Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went

Author: Gayle Forman

Publication Date: April 5th, 2011

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Genre: YA/Contemporary/Romance

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Synopsis:

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:Where she went is the dramatic close to everything. While the story is almost as packed with emotion as If I stay, we all, get the closure really needed.


If I stay left us majorly hanging, Where she went picks up 3 years later so just like in If I stay we are getting most of the story through flashbacks. This is definitely a unique way of writing the stories I think and Forman pulls it off so well. We are always moving forward in the present with constant reminders and stories of why things are they way the are now, and how they came to be. We get so much insight into the characters and their lives and experiences  that I think it's pretty much impossible not to become emotionally attached to them, to fall in love with them even. Which makes reading through this book all the more intense, as emotions always seem to be riding high, as are we.


While a lot of elements are the same in this story, a lot is also different. This time the story is told by Adam instead of Mia. I always enjoy when a story gives you one event seen from completely different points of views. It gives everything much more depth and meaning. So we get to re-experience a lot, and see it in a different light, with different levels and types of pain. Adam comes into the story pretty much a changed man. Shortly after the accident Mia just kind walked out of his life, leaving him pretty much devastated. He has not handled everything well at all, and it's effecting him in a majorly negative way. Except in one area, his emotions have allowed him to write some incredible music which has propelled him and his band into stardom incredibly fast. But now that Adam is here, in the spotlight, he wishes he wasn't and it's yet another thing he can't quite handle.  All seems to be a downward spiral until a chance meeting between Mia and Adam. Adam stumbles upon a show being played by Mia. She is always becoming quite popular in the classical music industry with her Cello playing.

The rest of the story is them trying to both apologize for how things ended up, but at the same time they probably wouldn't change how it went. Will they be able to work around the rift that came between them, or will this just be the final goodbye that they both needed? I'll admit at the start of the book I was quite disappointed with how things worked out, but as the story played out and Adam and Mia re-discovered each other and endured yet another emotional battle together I realized that it was perfect. That things had to work out the way they did for the story to be as great as it was.  This is a real love story against real odds, something I haven't read in awhile and I really enjoyed it. While I did enjoy the first book a bit more, this one is still incredibly good. I definitely recommend you read them both, it's a story you won't soon forget.

Review: If I Stay

If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman

Publication Date: April 26th, 2010

Publisher: Speak

Genre: YA/Contemporary/Romance

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Synopsis:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

My Thoughts:  If I Stay hits hard right from the beginning. There is no easing into the heartache in this story, we are tossed right into it and we ride that incredibly emotional wave until the very end.

The story starts off with the tragic event this entire story revolves around. The car accident that involved Mia's entire family. Mia is wandering around the scene taking in what seems to be a nightmare when she thinks she sees her brother's hand sticking out the car window. She walks over to grab hold of it only to find she is grabbing her own hand. But how can she be in the car, and outside the car at the same time? Mia is lost in a realm that is between life and death. Throughout the story we get flashbacks and peeks into the life she has been leading. She comes from a family that I think we all wish we could have been part of. The closeness was definitely something to be envied. As Mia watches her family members mourn, she is left with the decision; should she go back even though she would be all alone, or should she move on into whatever comes after death?

This story will break your heart on a whole new level. My eyes welled up on many an occasion. Especially in the one on one moments where her family members were talking to her comatose self and Mia was actually there listening. Those moments were seriously hard to bear. Forman has captured these heart breaking emotions in a way that I have seen no Author do before. If you can handle roller coaster emotions and to feel your own heart break, then I seriously recommend you read this story. I only picked this book up twice. I started reading it the afternoon after I bought it, then put it down to do things with my children. I was up early in the morning before my kids and I picked it back up and finished it. It's a book worth getting up early to finish.

Prepare to embark on an emotional journey like no other. I am so glad I bought the sequel at the same time because I cannot wait to find out what happens next. If you do read this I recommend you also have the second on hand because the ending is such a cliffhanger!!  All in all, it's an incredibly beautiful story about love, loss and life. About the choices we make in life and where they lead us, and sometimes some choices are so hard we wish someone else could make them for us.

I can thank Jenn for my purchase of this book, after her review (here), I felt so compelled to get my hands on this book and I am so glad I did! That's two 5 hoot reviews from Owl Read It, we seriously think you should go read it.

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay
(If I Stay #1)

Author: Gayle Forman

Publication Date: January 1st, 2009

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Genre: Realistic Fiction / Contemporary

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Synopsis:

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

My Thoughts: If I Stay is probably one of the most heart-wrenching, beautifully written, amazing books that I have ever read. Every one kept telling me to make sure I had a box of Kleenex when I read it. Yes, you definitely need it. I have this thing where I never remember to read the synopsis of a book before I read it. Like, I've read it before  when adding the book to my TBR, but generally forget what it's supposed to be about, just that I wanted to read it.  Well, I forgot again with this and therefore didn't realize there was going to be an accident. All I can say is Gayle Forman has written something amazing. This book it definitely going to be one of my favorites for this year I think, it was just so good. 

If I Stay revolves around Mia, the protagonist, as she experiences an out of body experience after a tragic accident while driving with her family to visit friends. It takes her awhile to realize that she's not ok, about until she finds her own broken body laying on the ground, and then she thinks she died. She didn't die and follows her body to the hospital where she watches as the doctors try to save her and as her family and friends wait patiently for her to awake from her coma. The story takes place over a 24 hour period and constantly alternates between the present and past. After the accident, every time there was a scene from the present I literally had tears streaming down my face. Mia faces a choice. Stay and live, or move on. She doesn't know which she should pick. 

Gayle Forman is an extremely talented writer. Her writing style makes you fall in love with Mia and suffer with her. I was so emotionally attached to the story and just couldn't put it down. I'm extremely glad that I have the second book, Where She Went to read because I just need to know what happens next. If I Stay left off at a point that leaves a lot of questions going through my mind, but since it was so amazing, I have high hopes for the next one. 

So if you haven't figured it out yet. Yes, I completely LOVED this book. I will probably read it again. Sometimes I just need a really good cry and this book definitely helps get that out. Maybe too much. I had to keep wiping off my tears since there were so many. My shirt was getting soaked. I think this is a great book to buy and I'm so glad I own a copy because I will definitely be recommending and lending and rereading. So should you read this? Yes, yes you should.