Where She Went

Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay. This review may contain some spoilers for the first book.

Where She Went and If I Stay are two very different books, but they are both fantastic. It’s a rare thing for an author to write a sequel that both takes a different turn with a story and still manages to be just as good as the first book.

Where She Went follows the story of Adam, Mia’s boyfriend, after the events of the first book. He has become a successful rock star, but still has so much emotional baggage related to his past relationship with Mia that it is undermining his career.

What could be a depressing story is actually quite compelling and completely worth the read. If you have read If I Stay then I highly recommend reading this sequel. ( )

If I Stay totally got its place on my heart, so when he sequel was up, I was like all excited. And so, I finally got my hand on this book.

Where She Went told us about Adam and Mia's relationship after Mia's near death experience, how it affect their life, and the aftermath of all that. Adam, now a famous rocker, was stuck in New York due to his job schedule. And by some fate, he met Mia once again, and determined to repair their cracked relationship.

I love how this book was told not from Mia's perspective, but rather from Adam's. It gave readers an interesting change and refreshing look at the story. When he felt all heartbroken and left behind with a big question mark at his heart, it truly touched me and I could very much felt sorry for him.

Adam, as out main character this time, had developed quite a lot, with him being all flat and two dimensional at If I Stay, he became all flesh and blood on this book. He was easily distinguishable, and I like his unique temper. Mia had shown a drastic change too, being a lot more calmer and composed, and I loved how Gayle Forman had written it in such a casual yet believable way.

One thing that was a bit disappointing from this book was how the story tend to sag in some points, especially on the beginning. I wasn't hooked at all, and I think that was kind of a let down, because a good books are supposed to hooked you right from the beginning.

Overall, I think this book is worth reading. The ending was satisfying, and the story would still linger even when you've finished reading it hours ago. If you're a contemporary lover, or if you love If I Stay, you should totally try this. ( )

*sigh* this was beautiful as well, and also heartbreaking, but in a different way than 'If I Stay'. It also had closure, and a new beginning - which I also want to read more about!

Gayle Forman is writing angst so well I feel like I am the one having to actually deal with it! Adam is in a very bad place in this book, and he is so hopelessly lost he has no idea what to do to find himself again. But there is a solution to everything, and when it happens, it's so beautiful it made me cry with joy. ( )

Three years after the accident that killed Mia’s entire family, she’s a rising cellist star at Julliard, and her ex-boyfriend Adam is the frontman for popular rock band Shooting Star. He’s the subject of much tabloid-scrutiny and is falling into the cliche of tortured rock star: popping pills, drinking before noon, having what amounts to a pseudo-existential crisis. When Adam and Mia cross paths in New York the night before they’re both due for performances in other countries, the two begin to open up to each other after years of silence.

I read Where She Went the day after I completed If I Stay. There was a lot of anticipation on the internet about the release of the sequel to Gayle Forman’s excellent novel about a young girl on the brink of death. While I really enjoyed If I Stay, this one didn’t have the same emotional connection for me. Ultimately, I was left a little cold by this one, readers.

It’s not that Forman isn’t a talented writer. She is, without a doubt, a strong writer, both technically and emotionally. She manages to create characters that are flawed and emotionally raw. Both Adam and Mia make connections to each other and the reader that are important and real.

Telling this story from Adam’s perspective was clever, and it offered a fresh take on the story. It allows the reader insight into his actions and thoughts in a way that wasn’t possible with the first book. The problem with reading the story from Adam’s perspective, however, is that the reader has no idea what Mia is thinking or feeling, and this distance that is created is a bit isolating. Of course, that might be the entire point: Adam is in the dark about what happened to his relationship with Mia three years ago, and his mounting frustration and anger have to build up in order to be released. Even so, reading the two books so close together made this harder for me to deal with as a reader.

Many readers are going to genuinely enjoy this story and the continuing saga of Adam and Mia. There are a ton of gushing and glowing reviews out there already. It’s not that I didn’t like this book–I did–but something about it didn’t connect for me the way the first one did. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something is missing. I could have done without the super-emo lyrics at the start of the chapters, that’s for sure.

Overall satisfying, fans of If I Stay shouldn’t miss this one. It’s definitely worth a read, despite my reservations. ( )

Ugh. First off, I'll admit I haven't read the first book of this series so it's possible that's the problem. However, it takes a rare book to make me tolerate first person (I thought it was grating and downright painful at times in The Hunger Games series, which I love despite this), and this book doesn't make the cut. Maybe I'm finally too old for the usual sort of young adult novel, because the writing here makes me cringe. I didn't get past the first chapter. Not my thing, but plenty of people seem to enjoy it so the author must be doing something right.