Lo que fue de ella

If I Stay #2

by Gayle Forman

Narrada desde el punto de vista de Adam, Lo que fue de ella retoma los personajes de Si decido quedarme , el bestseller internacional de Gayle Forman que describe con asombroso realismo el turbulento horizonte emocional de una adolescente que logra recuperarse de una situación límite.

Han pasado tres años desde que Mía, tras el trágico accidente, dejó su ciudad natal en la Costa Oeste para iniciar su nueva vida en Juilliard, el prestigioso conservatorio de Nueva York. Y también tres años desde que abandonó a Adam sin darle explicaciones. La idea de perder a Mía supuso para Adam un auténtico tormento, que cristalizó en un puñado de desgarradas canciones que los catapultaron a él y su banda, los Shooting Star, a la fama.

Ahora, convertido en una estrella de rock, con una novia famosa y acosado continuamente por fans y periodistas, Adam vive sumido en un estado de permanente hastío y confusión. Hasta que una noche, en Nueva York, su camino vuelve a cruzarse con el de Mía, convertida ya en la excepcional chelista que prometía ser. El inesperado encuentro se prolongará hasta el amanecer y les brindará la ocasión de abordar lo que ocurrió realmente en el pasado y lo que el futuro podría depararles.

Reseñas:
«Como en Si decido quedarme, Forman relata una historia sobrecogedora que capta de forma muy creíble la profunda madurez y la intensidad que pueden existir en un amor adolescente, así como las infinitas maneras en que el dolor traspasa nuestras vidas.»
Booklist

«A pesar de que la historia de Adam y Mía está comprimida en un período de veinticuatro horas, ambos personajes cobran vida, y la dolorosa historia personal y situación actual de ambos aportan una profundidad que atrapa completamente al lector.»
Kirkus Reviews

«Gayle Forman continúa la historia narrada en Si decido quedarme con un relato que tiene tanta o más fuerza.»
Publishers Weekly

«Los fans de la excepcional novela anterior no podrán dejar este libro.»
School Library Journal

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Music, Audiobook

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2011

About the author

Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels for young adults, including the Just One Series, I Was Here, Where She Went and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than 40 languages and in 2014 was adapted into a major motion picture.

Gayle published Leave Me, her first novel starring adults in 2016 and her latest novel, I Have Lost My Way, comes out in March of 2018.


Gayle lives with her husband and daughters in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wonder if it is ok that I liked Where She Went so much more than its predecessor. I mean, If I Stay was all about people dying and lying in coma and there were hardly any tears in my eyes and here I spent hours sobbing over a guy's broken heart? Am I that much into emo guys?

Don't think that's the answer though. Super-emo Shiver's Sam and Beautiful Creatures's Ethan didn't rock my boat and how could they with their obsessions over puffy coats, Scarlett O'Hara and leaky womb type poetry? Adam Wilde is emo of a different, Tom Mackee (The Piper's Son) kind. He is broken, messed up, hopeless, talented and he can love!

Adam's story was just so, so bitter. Throughout the book I felt that exactly like him, I was filled with pain and resentment towards Mia's decisions. The eventual release of all the pent-up anger (accompanied my uncontrollable sobs) was, I believe, as cathartic for me as it was for Adam. This book was a fantastic study of grief, loss and forgiveness. Beautifully, beautifully written.

Ladies, have you hankies ready for this one, 'cause I am tearing up again just thinking about it.

[Emily May · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked If I Stay, but I absolutely loved Where She Went. I'm having a hard time trying to compile my thoughts on the novel because I'm still reeling from the deep, heartbreaking effect it had on me.

Tatiana's review said what I've been thinking most of all:

"I mean, If I Stay was all about people dying and lying in coma and there were hardly any tears in my eyes and here I spent hours sobbing over a guy's broken heart?"

That about sums up the reaction I had. If someone asked you which would upset you more, you'd think the answer was obvious. A young girl losing her entire family in a car crash versus the angst of a lovesick rockstar... there should be no contest - right? But Forman conveys love and loss with such raw emotion. If I Stay was more subtle, told through mostly happy memories of the life Mia had shared with her family. It was... moving. Where She Went wasn't moving, it was gut-wrenchingly sad. I mean "I've ran out of tissues" sad.

I honestly felt every bit of sadness, despair and anger with Adam. I don't recall ever being so in tune with a male protagonist's emotions. In fact it's been an awful long time since I've cared so much about the outcome of any character. In most situations, characters like Adam would be made to seem selfish for thinking of themselves when Mia had lost pretty much everything in that car crash. Not here. Or at least, not in my opinion. Forman obviously has a real knack for getting inside a person's head and making the reader understand feelings that may otherwise be questionable.

I definitely want to read more from Gayle Forman in the future. That the first two novels I've read by her would affect me so much just makes me wonder what else she has up her sleeves. I can't wait to find out.

