Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman - Juhina

Title: Where She Went

Author: Gayle Forman

My rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis (via goodread)

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 sister and I fell in love with “If I Stay”. Yes I was the one who cried constantly from the beginning of the book but we both came out of this book breathless and heartbroken. The idea of losing my family is unbearable and reading how she went through it? Just open up my heart and slice it will you?
Yes this isn’t a post about “If I Stay” but its sequel “Where She Went”. If you’ve read the first book you’ll know its told from the perspective of Mia, however I was surprised when I found out the second book is told from the perspective of Adam. That.Was.Awesome. I was SO bummed out when Stephanie Meyer stopped writing Midnight Sun which is the perspective of Edward. I always love it when I get to read both sides of the story so it was very refreshing.

“Where She Went” does not rip your heart out, it maybe pinches it but you recover automatically, I didn’t cry *shocker* so overall it was a ‘happier’ story. It’s set three years after the accident, Adam is a rock star and Mia is a classical music prodigy. There is the flashbacks and the hurt and confusion Adam has kept pent up in his heart because of Mia’s sudden disconnect from him. Again the whole book is set in one day of their life. I guess you can say Gayle Forman’s books are more about the emotions and internal conflicts and reality. So while if you think about it the story can be summarized in a couple of lines but the FEELINGS and EMOTIONS that the characters and yourself experience can’t be summarized, at all, trust me I’ve tried.

While I enjoyed the book, it wasn’t as emotionally deep and heart wrenching as “If I Stay” but it was nice to know what has happened to the two main leads for the long run. I didn’t understand the reason for Mia leaving Adam and also blaming him, but what do I know? I’ve never had to go through what she went through.

Adam truly loved Mia and it showed through this book. He might just be one of my top fictional character crushes.

  - Juhina