Unfortunately I was unable to read this book as the PDF file wasn't compatible with my kindle.. I do look forward to reading this book in the future.

This is a really well-written and compelling story with a strong narrative voice in Miles. It captured the strange magic of Iceland (as seen through the eyes of a foreigner) really well, and the depiction of Miles' grief over the loss of his girlfriend was very touching. In terms of gender and sexuality it's possibly one of the most diverse YA novels out there, with (as far as I remember!) pansexual, demisexual, gay, lesbian, trans and genderfluid, all of which is included very naturally.

It's a really well-done book about a whole bunch of difficult subjects. It's hard to say I enjoyed it, but there are some things I did very much enjoy.

I liked Miles, actually. He sounded and acted like a teenager, including being internet/tumblr-literate and having the correct terminology for concepts such as dysphoria and demisexuality. He mentions actually reading up on dysphoria once for Vivian. I liked that he made some bad/silly choices, and sometimes there were consequences for them, but in general they were his choices to make, and he made them. I liked that not everything went well for him. I also thought that his anxiety -- the run-of-the-mill kind that made him worry about everything, rather than the deeply debilitating kind -- was well done.

I loved the setting; I loved that Miles was remarkably unprepared to go to Iceland by himself and he went anyway. It's obvious that the author has been to Iceland, even without her needing to mention it in the acknowledgments, because of the kinds of details you only get from having done the same thing your character did. Google can only tell you so much.

I also very much enjoyed the complexity. There are no simple answers to much of anything, including Miles and Vivian's relationship and Oskar's relationship with both Jack and his family. There are no simple answers to grief.

This is a very queer book; I think there might have been one or two cis straight allo characters total? Miles has two mothers; Vivian is of course trans. Practically everyone he ran into was also queer. Vivian wasn't the only trans person in the book, although she was the only one with a major role.

But.

The elephant in the room is that this book is about a boy going on a journey to find himself while his trans girlfriend is in a coma because she tried to commit suicide. It makes it a touch difficult to review, as I'm not trans myself. But on the plus sides for the author, as I mentioned, Vivian isn't the only trans person in the book; in addition, she shows up enough in flashbacks that you get a good sense of her as a dynamic character. Miles acknowledges a few times that there's a balance between prioritizing himself in his recovery from losing her and being a jerk about it. The reality is that trans women (and trans women of color) have incredibly high suicide rates, and it's often other parts of the queer community who mourn. The author did have at least one trans woman help her with crafting Vivian, as it says in the acknowledgments. (Possibly more but one that I'm certain of.)

But.

I can't in good conscience recommend it to any of my trans friends because it's incredibly rough to read and while it may be cathartic to a certain kind of trans reader, I don't know if I know any of those people.

Here's a list of all the content notes I can remember: Vivian dies near the end, but there's never any question that this is going to happen. There are also discussions of suicide and euthanasia (pulling the plug), discussions of dysphoria, references to eating disorders, and two separate subplots involving pedophilia and child sexual abuse (not to/involving Miles or Vivian). There's also physical violence done to Miles for kind of a complicated reason. The book is also kind of soaked in grief and has a little bit of a misuse of a doctor/patient relationship that comes up towards the end. There's also a lot of drinking and sex/desire.

Miles Away from You had a great premise, about Miles coming to terms with Vivian's suicide. The execution, however, wasn't my style. I think some LGBTQ youth might enjoy this book, but Miles having totally supportive lesbian parents may be a hard sell for many of the readers.

This is a fantastic book. I really, really enjoyed reading it. The characters were well developed and interesting. I think the author really captured grief well. I also liked the setting and it made me want to visit Iceland. I would definitely recommend this book to students, although it does have some sexual content. I think stories like this area important to tell and students need more diverse literary options.

This was a sweet book with an endearingly honest protagonist in Miles, an eighteen year old whose girlfriend Vivian is in a coma due to an overdose. Although it's written in the format of letters to Viv, it doesn't focus on her, more on his journey to find out who he is without her. Gender identity and sexuality is dealt with deftly and with consideration and I loved the honest depictions of sex. Because newsflash! teenagers have sex, and it's good to read a book which doesn't skirt around the issue. And it's enough to make anyone want to visit Iceland.

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review)

In the book description it said that this book was perfect for Adam Silvera. That means it would be perfect for me because I am a Adam Silvera fan. It wasn’t perfect but it was a great unexpected read indeed. This book talks about Miles who messages his trans girlfriend Vivian, who's in a coma. It is told trough instant messages so we feel so connected to Miles and how he is coping with loss & love. The roadtrip – travel plot was really entertaining since I really have always loved both of these things but at the same time it was impossible not to feel sad for what this teen was going trough. I can’t really comment on the gender aspect of the book so I am excited to see what own voices reviewers thought of it. I’m pretty sure that what I enjoyed the most about this book was Miles due to his personality, he is always throwing some snark in between chapters & you never really get bored with his voice. Overall this book did not dissapoint and I will most probably read whatever the writer publishes next.

American protagonist Miles is trying to deal with his trans girlfriend, Vivian, being in a coma following a suicide attempt when his moms arrange a month in a hotel in Iceland for him to attempt to heal. Despite me feeling a bit “woah! How much did THAT cost?” I managed to get behind his book because Miles is a compelling and funny narrator who can acknowledge his own privilege and occasional whininess. This was an emotional and surprising read that made me want to go to Iceland even more than I already did - and read anything else the author writes.

Apologies I am unable to read and review a download only title