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[Jesse (JesseTheReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand why so many people like this book, but it just wasn't for me. I will say that Gayle Forman is a fantastic writer and I will continue to pick up books by her.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undeniably 5 Shooting Stars!!

Adam’s Promise: If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band; go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that too. .. And that would suck, but I’ll do it. I can lose you like that, if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay.

Fans of If I Stay who thought the story concluded after Mia’s choice will experience the post trauma that not only changed her life, but altered Adam’s happiness. In Where She Went, we face the aftermath of the recovery and begin to wonder whether Mia really survived the crash as it becomes evident that choosing to live is only half the battle. As a result Adam must face the pain of honoring a promise that was made to hold on to the one he loves.

This story takes place three years after the crash and Mia’s physical recovery. She’s a rising star at Juilliard and Adam is a celebrity of the rock band Shooting Star that finds himself at a crossroads. The story is told in Adam’s perspective and begins the night he makes a choice to revisit the muse of his success.

The writing is raw and powerful and my emotions were on high alert right alongside Adam’s the entire time. Gayle Forman’s powerful prose explores grief, pain, and the possibility of rekindling a spark surrounded by chaos.

I've been impatient to get my hands on this book as soon as I heard it was coming out, and it didn’t disappoint one bit. I love it to pieces and I read it over the course of two days, not because I couldn’t finish it in one sitting, but because I wanted to experience Adam’s journey in a way that would allow me to internalize his emotions and understand his pain. But most of all, his lyrics at the beginning of most chapters had me stopping to appreciate Forman's ability to express her characters in song.

If the story ends here, I think it’s a two book series well concluded. I’m not saying everything is wrapped up in a pretty red bow, but I will say I have hope. Beautifully done!!

Thank you Alexa for sharing with me this story that I will cherish. It’s one that will definitely make my top five this year! Thank you! Thank you! Tina… you’re next. :D

Quotes that moved me:
I want to cut through the space that separates us, measured in feet – not miles, not continents, not years - and I want to touch her to make sure it’s really her... but I can’t touch her, it’s a privilege that’s been revoked. Against my will but still.

I battle with invisible waves and imaginary vortexes and demons that are all too real and of my own making, I actually feel something in my chest open, a feeling so intense, it’s like my heart’s about to burst. And I just let it. I just let it out.

I needed to hate someone and you’re the one I love the most, so it fell on you.

Then she lost the battle and started to cry…All my annoyance melted. “You dumb-ass,” I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. “You don’t share me. You own me.”

I’m calm. My chips are all cashed out. There’s nothing to lose. Or, maybe I’ve already lost it and found it, and whatever else there might be to lose, it’s got nothing to do with what’s on stage.

Vindicated – Dashboard Confessional

Waiting for the End – Linkin Park

[Marie Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right, so. I never rate a book unless I at least like it, and I almost never leave text reviews....but Where She Went is impossibly good. If I Stay was good, of course, but Where She Went? Good God. I can't remember the last time I fell so hard for a couple. My heart physically HURT throughout this book! Adam, oh Adam!! How you and Mia make me cry!

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so, so, so painfully beautiful! And it was perfect! I couldn't stop reading. I never in my whole life imagined that THIS was what happened after Mia wakes up! I mean, I knew there wouldn't be a "happily ever after" and that they (she and Adam) would have to face so much difficulties, BUT I NEVER EXPECTED that they would just break up! Stop seeing each other! It was so painful to read, Adam was suffering so, so much :(.

I really liked the fact that they both achieved their "musical dreams". Adam was a rockstar! How awesome is that? And Mia was some kind of cello prodigy. I was so proud of both of them. ALSO, I loved all the lyrics of "Collateral Damage", every song was amazing, I wish there was a physical album!!!

Anddd yes, overall... I LOVED THIS BOOK and I'm so glad I read it! I kept reading and up to the very last chapters I still didn't knew how Gayle would wrap everything up to make me happy. Everything was so messed up and sometimes I thought it was beyond salvation! BUT WHAT SHE DID WAS MAGIC! The last chapters had me tearing up like a baby, tearing up with a big smile on my face!

ALSO, ALSO... Adam Wilde has earned a spot in my TOP 10 Book Boyfriend list. I love him so much!!! I want one of those in my life pretty please.

[Whitney Atkinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This added absolutely nothing to this series, other than reconfirming how much I dislike these books

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved "If I Stay". LOVED IT. It was one of those books that made my heart and soul ache. It moved me and surprised me and lingered... So much so that I kept mentally comparing the way I felt reading the two books, and I admit to being a bit disappointed by this follow-up.

This is Adam's story. I loved Adam in "If I Stay". He was this incredibly supportive and sensitive and wonderful guy who loved a girl so much that he would do anything for her, who accepted and honored her for being the unique and oddball opposite to him, rather than wanting her to be something she wasn't, who loved her family so much that their deaths were as painful to him as his own family's deaths would be. I liked Adam so much, that I didn't even talk about him in my "If I Stay" review, because nothing would have really done justice to how perfect I thought he was. I don't mean literally perfect, he had flaws, but just perfect in the situations he was in.

