Where She Went by Gayle Forman

*****

Synopsis taken from Gayle Forman’s website:

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 Julliard’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.

Wow. 

That was all I could say when I finished this sequel to If I Stay.  This book was just as emotionally charged as the first and completely leaves you breathless.

Just as in If I Stay, Gayle Forman brilliantly jumps between the present and the past to tell us how Adam and Mia have come to where they are now.  I can’t imagine anyone not loving Adam by the end of If I Stay.  Actually you like him so much that you are wondering when you start reading Where She Went, why the HECK did Mia leave him and why haven’t they spoken in three years? 

Through this story we learn how the tragedy in Mia’s story and then her abandonment has affected them both differently.  Some people grieve and move on any way they can and others get so stuck in their grief that they might explode any minute.  After 24 hours together, we learn who has learned to accept the events of the past and who still needs a holding hand to guide them to closure.

Although If I Stay really could have been a stand alone novel, this ended up being a beautiful ending to Adam and Mia’s story. 

Like most book lovers, I have read more books than I can count.  But even having read so many there are very few that I will read more than once.  There are even fewer that I will read more than twice.   If I Stay and Where She Went have made there way to the latter category.  These two books were so wonderful that I will be buying a second copy of each in the form of e-book so that I can always have them with me.  And my hard copies have already been added to a pile of books that I recommend to most friends. 

Nat