Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

A few days ago, I received a copy of Where She Went by Gayle Forman, a book I've been highly anticipating. A few days ago I even posted a list of the top five reasons I loved If I Stay, this included a bit about why I couldn't wait for Where She Went and that can be found here.

My first impulse is not to grab her or kiss her or yell at her. I simply want to touch her cheek, still flushed from the night’s performance. I want to cut through the space that separates us, measured in feet—not miles, not continents, not years—and to take a callused finger to her face. I want to touch her to make sure it’s really her, not one of those dreams I had so often after she left when I’d see her so clear as day, be ready to kiss her or take her to me only to wake up with Mia just beyond reach.

But I can’t touch her. This is a privilege that’s been revoked.

It’s been three years since Adam’s love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it . . . and three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.
Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard’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, powerful 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.
(From the jacket copy of Where She Went)

You can tell from the fact I did a whole post about it that I was ridiculously excited about this book and as soon as more people have read it I'll definitely do a similar list for Where She Went. As it is, there is now under a week left to wait for Where She Went and I am so excited to offer my review on the ARC I received!

I read Where She Went over two days ago and have spent all that time since turning it over in my mind and processing it. And as much as I want to do one of those reviews where I rant about how much I loved it and use lots if capitals and exclamation marks I honestly don't think that would do such an amazing book justice.

I have read a lot of reviews where emotional books are described as 'an emotional roller-coaster'. And I'm not saying that is at all wrong just that I believe a book as exceptional and unique as Where She Went deserves a new simile. That's why I would like to say it was like emotional Dodgem cars.

Why Dodgem Cars you're probably wondering. Well, on the ride you get bumped and knocked around. And then sometimes you do the bumping yourself. You may get hurt by a restricting seat belt jerking you back or by being too free by not wearing a seat belt and being knocked. But when things calm down and you step off that ride, you're ultimately happy you were on it in the end. That summarizes how I feel about Where She Went. That considered, below is a more in-depth review in which I will try to avoid spoilers though may (hopefully not) slip slightly.

So as with If I Stay, Where She Went focuses on one day with much of the story being told through flashbacks which hold something of relevance.

The entire story is told from Adam's point of view. He's not the same as we remember him though. Over the three years that have passed Adam has had reason to become a much darker person and this is shown while we're in his head. I think Gayle Forman executed this remarkably well. Adam is very angst filled at the moment and that comes across clearly and in such a way that even though he's changed there's enough the same that we still recognize him and you'll still love him. To be completely honest I think in might even live Adam more after reading Where She Went.

Another of the aspects I specifically loved about If I Stay was Gayle Forman's writing style. It wasn't purely about the story but also how it was told. The figurative language that's so descriptive it'll draw a picture in your head that won't leave you for days, the words that are so lyrical and smooth. I adored a return to this in Where She Went though with a distinctly darker edge due to Adams frame of mind.

One of my favourite aspects of Where She Went though was the lyrics at the beginning of some of the chapters. These show more than anything the way Adam was feeling when Mia left. I read some of these lyrics and just understood so much clearly his pain. When you read them you which nothing more than for the music that goes with them as I believe this would reveal even more about the emotions he was feeling at the time.

If you read my previous post on If I Stay you'll know that it was the only book I've ever cried in. Not anymore. I cried in Where She Went and now believe that Gayle Forman has a true talent for causing tears in the highly sarcastic.

It was the most engrossing read I've had in months and I read it all in one sitting being unable to leave the ending in question. Days after reading it I'm still debating whether or not I loved it more than If I Stay. And now as I write this I think I can say with conviction that no I didn't. They are both different and can't be compared. I love them both for reasons that are sometimes the same and sometimes different.
 
As I don't want to ruin anything I can't tell you how it ends only that I loved all of it, every single word, even those that made me want to cry or scream.

5/5 silver platters!

Thank-you netgalley and penguin for allowing me to read this fantastic book and thanks Gayle Forman for writing it! I can't wait for it to be released so I can go out and buy it and hold a hard copy in my hands!

