enjoyed: 
- the travelling parts (where we see some of the landmarks of London and learn little pieces of history along the way, also bonus is adding parts of Italy too!) 
- the anxiety representation was also fantastic, it was realistic and relatable. 
- the growth Marty experienced was wonderful, including discovering his found family and learning more about himself and his preferences, after all your late teen years are all about life lessons and learning about yourself more.
- the inclusion and focus of music - it was interesting learning some things about an orchestra I didn't know before!

this book is definitely not a "cutesy travel romance", and, it delves into some deeper topics, such as:
- coping with a super religious family while being gay
- body image issues that come with dating and disordered eating
- anxiety with being in a new place and travelling
- toxic friendships where the "best friend" manipulates and uses what she knows about Marty against him

As Far As You'll Take Me had some aspects that I enjoyed, but overall, I think it wasn't really a read that was really something I was in to. The characters were complex, but the thing that didn't quite gel with me was seeing how damaging the main relationship was for Marty.

Flavia Louise

Sadly this wasn't really it for me. General premise sounded great but the ED part of this made me pretty uncomfortable. IDK it really took over and still felt super surface level. I'm a bit disappointed because I loved Phil Stamper's first book.

Hailey

** spoiler alert **
           I don’t know what to think. I’m confused on whether he’s staying in London or in Kentucky. Book said s week in Kentucky and him and Shane were looking at a house?? Either way the book is a four star and pretty good. Not the ending I expected but the book was pretty good. 
(Highly recommend the gravity of us)

nelly sanchez

3.5★

**book trigger warnings!!(view spoiler)[ed, being outed (hide spoiler)]**

I absolutely loved the way this book tackled the challenges of mental health. While definitely still a romance, I really liked how this book focused on the growth of the main character, Marty, and how he realizes that he doesn't need to maintain various relationships, just because things were once good. This is such a good coming of age book and so much more than just a typical mlm romance.

Gabriel Noel 

ARC given by NetGalley for Honest Review

This is one of those YA books that the summary really intrigued me but once I got into reading it I was easily bored. This one took me a while to read mostly because of my lack of interest in the characters. Marty was the one I enjoyed the most but the people he meets throughout the story really lacked in well rounded category.

The story deals with a lot of important issues such as homophobia, religion, eating disorders, and toxic relationships. Many of them don't always get resolved neatly and I did like that, it's true to life that not all things can be wrapped up in a pretty bow at the end.

I think it's a good story for music/band loving teens, and queer teens from religiously oppressively backgrounds. It shows that sometimes parents won't change their feelings but finding your own family is just as valuable.

Anna Wilson

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing an e-arc for As Far As You’ll Take me by Phil Stamper! This book is the cutest coming of age story! We follow Marty, he’s just found himself in London for the summer trying to find himself and discover who he really wants to be. After a disasterous time coming out to his parents, he completely bombs his audition to his dream music school. However, after creating a small lie, he’s able to spend his summer in London with his cousin. He experiences new healthy friendships, a first love (crush might be a better word for it), and faces his anxiety head on. I really enjoyed that this book brought up a friendship breakup that we don’t see a lot in ya books! Overall, I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend! #asfarasyoulltakeme #philstamper #netgalley

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing an e-arc of As Far As You’ll Take me by Phil Stamper! This book is the cutest coming of age story! We follow Marty, he’s just found himself in London for the summer trying to find himself and discover who he really wants to be. After a disasterous time coming out to his parents, he completely bombs his audition to his dream music school. However, after creating a small lie, he’s able to spend his summer in London with his cousin. He experiences new healthy friendships, a first love (crush might be a better word for it), and faces his anxiety head on. I really enjoyed that this book brought up a friendship breakup that we don’t see a lot in ya books! Overall, I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend! #asfarasyoulltakeme #philstamper #netgalley

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[homomisia, anxiety, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, cheating (mentioned), forced outing, coming out themes, religious bigotry (hide spoiler)]

I adored Stamper's previous publication, 
  The Gravity of Us
. But I have to be honest, while this book offers a lot of good, it was overall a disappointing read for me. 

