Saturday, August 20, 2011

Where She Went by Gayle Forman: Review

Where She Went
By Gayle Forman
Published April 5th 2011 by Dutton
Pick up your copy at Amazon, B&N, or your local indie today!
Synopsis borrowed 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.

Darkfallen falls apart:

This book was great...AMAZING even! If I could give it 8 stars I would. I truly truly would.

In If I Stay Gayle Forman takes us through a roller coaster ride of emotions. As you journey through the tragedy with Mia and her family...and the eminent lose...*sighs* you just can't help but ball like a baby. I remember reading it clutching the book so tight it's a wonder the pages didn't rip, while tears ran like a waterfall down my face.

Where She Went is the perfect addition to this story. I mean really I don't think it could have been done any better. Simply perfect. Gayle again paints a picture so broken, bruised, and damaged, it's beautifully raw. This time we get to here what happened after the accident through Adam's point of view, and WOW I love him even more. His voice is so true, so raw, so what-its-really-like and not at all this-is-how-it-happens-in-fairy tales.

We walk along with Adam and all his torment over Mia. She may have survived the car crash, but he lost her anyways. But that's what he promised her wasn't it? He made that deal while she was lying unconscious in that hospital bed three years ago. Said he would give up us if it was to hard to deal with, if only she would stay. Only he hadn't really expected her to leave him...but she had to.

Now it's three years later. Adam and his band have made it big, but are barely holding it together. Mostly because Adam is barely holding it together. Three years. Three whole years and still he can't sleep, he drinks his meals, has a medicine cabinet full of pills that is supposed to make the panic away, but it's pointless. All of it means nothing without her. Only she left him. And not only has Adam been morning the lose of Kat, Denny, & Teddy, now he mourns her too. A living ghost...that's what she is to him. That's what he is to everyone else, without her.

Then one night while walking through New York past Carnegie Hall there's a poster. It's her. She's playing tonight. The show is sold out but he tries anyways, if it's meant to be then its meant to be...and it was.

This is the beautiful story of how grief changes people. How is breaks you apart. How some of us run away from people to heal, leaving the others to tear apart. But in the end you realize the only thing that will heal you both is each other.

I devoured this book in about 4 hours. I cried, I even laughed at times. Again this writer is great, Adam's voice is one you can't help but love. Don't miss this...it is a must read:)
Lymi...



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