Title: Where She Went
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: If I Stay #2
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Doubleday Childrens
Summary (from Goodreads)
It’s been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.
Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future – and each other.
What’s Good About It
Where She Went takes a step back from If I Stay’s fantasy roots, providing a sharply real exploration of love and hope lost and found. Told from Adam’s perspective rather than Mia’s it picks up three years after the crash.
It’s a very different animal to its predecessor, but, even though it doesn’t have any of that weird, out of body magical stuff going on, Where She Went retains what made If I Stay so powerful in the first place – the emotion at it’s core.
It’s a hard work sort of book. It will string you out, break your heart and keep you coming back for more because you become so emotionally invested in the characters you have to know how it turns out. Poor, poor Adam. You feel every broken emotion he vents through his music. And even though he’s a mess, a total train wreck of a character, you can’t help falling in love with him.
But, and this is where Gayle Forman’s strength really shows – you can’t hate Mia for leaving him either. Every choice is logical, every emotion so true and believable. You’re invested on both sides of the relationship and want more than anything for a happy ending to play out.
An emotionally charged masterpiece of contemporary YA.
What’s Not So Good
Didn’t make me cry like the first one – but then it’s not as shocking in that way.
Rating: 5/5
