Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Release Date – April 5, 2011
Publisher – Dutton Juvenile (Penguin)
Publisher Social Media - Penguin
Pages - 264
My Rating- 9.5/10

****Spoilers for If I Stay*****

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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

I will be spoiling some of If I Stay in this review so you may want to go read that and than come back and read this review.

I loved If I Stay. LOVED. Mia and Adam were characters I was excited to get back to. I waited because I was a little leery of this book not being what I had pictured it as. I was so wrong. I feel it actually surpasses If I Stay.

I fell for Adam. We meet him as he is about to tour with his band. They are insanely popular right now, and Adam’s celebrity status is heightened by his actress girlfriend. It seems like Adam’s life is going pretty good, and he should be happy right? Well Adam is a broken, pill dependant mess that is always one minute from a panic attack. I wanted to protect and hug him. It doesn’t hurt that he so freaking adorable. I love when an author can give such an amazing voice to a character. I love it even more when it’s a novel told from the male perspective that is done so amazing well (the fact that it’s done by a female author is icing on the already awesome cake).

We don’t really get much from Mia as this is Adam’s story. When she does enter she’s a little different from what we remember. The accident and events in If I Stay have changed her. I would be angry and upset if I had lost my entire family as well. As Adam starts to get answers to what happened between them, we can relate and understand Mia’s reasons.

One of my favourite things is how real, and relateable Gayle’s characters are. She really takes the time to develop them and give each one a personality that jumps off the page.

I love that Adam is so lyrical that the words in this book reflect that. There are so many great quotes and the words to the songs by Shooting Star are amazing themselves. My favourite quote has to be this one -

Mia’s smile is melting chocolate. It’s a kick-ass guitar solo. It’s everything good in this world.

This leads me to talk about the romance in this novel. I loved the fact that Adam’s never really gotten over Mia and that they have this one night together to see what happened. The tour around New York provides some cute moments and there is some serious sexiness later on in the book. The book is filled with sigh inducing quotes like the one above.

I think that while Gayle Forman deals with a devastating situation in this novel (and the one pervious) it is ultimately about hope and second chances. It was a book that I truly loved reading and it’s a fast read as well. If you loved If I Stay make sure to pick this one up. If you haven’t read either…what are you waiting for??!