Unfortunately, I barely even liked Adam in "Where She Went". I get that Mia leaving him left him heartbroken. I get that. Even taking into account the unusual aspect of the end of their relationship (meaning him supporting her through the accident and the recovery), I just find being heartbroken, anxiety-ridden, depressed and self-destructive for 3 years (with no end in sight) a bit... tiresome. That's longer than they were even together. And yet, after three years, a meteoric musical career, fame and fortune and success, all Adam can do is blame Mia for walking out on him and leaving him cold, and take that bitterness and anger out on others.

I don't mean to sound insensitive. I know that many, many people will find just this thing I found so tiresome to be rather romantic. We all want to be the center of someone's world. Someone's soul mate. I understand what she meant to him, and what their potential meant to him. But with every outburst and cynical thought, I just got more and more tired of it.

I also missed the music that was so much a part of what brought "If I Stay" to life. I know that there was a lot of musical references in "Where She Went", but it wasn't the same. I have no interest in where each of Shooting Star's songs debuted on the charts, or other details of their rise. It's enough to know they made it, for me. What I missed was the way that music mattered, the way they LIVED through music, not just lived by it, or with it, if that makes sense.

All of this is not to say that I disliked the book. I didn't. I liked it, overall. Some parts quite a bit more than others. The writing is still fantastically emotive and brutal in a way. It pulls no punches and makes sure that the reader feels everything (to a fault - see above). I WAS sad and hurt for Adam's loss, and I did want him to find a measure of happiness again... and if not happiness, then closure and acceptance. It's hard to lose those we love. It's even harder to lose those we love after we've helped them through their own lost loved ones. Who's there to help pick up those kind of pieces? I grieved for him for that.

I liked the way that the story came kind of full circle, and Adam did get his closure, even though it came through finding out things that certainly hurt. I liked that he was able to understand and appreciate the decision that Mia made in leaving, even though he was shattered by it. I liked the way he found new reserves of self-respect in himself because of this revelation.

This book didn't live up to "If I Stay" for me, but it is by no means a bad book. I like themes of lasting love, and I think that many people will love this book for that reason, but I just didn't think that this one had the same heart that "If I Stay" had, and for that, I can only give it 2 stars.

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

after finishing this, ive realised two things:

- the sequels in gayle formans series are sooo much stronger than the first book (much better in terms of plot), and

- her guy characters are sooo much more compelling and interesting than her girl characters (i loved reading reading from adam perspective - such raw emotion!).

my only issue with this is one of things that stopped me from enjoying ‘if i stay,’ and that is the constant back and forth between the present moment in NYC and flashbacks to the past. i was more invested in what was happening between adam and mia and their reunion, so the flashbacks to random points over the past three years distracted me from that. i appreciate that they are used for character development and filling the reader in on whats happened, but i often found myself skimming forward to the present day sections.

overall, i think this is the strongest book in this duology. its not perfect, but it is a wonderful ending to adam and mias story.

↠ 3.5 stars

[~Tina~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in awhile comes a story that has touched me in a way that I will never forget.
It's a story about one girls journey and her ultimate decision about life and death, to let go or to move on. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
That story was; If I Stay, and after I closed that book, my first and only thought was more.

"You know. I thought about that a lot these last couple of years," she said in a chocked voice. "About who was there for you. Who held your hand while you grieved for all that you'd lost?"

Where She Went is the much anticipated sequel to a much beloved story. But this time it's told through Adams eyes.
This is his story, his journey, his memories through flashbacks of the past with Mia, and without. We get to see the man that Adam as become, and what he wants to be. We see his devastation, watch his rising fame, and share an open-wound that is healed by music, but never fully closed.
But most importantly, we get to walk with Mia and Adam through the streets of New York and witness a love so beautiful and alive that it has once again touched me in a way that I will never ever forget.

Gayle Foreman has done it all over again! She gave her fans everything you could ever want in a sequel and more. Her words are filled with so much passion and compassion. I can safely say that I loved this one even more then the first.

"Ever hear the one about that dog that spent it's life chasing cars and finally caught one - and had no idea what to do with it?
I'm that dog."

This book was so amazing! Adam is amazing! And all I want to do is hug him!
Adam's story is filled with so much emotional and physical energy. It's raw and powerful and exposed and vulnerable. The things he says, the things he only admits to himself, is what really broke me. You can feel his destruction. Even the lyrics to his songs were both inspiring and haunting.

“You dumb-ass,” I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. “You don’t share me. You own me.”

Mia is a character that has lived through the worse kind of hell, so I was surprised how far she's come and proud of the way she survived. What she admits to Adam shocked me, but like Adam, I finally got it.
I had a flood of emotions while reading this. I cringed, I cried. I smiled a goofy-ass-grin-to-grin smile all the way through.
Adam and Mia will always be one of my all time greats!

