Gayle Forman

This novel takes place mostly in the head of the protagonist, Mia. Well, I guess it's in her head. She and the rest of her family (mom, dad, little brother) have all been in a terrible car accident and Mia is hanging onto life at the hospital. But she's having an out-of-body experience where she can see everyone visiting her, or trying to see her, talking about her, talking to her - she can even see her own body in the hospital bed. She can wander around in the hospital, so she can see even who is in the waiting area. She has some memories - flashbacks - while she's in this state so the reader can get some backstory. And her main conflict is that she has to decide whether she wants to live (stay) or die. The story takes place in the span of just a couple of days, but you still get to know Mia and learn about what has been going on in her life - who is important to her and what matters to her. The most well-drawn relationships in the novel are between Mia and her best friend and Mia and her boyfriend. I don't want to give any more away than that - it's a pretty interesting story and I enjoyed it - in fact, I finished it in just a couple of days... but I didn't like some of the things that were suggested about people who believe in God and angels or what was suggested about Heaven and the afterlife. But those things were very minor in the book. Mostly it was about Mia, her friend, her boyfriend, her family, and her decision about staying.… (altro)

t was a long time after I read If I Stay before I read Where She Went. I was scared! If I Stay crushed my heart and had me ugly crying for the majority of the book. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to be emotionally read for Where She Went. Then I got it from the library so I sort of had to read it before I returned it. :)

Where She Went takes place 3 years after If I Stay (3!!!). When I initially saw the synopsis, I was just thinking "what the crap?!" Anyway, Mia has been pursuing her music at Juilliard and Adam's band has taken off and reached rock star status. This story is told in Adam's POV and you see his turmoil during these years without Mia. God, it broke my heart.

By a twist of fate, Adam and Mia meet in New York after all that time and explore the city together before they each have to leave the next day. I enjoyed seeing how they interacted but they kept dancing around the big elephant in the room -- like, hey Mia, why did you go and break my effing heart?

I think I was mad at Mia for a large part of this book and it detracted from how I felt about the story. Of course the book was emotional, especially the flashbacks and seeing what Adam went through. However, while emotional and while I teared up in a few parts, it wasn't as soul crushing as If I Stay.

Adam Wilde. Oh Adam. My heart ached and I just wanted to hold him for most of the book. I loved that it was in his POV. Was there ever such a perfect boy? One of my favorite aspects of this book was the music and each chapter opened with a snippet of lyrics from one of his songs. It added a lot to the story since the majority of his music is about what he's feeling. It made me wish Adam was REAL so I could go and buy his album because I want to listen to it!!

I really enjoyed this emotional addition to Adam and Mia's story but I think I liked If I Stay more. Maybe If I Stay touched me more or maybe I was just upset at Mia for too long. However, all that to say, Where She Went was still amazing.… (altro)