Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Add to 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.

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.

My thoughts

Adam story was just as touching and heartwrenching as Mia's in If I Stay, though in quite a different way. Where If I Stay focused on life, Where She Went was much more about loss, and how to deal with it. 

Three years have past since Mia's accident and since she left him in the airport - and never came back. Adam has become a rockstar, but even though he's achieved everything he wanted he's not happy. He has fallen out with music and life, and he lives day by day, assuring himself that if he got through yesterday, he may get thorugh today as well, maybe even tomorrow. I was sad to see what had become of Adam in this book. He was such an amazing guy in If I Stay, but sadness and sorrow had changed him a lot. I still liked Adam very much, and though he seemed very different now, you could still see the caring, wonderful guy underneath. 

I have to admit that I didn't quite like how he led his life after Mia left him, sort of giving up on everything. I mean, considering Mia being able to pick herself up and go on with her life after what happened to her, he  he initially just gave in to misery. While I did understand his sorrow, and how he just wanted to drown in his grief I was a bit disappointed with him in the beginning. As everything was unfolded, however, you find out there's a lot more to his story than just Mia leaving him, that he also lost someone he cared about in the accident, and being in the band, playing music is nothing like it was before.  

I loved Mia in this book. She is such a strong character, and I still very much admire her. I was impressed by how she handled everything, her loss, her life, and that she didn't want pity from anyone. She just wanted to live life like everybody else. I think she could maybe have dealt with Adam in a better than just leaving him like that, but I couldn't resent Mia, because knowing her from If I Stay, I knew she had a reason for doing what she did. But you'll have to read for yourself to see if that is true. 

I liked how the story planned out, though I think there was a bit too many flashbacks. Where I didn't mind it in the previous book, I think it broke the story up too much in this. It's not that I didn't like what was told, I did for the most part (though some of it were a bit painful to read, because Adam past was heartbreaking at times), it was just a bit too much. That being said, I really liked this book and I simply couldn't put it down. I loved Mia and Adam's tour through the city, and how they rediscover each other - and perhaps their love. And Adam finally finding himself again. 

If you liked If I Stay this book is a must-read. 

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