Hands down one of the best book that I've ever read. I adored this book. I loved this book. And I will always treasure these characters. I'm not going to spoil anything by telling you if they get there happily ever after, but I will say that this was worth the agonizing wait and I am beyond thrilled that I finally got the closure I desperate needed. Fans of If I Stay will not be disappointed, this is one journey your not going to want to miss out on.

Simply put. It's utterly Brilliant!!!

Special thanks to Alexa for sharing her copy and for Arlene for sending it! Brooke...your next:D

Linkin Park-Waiting For the End Lyrics

[Ninoska Goris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Español - English

Aún no decido porque este libro me gusta tanto. No se si será porque es desde el punto de vista de Adam, me encantan los libros narrados por los hombres, será porque deja al descubierto todo su sufrimiento cuando Mia le abandona. O mas bien porque es la perfecta historia de romance. Lo dejo como que es todo lo anterior. Es una historia desgarradora y hermosa.

--
I still haven't decided why I like this book so much. I do not know if it is because is from Adam's point of view, I love the books narrated by men or maybe because Adam reveals all his suffering when Mia leaves him. Or rather because it is the perfect romance story. I leave it as it is all of the above. It is a heartbreaking and beautiful story.

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where She Went is the successional addition to Forman's spectacular If I Stay. If the seminal theme of If I Stay were about finding a reason to continue living, then Where She Went’s theme could be construed as finding what makes life worthwhile and livable.
Adam, an infamous badboy rocker, has been in a perilous emotional and mental state since his longtime girlfriend, Mia Hall left him. Chance brings them together for one more night and this novel chronicles those precious twenty-four hours together and Mia and Adam get down to what’s really important.



You guys would not believe the horrible search terms I needed to use to find this image...

Okay, not really. But there’s a lot of dissecting their relationship and what happened between them to result in a three year absence that has crippled Adam emotionally.

In form and function, Where She Went is very similar to If I Stay. They’re both character driven novels sparse on action and heavy on reflective and emotional content. They’re also almost entirely reliant on the strength of their character voices, giving Forman and veritable tightrope to balance on between pained and raw characters, or whiny emo complainers.

There is a noticeable difference that is strongly pronounced between this novel and the last one though. In If I stay there is a full cast of varied, lovable, interconnected characters common history but divergent personalities. Where She Went is a departure in this area. Adam is an isolated character, having lost even his passion for music which had been fueling him.

Where Mia had been a self-introspective prone to examining the people around her, her relationship to them and everyone’s motives, Adam is more of a reactive character.

“My hand is shaking and my heart is pounding and I feel the beginnings of a panic attack, the kind that makes me sure I’m about to die.”

We get a lot of this physical narrative and you have to search within the circumstances and dialogue to make sense of Adam’s motives and reasoning because he is usually quite vague about it himself. Mia was a character who knew herself and the people around her. Adam is a character who is almost wholly blind to his and other people’s motivations and reasoning.

Gayle uses a variety of rich, descriptive language without seeming ingenuous to the voice of a twenty-one year old musician – at least to the layman.

Still, despite all the praise, I struggled to connect to Adam and the narrative to the degree that I had in If I Stay. But don’t confuse my admittance that this is a less emotive novel, with it not being an emotional novel at all. Where She Went still packs a falcon punch to the heart strings and still manages to illicit some seriously strong passion.

Perhaps my favourite aspect of this book is the song extracts at the beginning of each chapter. Stiefvater’s debut, Shiver, never resonated with me as I never connected to Sam’s poetry. It always felt contrived and weak and lessened the novel for me. Adam, on the other hand, I would listen to and read were he a real person.

Perhaps that's Forman's strongest ability. Her characters have a complexity and depth to them, missing in so many other YA novels. It's not exactly hard to make musicians seem sexy but Forman certainly knows how to exceed past all expectations. For most readers, this novel will not disappoint.


Tuba? More like Tuboner! Hahahahahaha! Okay, no more musician jokes.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

STAY

If you stay, I'll do whatever you want.....And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you....



SHE DECIDED TO STAY

Where She Went



It's been three years since the devastating accident...three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever


This book, to me as a HOPELESS ROMANTIC, was a dream come true. This story is set in New York City, where by chance/fate/destiny...Adam and Mia are brought together again where they have a chance to open their hearts to the past and to their love. I spent the first half of the book with my heart in my throat. I needed answers. I needed to know why??? Getting Adam's point of view and getting into his heart and his head...that's where I wanted to be. Where I wanted to stay Dammit!



❤Adam~Outside Carnegie Hall New York City. Look at the sunset, I tell myself. Look at something with beauty. My gaze returns to Earth and when it does, its her eyes I see. I don't want to see her. I won't see her. I only want to hear her. I guess I always knew she was capable of this level of artistry, but witnessing it fucking blew me away.

Is it really you? Mia asked.

My heart did that leap-into-throat-thing from that point on. The music was playing in the background, the sun shone brighter, the world stopped and Anna melted away into ❤ nothingness.

❤Adam~I want to make her cry and then lick up the tears. And then I want to take my mouth to hers, to devour her alive, to transmit all the things she can't understand

Mia~ "I hear their voices"

Adam~ "Can you hear them now? What are they saying?"

Mia~ "They're saying its so good to see you, Adam"





Mia~"Because I hated you. Because you made me stay. You made me stay!"
"I needed someone to hate, and you're the one I love most, so it fell on you"
"And then Adam Wilde shows up at Carnegie Hall on the biggest night of my career, and it felt like more than a coincidence. It felt like a gift. From them. For my first recital ever, they gave me a cello. And for this one, they gave me you"

Adam~Mia is walking away, walking toward the other end of the bridge. Without me. I get it now. I have to make good on my promise. To let her go. To really let her go. To let us both go.

**I am afraid to give too much away. This story was just so beautiful. I was moved to tears very often and I finally, finally got my wish. The most beautiful happily-ever-after.


~Love is not about how much you say I LOVE YOU but how much you prove its true~

Mia has my guitar

*that made me wail ****



~Never give up on someone you can't go a day without thinking about.

You don't share me. You own me.

* book bats attacked my stomach*



~I give you everything I am, all my broken heartbeats~



5 gorgeous hopeless romantic stars !!!! ❤❤❤❤❤
I can't express it enough! READ THIS BOOK !

[Alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was difficult to write. I didn't even know where to start. All I wanted to do was pick up the book and reread it. Because it was amazing, heartbreaking, and beautiful. I loved it even more than If I Stay.

"She kissed me good-bye. She told me that she loved me more than life itself. Then she stepped through security.
She never came back."

I loved reading from Adam's point of view. The writing was so, so good. Some moments were really intense. And I felt like I could feel everything he was going through. His love, anger, loneliness, and anxiety. I just wanted to comfort him and tell him everything was going to be okay. Adam's emotions were so strong that, even though I love Mia, when he got angry and upset at her I couldn't help but to get angry and upset with her too. Like Adam, all I wanted to know was why she left and why she did this to him. When Mia finally told him, I was shocked. I was not expecting what she said, and it hurt so much. But it made complete sense, and I couldn't hold it against Mia.

Like Mia's story, the majority of Adam's story is told in one day and includes flashbacks, which were really great. But Where She Went is a bit different. There are chapters this time. The book is longer. And there is some other things. But I don't want to reveal too much, and I won't say whether or not Adam and Mia have a happy ending. I will say though that I believe Gayle Forman gave us everything we wanted to know and more. Closure being one of those things.

I hope I haven't overhyped the book. I don't want anyone to feel disappointed. (Although, I do think the hype is deserved, and I believe it lives up to it, but this is only how I felt.) If you loved If I Stay, I don't see how you won't love Where She Went. And if you didn't love the previous book, I think you should seriously give this sequel a chance. Where She Went made me appreciate If I Stay even more.

Thanks to Penguin and LibraryThing for the opportunity to read this ARC. And of course, the biggest thanks goes to Gayle Forman! For writing this amazing book that a lot of us readers desperately needed.

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

"Needle and thread, flesh and bone
Spit and sinew, heartbreak is home
Your suture lines sparkle like diamonds
Bright stars to light my confinement"

Wow, I really liked the first book in the series but this one kinda blew me away. It was way better than the first. The emotions, the tears, the heartbreak.

I swear I nearly went to Youtube, trying to find the bloody band so I could hear the songs. Had to use my imagination. This author could definitely become a songwriter.

"The bow is so old, its horsehair is glue
Sent to the factory, just like me and like you
So how come they stayed your execution?
The audience roars its standing ovation"

This book takes place three years after the end of the first book. As with the other book, I avoided a lot of reviews. I'm glad I did, as I didn't want anything to mar the pleasure of reading this one.

"I'll be your mess, you be mine
That was the deal that we had signed
I bought a hazmat suit to clean up your waste
Gas masks, gloves, to keep us safe
But now I'm alone in an empty room
Staring down immaculate doom"

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visuals for Adam http://irresistiblereads.blogspot.com...

"She kissed me good-bye. She told me that she loved me more than life itself. Then she stepped through security.
She never came back."

Note: My review is not going to do this book justice. I don't think I can possibly express how awesome Where She Went is.

Wow! Where She Went is an intense and breathtaking read. I have to admit I enjoyed If I Stay but I wouldn't say I loved it. But Where She Went is one the BEST books I have ever read. It made my heart ache, it made me smile and of course cry my eyes out (within the first 50 pages might I add).

This story really got under my skin. It consumed my thoughts and I HAD TO read it all in one sitting otherwise I would have been a complete mess. I had to know whether Adam and Mia where going to be okay? Whether they were going to move on or get back together? Because Adam and Mia are characters that you get completely and utterly emotionally invested in.

What to say about Adam? He is intense, broken and flawed (and another musician ~swoons~). The way Forman writes I felt like I could feel every bit of his pain (and it hurt like hell).

