Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went (If I Stay #2)

Gayle Forman

Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Pages: Hardcover, 264 pages
Publisher: Dutton

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.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

The sequel to such an amazing first book definitely did not disappoint. While written in a completely different voice and in a different style, the story of Mia and Adam was again opened for readers to explore. As with If I Stay, I could not put this one down. I read it in just a few hours. I loved hearing from Adam and seeing (again through those amazing flashbacks) what happened in the three years since we last left the characters. Seeing both Mia and Adam adults who are dealing with the issues that a rock star and a world renowned musician are faced with, was wonderful for me as a reader. Often I am left wondering, “What happened to these characters?” So many questions were answered with this novel and new stories were opened as well.

As much as I loved the ending of If I Stay and wanted it to go on, it really could have ended there and Forman could have let my imagination go wild. I am so glad she didn’t though because she has done a much better job than my brain ever could. The theme of family and its importance is still prevalent in this novel, but in a different context. Both Adam and Mia are figuring out who they are and who their family is. We all know that blood does not make us family and within every family (no matter what the dynamics) there will always be drama, misunderstandings, hurt feelings and unconditional love. That is what I loved so much. They were both trying to find that all this time without each other and then in one night… could things change for them? Have they found their balance after all these years? Go read it and see!

Read my review of If I Stay here and you can also find Gayle’s information there for contact!