Laura

Five Reasons I love Gayle Formans If I Stay and can't wait for Where She Went

Two years ago, way back in the year of 2009 I went into a book store looking desperately for something new to read. Stumbling through the shelves, as I’ve always focused more on reading than on developing any kind of co-ordination, I happened across a book titled If I Stay. It had a very pretty cover, an interesting blurb and a fascinating title. And even though I had practically no money at that moment in time I bought it. And that, turned out to be one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Since then I’ve read If I Stay more than ten times and would say without hesitation or reservation it is my favourite book. It’s the book I refer people to when they ask for a suggestion and so far no-one who’s read it had ever come back to tell me anything aside from that they loved it. I’m someone who is overly pedantic about the appearance of my books, they can’t be dog eared, creased or in any way damaged. And logically you would therefore assume that being my favourite book would mean it’s pristine. I take it the other way. The fact that it’s been handled read and hugged to me so many times, that it’s been cried on, thrown across the room in despair (Okay, that one’s a little bit of an exaggeration. Throwing books is bad.) and sighed into means my copy is very worn and you can tell it’s much loved.

If you haven’t read this book, STOP whatever you’re currently doing and race out to your nearest book store, library or anywhere else you know you’ll find it. Even if that involves breaking into your neighbours house do it. You won’t regret it. Well, if you break into to your neighbour’s house and get caught you might but that’s beside the point.

So now here are my top five reasons why I love Gayle Forman’s If I Stay (I could make this list much longer, really it could go on forever but I didn’t think my rabbiting on forever was a very appealing read):

                1.Out of all the books I’ve ever read, and you can safely assume that as someone who’s attempting to start a book blog that I read A LOT, If I Stay is the only one that has ever made me cry. I never cried while watching the movie Titanic but I was bawling while reading this book. And I love a good cry. This is a book that brought up so much emotion as to make someone whose twitter name is cynicallaura cry.

                2. Adam. It’s that simple. One word, or a name really, Adam. I have masses of book crushes, whole lists of them, but he’s my favourite, the one I fell for. And even though I’m in love with him, I wouldn’t want him to be with anyone but Mia which leads me to my next point:

                3. The most perfectly imperfect relationships. All the relationships in the books are real. None are perfect they have their flaws which makes them believable, brings them to life, it’s something that is missing from far too many books. In If I Stay, Mia talks specifically about how her and Adam got off to a rough start, we’re told about how Mia’s mother’s and her parents didn’t get along and then we’re shown how her father and his parents interact. It’s this aspect of the book then being torn apart that was part of the reason I cried.

                4. There are no vampires, werewolves, shadowhunters (I’m looking at you Jace Wayland), fairies, angels, demons or spies. I’m not saying I don’t love all those things in books, because I do. Seriously, most of the books I read involve at least one of those aspects as I’m a deep lover of the paranormal, supernatural, fantasy genre. It’s pretty much all I read. If anyone needs evidence of this, comment that you’d like to see a pic of my shelves and I can show you exactly how many of these books I have. That’s why If I Stay was so refreshing. It was different. And it was deep. And the protagonist and her one true love weren’t on a trip to save the world/themselves/a herd of baby unicorns.

                5. It didn’t need a sequel. I’m overjoyed that one is coming out, I screamed when I found out, but it wasn’t necessary. Almost all the books I buy and read leave me unsatisfied. Not due to the fact they’re bad, but because they leave me hanging, waiting months on end to find out what happened next. When I read If I Stay I wasn’t expecting another book and while I would’ve killed to know what happened to Mia and Adam from the point the book ends, it was oddly peaceful to have had it end that way.

And before I start talking about my delight when I heard about Where She Went I can’t resist adding a number six to this list.

                6. It has that sexiest non-sex sex scene I have ever read. If you’ve read the book you’ll know what I mean. But, WOW! That scene is hot. I never thought musical instruments could seem so sexy.

Okay, now for those who don’t know, in little over a weeks time the sequel to If I Stay will be released. This book is called Where She Went and has been called a continuation of the Mia-Adam story. When I found out about this book I literally squealed, something I pride myself on not doing very often. I looked up everything I could about it and began regularly checking (*cough*stalking*cough*) Gayle Forman’s website, twitter and blog frequently and here are some things I found you may have missed.  Here you can find the ‘teaser tour’ on Gayle Formans blog along with a small excerpt and other bits and pieces. Here you can find the book trailer (and OMG is that boys voice sexy!) and another longer excerpt as well as other general information.

As soon as I’ve got the book in my hands and have read it I’ll post my review! I'm so incredibly jealous of all the people who've already read this book. If anyone feels the need to express how excited you are for this book please comment I’d love to discuss it with you!

Laura

Next on the blog: My review of both Demons Lexicon and Demons Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan.