Hello there,
I decided to do another book review of something I have recently read. So here it comes.
Where She Went is a sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This year, the movie If I Stay came out based on the novel and that was the first time I heard about it. It was after I saw and read The Fault In Our Stars so my first initial reaction to the trailer was – it seems quite similar to The Fault, just because of the whole dying-teen-in-love concept. However, it is very different. I wasn’t really interested in reading If I Stay, I only wanted to watch it but after browsing Goodreads I decided to give it a try. Not because I wanted to read If I Stay, but because Where She Went seemed so interesting and the reviews were great. In If I Stay I did not like Mia’s character but enjoyed her parents, grandparents, Adam and basically all the supporting characters. Her story was very sad but for some odd reasons, it did not do it for me like for the others. I gave it 2 stars. And then I picked up Where She Went…
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.
(*may contain spoilers*)
I felt for Adam. Ms Forman totally nailed his POV! I absolutely loved all the angst. Maybe it was because I did not like Mia in the first book anyway. I love how we could see him in the present, 3 years after the accident, and get to see the missing years through his eyes. I felt like the process of Mia’s recovery, was much more enticing story than If I Stay’s plot. (I of course understand that we can’t just make If I Stay disappear.) The book was brilliant when it showed how Adam also suffered loss, not only Mia. Again, I enjoyed the supporting characters and I even though I sided with Adam most of the time I totally understood his band’s frustration. I loved how the book takes place in 2 days span, which left a lot of rooms for details. I liked Adam so much that at some point I even thought that he should just forget Mia and get his happy ending elsewhere. But Mia is the one so of course, Mia and Adam forever please! What Where She Went also achieved was redeeming Mia’s character from the beginning of the story (after the accident) and by the end of the book I almost forgave her and understood her better. Just like Adam. And isn’t that the whole point of a book? To understand? I think it is and that’s why I can just really recommend this book and therefore even the first one, because the second one just makes the whole story so much better.
The only minor tiny issue I had was that I wanted more. I was sad when it ended. I wanted to know more about the characters, dammit!
But everything must end and I’m glad it ended the way it did. The book was realistic, did not make me roll my eyes (as opposed to the first one) and I deeply connected with Adam through the whole book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Thanks for reading.
Know-it-all
on anything and everything. 