My biggest issue was that this isn't a wholey unique story and the concept left me feeling bored. Of course, this does not detract from the book itself, but rather impacted on my personal reading experience. 

If you are looking for an #ownvoice LGBTQIA+ found family book in the YA category, than you should absolutely check this one out. 

I enjoyed the friendships that played a large role throughout the story, in addition to the backdrop of a young adult finding his way in a new country. Trying to break into a career is something that is not addressed enough in young adult stories, so I truly appreciated this aspect of the story. 

But overall, many of the plot obstacles were too typical and trope-driven for me. There wasn't a lot that set this book apart from others addressing similar concepts.


  Note: Review copy (audio) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


blog •  trigger warning database • more links

Happy reading! ❤

Cody

If you have ever felt the anxiety/joy combo that comes from exploring a foreign city for the first time, performing an activity you love in front of an audience, or moving away from your home town as a young adult to start a new life and discovering your found family along the way, this book is for you. 

My husband and I got married in New York City in 2015. We went on a trip and decided to elope, so the city holds a very special place in my heart. The feeling that I get taking my first step out of the cab into Manhattan? That’s what this book gave me. 

As a former music major, the feeling you get as you prepare behind the curtain, knowing there’s a theatre full of people ready to watch you and your fellow musicians perform for ~2 hours... that feeling of sharing what you love with others who took time out of their day to come and watch... that elation mixed with terror, because no matter how long you’ve practiced that piece over and over, you still have performance anxiety? That’s what this book feels like. 

As a Southern queer male who grew up in a county with two high schools and was known at both for being gay, being able to read (and see part of my own story in) Marty’s journey going from living with family that was less than accepting in rural Kentucky to discovering his found family in London was one that pierced through me and kept a grip on my heart the entire time. 

I bought a second novel to share with others, because this original one will not be touched. I can say without a doubt this book will forever be a favorite, a recommendation, a comforting re-read on a chilly fall day...

Thank you, Phil, for sharing Marty’s story with us; by doing so, you shared a story that SO many members of our community desperately need to be able to read and connect with. I feel lucky to be part of the generation that gets to experience your work for the first time.

Krystal Campbell 

This was my first Phil Stamper book and it was just what I needed. A Fun YA read. It was fun and lighthearted but it also had elements of some really difficult topics such as eating disorders, homophobia and even dysfunctional relationships. 

The marketing led me to believe it wasn't going to be so dark but it was a nice surprise. It game the book a bit more bones and kept me intrigued as it was different and touched on elements that are sometimes ignored in YA media. 

I loved the found family element of the book also and the way the main character was able to truely find himself. 

Thank you very much to Bloomsbury for my gifted copy.

Emily 

I was very excited about this book as I loved the gravity of us & this book did not disappoint. It was a very heat warming coming of age story that I loved however before reading this check the trigger warnings as the book does deal with some harder topics

Ocean

This is a beautiful story about finding your own family and becoming independent. Marty flies the nest and goes to stay with his cousin in London for the summer, although he hopes to stay longer. He meets a boy, he makes friends, he struggles with anxiety and disordered eating, he travels, and he goes through a lot of ups and downs. I really enjoyed the background characters, Marty's new friends in London were (mostly) wonderful people. I strongly related to the friendship between Marty and his best friend from home, Megan. I've had friendships just like that in the past. The travel scenes inspired me and the friendships were something to aspire to. Marty's cousin, Shane, and his aunt Leah were so welcoming and I think everyone needs a cool aunt and a gay cousin, it was nice that Marty had another gay person in his family to turn to, I wish I had that. Pierce was an interesting character, sometimes he seemed so good for Marty, and other times he didn't. The way the story ended made me feel good, Marty deserves everything. I hope he's living his best life.

As Far As You'll Take Me

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