Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Book: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Published: Dutton Juvenile/ April 2011
Genre: YA
Pages: 264 pages
Where I got it: bought at Borders
Buy It: Amazon

Summary (from 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: Another fantastic, unputdownable book by Gayle Forman! At first I wasn't sure I was going to like Where She Went very much because I suspected that Forman was going to take in a different direction, but about one quarter of the way through I was completely hooked and loving it. I ended up liking this even more than it's predecessor. It was perfect in almost every way. The emotional rollercoaster that Forman puts the reader on is a hell of a ride but that's what makes the ending all the more worth it. All told, I think I read both of these in a matter of a few hours each. I'm not much of a re-reader, but these two books will be added to my small stack of MUST READ AGAIN books. Seeing things from Adam's perspective was an interesting change and helped me understand things that had happened in If I Stay that we probably wouldn't have known otherwise.

Like my review for If I Stay, I don't want to give too much away here because I don't want to take anything away from your experiences if you haven't read this yet. This is probably the shortest review I've written but I don't care. I don't want to waste any more of your time that could be spent running to the bookstore or Amazon and ordering these books. Even if you don't typically read Young Adult, I urge you to give this contemporary series a chance because it's such a heartbreaking story that's beautifully written. I apologize for this gushy, fan girly review but seriously guys, go read If I Stay and Where She Went.

My rating: 5 stars