Thursday, May 10, 2012

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

This is the sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

This is Mia's boyfriend's story, Adam, not Mia's. Also, if you don't want to find out what happens at the end of the first novel, do no read the rest of this review. There will be spoilers right away.

It's been three years since the fateful accident of Mia Hall's family. Now, Adam is a famous rock star in his group Shooting Star. He has a movie start girlfriend, and has groupies that follow and buy his band's album.

But Adam feels lost. He doesn't enjoy the music anymore. He doesn't get along with his bandmates, who were practically family when they got together 3-4 years ago.

While Adam has become a famous rock star, Mia has become a famous orchestra player with her cello. They both went their separate ways, but not after a few hearts broken along the 3 years of separation.

Adam has panic attacks, so he needs to take medication. He has also become very superstitious and when he finds out that his bandmates are flying to London for their tour on Friday the 13th, he gets a new flight. No sense in tempting fate, he thinks.

So while his band is flying to London, Adam stays in New York for another day. As fate would have it, he finds Mia performing a concert.

Adam buys a ticket and falls into Mia's music - remembering the old days when she would play non-stop. When Mia requests to see him, everything in the past years come flying back between them.

Why did Mia stop talking to Adam? What is going on between the two of them? Will Adam and Mia finally have the conversation that has been waiting for 3 years, or will they disappear into the night with their thoughts and feelings unresolved? Read Where She Went by Gayle Forman to find out.

My Thoughts/Reflections
I loved the first novel of this two book series. It was so heartbreaking and devastating, but strong and hopeful.

This novel was a good addition. Not necessarily needed as the way If I Stay ended was beautiful, but the reader finally figures out what happened to Mia and Adam.

And instead of reading Mia's thoughts, this time, the reader delves inside Adam's head, the boy we were introduced to in the first novel but never quite got his whole story.

Even though when one thinks "rock star", Adam didn't have a glamorous life. In fact, if it wasn't for the songs that came through his mind during a few months, he would have been out of a band and would have lived a boring life in Oregon.

But even so, Adam had superstitious problems and he was also a bit claustrophobic when it came to crowds - not the best thing to have when one performs in front of millions of people and have fans follow one around for autographs.

While this wasn't my favorite sequel to a book I loved, I'm glad I was able to get a more solid ending to Mia and Adam's story.

I would recommend this to anyone who loved the first novel, and I think it would also appeal to a male audience because it is through a male narrative. And even though the cover has a girl on it, don't let it fool you. It is definitely a male rock star narrating this novel!

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