Where She Went Review

TITLE Where She Went (If I Stay #2)
AUTHOR Gayle Forman
PUBLICATION April 5, 2011 by Dutton Juvenile
READ June 14 - 16, 2012

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.

Where She Went is the sequel to Gayle Forman's New York Times Bestseller If I Stay.  This was a more than worthy follow up to a fantastic novel. For me, Where She Went, was even more heartfelt and evoked so much emotion from me that I had to sit there and collect myself after reading the final page.  I fell in love with Adam and Mia all over again, and the honesty with which their emotions was conveyed had me eating up the pages hungrily.

Where She Went picks up 3 years after the debut and we are re-introduced to Adam, the loving boyfriend who was fighting to see Mia throughout If I stay.  It's told from Adam's perspective which I think was a great choice for this novel.  He's gone through a lot since Mia's car accident, being there through her rehabilitation and then her slowly phasing him out of her life once she went to Julliard has taken its toll on him.  After his bout with depression from her absence he pulls his emotions out of him and writes a record that catapults Shooting Star to the top of the charts.  With their new found success comes awards, groupies, tension within the band and world tours.The night before he takes off for London to kick off Shooting Star's latest tour Adam runs into Mia and they spend the night on a farewell tour of New York.

The writing in this novel was so beautiful, Gayle Forman knows how to convey her characters emotions in a way that makes you feel as if you are standing in their shoes and having your own heart ripped out. In the beginning I couldn't understand how Mia could have done what she did to Adam, they were so in love and he was the perfect man helping her through the accident as well as the aftermath.  Adam's grief was so sad to read and at times I was mad at Mia for handling the situation the way that she did.

On their farewell tour to the city they open up to one another and release a lot of their demons. At that time I realised I couldn't be angry with anyone, both of them handled a terrible situation in the way that felt right at the time, and in real life, that's all you can do.  This is a beautiful novel full of heartbreak, finding yourself and starting to rebuild.  This is most definitely a must read and a series that I will be recommending to anyone willing to listen.