Mia, I adore too. I thought I would be mad with her for breaking Adam's heart. But I understood why Mia choose to make that decision to leave Adam thanks to Forman writing such well crafted and believable characters.

The writing is the kind I love - simple yet beautiful and powerful. There are parts of Adam's song lyrics at the beginning of most chapters. I really love books that music plays an important part of and Forman really expresses both Adam's and Mia's passion for music.

Overall, I am just blown away by the heart in this story. Where She Went is a must read for everyone!

***A FAVOURITE READ OF 2011***

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALEXA FOR SHARING YOUR COPY. YOU ARE THE BEST

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different POV than first book. 🙃 Middle of the road read for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Vinaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was less of a book and more of a roller coaster. You know how you sometimes get off a roller coaster, and your legs feel like jelly and your middle feels like someone's wringing you dry?



I'm not going to give you plot synopses. I'm not going to give you my favourite quotes. I am, however, going to tell you a story. I knew I would love Where She Went before I ever read it. I read a review of the book about a month ago, and it inspired me to stop procrastinating and pull If I Stay out of the TBR pile I had consigned it to. I really liked it. If I Stay, I mean. It didn't blow me away, I didn't need any of the tissues I had kept on stand-by and my feelings towards the book were positive, but lukewarm.

But there was one shining, burning beacon in the book that drew me time and again. The one person in the entire book who seemed almost real, as if he could walk off the pages of the book, and into my life, so I could mend all the broken pieces. Adam was the reason I read If I Stay, and Adam is the reason I read Where She Went.

You know how you sometimes just feel like certain characters speak to you? I'm not talking about a literary crush, so much as I am about a level of literary empathy. I could just picture, so clearly, the ruined, devastated Adam who opens this sequel, and it made my heart hurt. As a sort of karmic retribution for my stone-hearted failure to be moved to tears by Mia's plight, I was forced to start sobbing around thirty pages into Where She Went, and I don't think I stopped.

There is no way to describe my feelings about this book without sounding crazed. So if men in white coats come to cart me off in a straitjacket, please miss me and like my reviews in memoriam! (Yes even deeply emotional reviews do not stop me plugging my other ones! Also I needed the emotional breather, dammit!)

Rage. If there's one primary emotion I felt towards Mia for most of this book, it was the same rage that Adam was consumed by. Oh, I didn't need the big reveal at the end to know why she broke up with him, or even why she did it so cruelly, but I was still practically incoherent with rage on Adam's behalf. I understood Mia, but I still bled for Adam.

You know what's really weird about my experience with this book? I could literally feel the chaos in my head building along with Adam. And when he finally lets loose on Brooklyn Bridge and goes through his cathartic moment, I felt calm, too. Is it weird that I practically drowned in this book, or is it just the effect of a really, really good storyteller? For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to assume it's the latter.

So, I was practically begging for a non-YA ending, where things are resolved, but not with an HEA. And yet, when they DID get together, I was strangely okay with that. Happy, even. I salute you, Gayle Forman.

This book spoke to me so profoundly. About loss. About love. About putting the pieces of yourself back together, but still finding those jagged edges, those bits that won't fit together. It took me on a trip to the dark side of an emotional breakdown, and then it pulled me out of there and put me back on an even keel. There are not too many storytellers out there who can make me lose myself so thoroughly in a story that I feel it, rather than simply reading about it. So, in my book, Gayle Forman gets a gold star and a standing ovation, but please excuse me while I go recover with a truly crappy book. I think Prom and Prejudice is calling my name. In the meantime, if you want to be a sobbing mess too, please go add Where She Went to your reading pile.

[Kat (Lost in Neverland) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been three years since Mia woke up from her coma and since the car crash that killed her family. It's also been three years since Mia left Adam's life forever.

One fated night, Adam walks into Carnegie Hall when Mia is doing a concert, and it seems like destiny had brought them together again. But when old wounds open up and constant questions are rolling, any hope of rekindling their relationship is broken. Told from Adam's perspective, this is a book about despair, heartbreak, music, sex, hate, anger, hope, and love.

This book seemed like kind of a waste to me. After If I Stay, it wasn't really necessary.
Oh sure, it's written all beautifully and nostalgic and everything, but does that hide the fact that the whole story was just utterly ridiculous?
Not to me.
I don't care what Mia says, I don't think she had reason enough to leave Adam. Okay, I haven't lost my parents and brother in a car crash, so I can't even begin to understand how that feels like. But when someone is around you who loves you and only wants to help you, you don't push him away. If you're experiencing the problems that Mia was having, you talk about it. Not just stop talking to him and erase him from your life!
In the great words of John Green, and I can't stress this enough;

USE YOUR WORDS!!!

I just can't get over the fact that if Mia had just said what she was feeling, none of this shit would have happened.

I believe the author maybe had this story in her head after If I Stay or even during it, but her agent or publishing company or whatever made her write it because the first one got so popular and they saw a big opportunity for more money.

