Thursday, June 20, 2013

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went (If I Stay #2)
Author: Gayle Froman
Published: April 5th 2011
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

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.

I absolutely adored the amazingness that was If I Stay.  I wanted to read Where She Went so bad. I must admit that the first chapter that was at the end of the first book completely knocked me down from my amazement pedestal since it wasn’t at all what I expected. After finishing the second installment, I felt happy enough to dance around in my room and smile like a crazy person though.

“You were so busy trying to be my savior that you left me all alone.”

Where She Went takes place three years after the events of If I Stay and it’s safe to say that things are not at all what we expect them to be. Adam and Mia are both doing their own thing and it’s hard to see how much Adam has changed after what happened in the previous book. He is moody, full of grunge and hate. Full of sorrow.

If I Stay was so full of tears and emotions for me whereas Where She Went explored a different type of emotions – anger, hate, pain. The writing is very relatable and easy to follow, but beautiful at the same time. Forman delivered Adam’s feelings effortlessly and the way she entwines the past and the present is done very well. The scenes of the past where Adam spent time with Mia’s family and baby brother were done beautifully. I am so terribly sad that the opportunity to do that again in the future has been torn away from Mia and Adam. Overall, I love Gayle Forman’s writing a bunch!

I kinda lost all hope for the happily-ever-after I was hoping for, but when I least expected it, Forman delivered it to me with a beautiful colorful ribbon on top of it (read: everything following the kiss). I don’t have enough great words to explain to you how much I loved these two novels and how much I hope you’ll pick it up and pet these books with the same kind of adoration as I did. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m a tool for not picking these up before, my loss! Better late than never. Get on ‘em, lovelies!

PS. I gave it 4.5 because for me If I Stay was more emotional. I had to wait for two weeks in order to receive my paperback of Where She Went and throughout that time I read a few other books so my mind had recovered from that horrible ugly crying. If I had read it right after finishing the first installment, I am sure, I would have loved it even more than the first one. Nevertheless, it doesn't take away from the beauty of Mia and Adam and their tragic yet gorgeous story.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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9 comments:

  1. It's so funny how readers take things so differently. For me, Where She Went was far more emotional than If I Stay, so it got the higher rating from me. I loved how she portrayed Adam and brought him and Mia back together slowly.

    Great review, Siiri!

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    1. Thanks, Jenni! I thoroughly enjoyed it, but as I said, I kinda came down from the high of the first book since I had to wait so long to read the sequel. I think if it wasn't for that, I would have devoured and loved it even more than If I Stay:)

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  2. Okay, I feel better about this series after reading this review Siiri. I've been putting it off because everyone has been saying how emotional it is and how they cried throughout, and while I love a good cry, I need a happy ending. I just can't deal with anything else! So, you can imagine my excitement upon reading this:

    "I kinda lost all hope for the happily-ever-after I was hoping for, but when I least expected it, Forman delivered it to me with a beautiful colorful ribbon on top of it (read: everything following the kiss)."

    WIN SIIRI! Now I feel like I can read these books:)

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    1. I want you to read these babies so bad already, they're perfect:) I hope you'll enjoy them and oh, if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm offering mine LOL. The first one is a serieous case of ugly-crying;)

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  3. OMG, Yes! I loved these to books and I really liked reading from Adam's pov. I bawled my eyes out in If I Stay, but not so much in Where She Went even though all the emotions were still there. I felt so bad for Adam! Great review :)

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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    1. Eeek! Yay! I'm so glad you liked it as well:) Forman is such a great author and I felt for Adam, too. All I wanted to do was hug him LOL.

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  4. I own these books, but haven't read them yet, so I skimmed your review. I'm glad you ended up loved WSW, even though it wasn't quite as emotional for you!

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  5. Glad that it made you smile and dance. I haven't read these I don't think

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  6. Oh this both ripped my heart out and filled it with joy!! Poor Adam! Poor Mia! Oh man! Lovely review, Siiri! :)

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