I also didn't really like Adam in this. I loved him in If I Stay, but this...I was a bit scared of him. Sometimes he would think or say something that would have me going;



For example:

I look at her there in the shadows of the shut down city, her hair falling onto her face and I can see her trying to figure out if I've lost it. And I have to fight the urge to take her by the shoulders and slam her against the shuttered building until we feel the vibrations ringing through both of us. Because I suddenly want to hear her bones rattle. I want to feel the softness of her flesh give, to hear her gasp as my hip bone jams into her. I want to yank her head back until her neck is exposed. I want to rip my hands through her hair until her breath is labored. I want to make her cry and then lick up the tears. And then I want to take my mouth to hers, to devour her alive, to transmit all the things she can't understand.

Need I say it again?









I'm going to go hide under my covers now.

[Juliana Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro me sorprendió desde la primera página, imaginaba que podían pasar muchas cosas después del accidente de Mia, pero no esperaba nada de lo que este libro me contó.

Cuando por fin tuve todas las respuestas que necesitaba me sentí igual que Adam, lo entendí todo y comprendí muchas cosas sobre Mia.

Reseña Completa: http://bastvilard.blogspot.com/2015/0...

[Amy | Foxy Blogs · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4.75 Adam makes this book Stars**

Where She Went turned out to be a better book, for me, than the first book. If I Stay is the first book in the series and I ended up giving it 3 stars. I had a hard time connecting with the first book but this book being told from Adam's POV was captivating.

Three years have passed since the accident and Mia and Adam are no longer together. Both have moved on with their personal and musical lives. Adam happens to stumble upon one of Mia's concerts and from that concert they begin to work out what went wrong all those years ago.

I listened to the audio of this one and enjoyed that I could cook dinner and not interrupt my "reading." I threw my headphones in and stuck the iPhone in my pocket while I did household chores. If you haven't gotten hooked on audios you really should give them a try. On another note, I still haven't seen the movie- If I Stay but I plan to because I like movies that makes you cry. And one last thing, yes, Oregon is still mentioned in this book which is always a plus for me.

SERIES:

2 part series

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every morning I wake up and tell my self: It’s just one day, one twenty-four hour period to get thorough.
A day might be just twenty-four hours but sometimes getting through just one seems as impossible as scaling Everest.

***If you haven’t read If I Stay, there may be some spoilers***

Where She Went is Adam’s story


It’s been three years since Adam’s life was forever changed. Three years ago he almost lost Mia, the love of his life. Well, he did lose her, but not in the ultimate way. Three years ago she went to Julliard, and never looked back. He hasn’t seen her since the day she left. He wants to be angry, hate her, but he can’t. Because of his silent vow.

‘If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that too. Maybe coming back to your old life would just be too painful, maybe it’d be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I’d do it. I can lose you like that if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay.’

Even though she might not know it, she just did what i told her she could do.

Adam is still with the band, who has gotten very big. He is a huge star, dating an actress. On the outside, his life looks pretty perfect. But he is miserable. He isn’t happy, chronically anxious.
This is what I’ve become? A walking contradiction? I’m surrounded by people and feel alone.
Mia will always be in his heart, the one that got away.

Adam is in New York for a recording session and interview when he passes the symphony. He sees her. Well, her picture. Standing there with her cello. Every part of him screams to walk away, but he has to hear her play.

Even if he can’t see her, just hearing her would be enough. Mia catches wind that the famous Adam Wilde is in the audience. She has him come backstage to say hello. It’s awkward at first. Very awkward. But they grab a bite to eat, and go around the city together. Mia takes Adam to all her favorite New York spots.
Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it’s the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open. But my hand has been clenched into a fist for three years now; its frozen shut.

The night comes to an end...


Finally, its time to talk about what happened all those years ago. Will Mia tell Adam why she left, will he get the closure he needs and deserves?
“Hated me? Why?”

“You made me stay.”

If I Stay was a beautiful story, and I really enjoyed it, but this one blew it out of the water! This book was so moving, just really wonderful. I love Adam LOVE LOVE LOVE him! I felt his pain, I needed some tissues for this one. His story will break your heart in two. When he and Mia started to reconnect, I was ecstatic, but nervous too. I have to say, I am very happy with the ending, but the problem was- I didn’t want it to end!!! I wanted more of Adam’s story! Great book- must read! Read If I Stay first, then jump into this one!!!

“You don’t share me. You own me.”



First you inspect me
Then you dissect me
Then you reject me
I wait for the day
That you’ll resurrect me
“Animate”

Barrel of the gun, rounds
one two three
She says I have to pick:
choose you, or choose me
Metal to the temple, the
explosion is deafening
Lick the blood that covers me
She’s the last one standing
“Roulette”

[Pavlina Read more sleep less blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a ride!!I loved this book so much!!!It was much better from the first!!I adored the first and I wanted to know if these characters will have the ending I wanted!!The emotions were so intense in this book!!I could feel Adam's pain and anger like I was in his shoes!!In this book like the previous,memories are include from back then,sad and happy moments.This book was so realistic!Ifelt like these characters excist in real life!!

This book is about three years since the end of IF I STAY. We can see how is Mia's and Adam's life now...Adam is living in Holywood and he is in relationship with an actress!After a disastrous interview in New York his manager gives him the rest of the day off.And while he is walking around the city,he comes across to a concert performance of Mia.At the end of the performance Mia called him at the backstage.And like that begins one night together after three years which they were appart from each other.There is still chemistry between Adam and Mia!

The story was short like the previous book and it focused on Adam.I loved how the story developed!I'm so sad that the series over :(( I will miss these characters!!Now I'm even more excited to see the movie for If I Stay!!!

[Isamlq · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brain hurts. My heart hurts. My everything hurts!

I had not started it yet, but already I was upset with Mia. It’s been a little over a month since I read If I Stay, so I know what she went through. I also know what she does to Adam. And like Adam, I didn’t know why. Like him, I wondered. Like him, I was angry. But once I got started on this, I saw quite clearly what losing her did to him. Then I felt a little more angry and heartbroken for him. And still I wondered, as he did, why?

Like If I Stay, this story is told from past to present and back again. Only this time around, it’s a past with Mia, then losing her AND a present of her absence and that ever constant wondering of WHY? So what I took from it is what Adam felt-- his confusion and his anger. Then slowly, I saw and even understood her reason. Except understanding only left me feeling only little more heartbroken. Because with it, now it wasn’t just his sorrow I had to contend with, it was hers as well.

And when he finally reached that point where closure was possible I felt it. What he said about something special ending is what I felt as I turned that last page: Yes, I could feel sad about it, but happy too because I got to meet such special people, Adam especially. I’ll probably be hard pressed at finding another protagonist who will make me feel the way he does/did. But you know what? I’m fine with that. I’m perfectly fine with that.

So now, all I’m saying is Thank you, Gayle Forman. You’ve given me characters that made me hurt, made me cry, and finally made me smile.

BEST BOOK EVER!

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

CLOSURE! GLORIOUS CLOSURE. I think I liked this better than If I stay for that reason alone. But I did love both of them a lot.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading (and loving) If I Stay last year, I didn't really wanted to read this one. I just felt that the end (of If I Stay) was really good, and adding anything to the story would just ruin it.

Boy was I an idiot! I ended up loving it more than the first one. I just loved every single thing about this book! Especially flashbacks with Mia's family, and the whole ending. I did not expect it to end like it did, and that made me like it even more.

In conclusion, amazing book, and I would recommend it to anyone who read, and liked, If I Stay.

[Chelsey with a y · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, I found it hard to put down! I enjoyed it better than the first. It was great hearing it from his perspective, I wasn't expecting that. would highly recommend

[Karlyflower *The Vampire Ninja, Luminescent Monster & Wendigo Nerd Goddess of Canada (according to The Hulk)* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Category: A book and its prequel sequel

5 Stars

I never would have guessed that my first 5 star of 2016 would be a YA novel, and a sequel no less, but here we are.

Grief.

Grief can be one of the most segregating things in the entire world. Some people grieve in packs, like wolves, striking out with ferocity at the pain and demanding comfort from the warmth of each other. While others melt quietly, shattering beneath stoicism and distance. Some get angry, some get sad and some, some just get so numb that nothing can penetrate them.

Mia got angry; Adam got numb.

“That’s the thing you never expect about grieving, what a competition it is.”

You wouldn’t think that grief would eat away at love, from the outside they seem like two sides of the same coin, but it can. And even if it doesn’t, grief changes people. Grief makes us selfish. There isn’t much I remember about when my uncle died, exactly a week before my brother’s wedding, but I remember telling myself over and over again (almost like a mantra): I am not the owner of the grief, I just get to stand here and watch you weep. Every time I started to feel sad, or could feel myself choking back tears I would scold myself that I had no right to it. That I was not the important one, that this grief wasn’t mine. This grief was my stepmom’s and it was my JOB to be strong enough for her. To be strong enough for my dad. For my brother, who almost cancelled his wedding. For all the OWNERS of the grief. I think Adam would understand that irrational feeling quite well. It is distancing, it is numbing, and it is destructive in a way that mourning is not.

The thing about reaction to loss is that it isn’t static, the same person can catapult from one form of grief to another for no notable reason. One day you’re sad, the next day your mad and the next day you appear entirely “normal”.

Where She Went is about two people dealing with impossible loss, in completely different ways. And when the chaos of grief and loss subsided Adam found himself alone, mourning the loss of yet another thing: his relationship with Mia.

There is a lot of irrationality in this story, A LOT, but it is entirely relatable. We all do crazy things when we deal with loss. We become erratic creatures, bouncing about in our own personal hells. Whereas the death of Mia’s parents made Adam numb, the death of his relationship made him FURIOUS. And that fury skyrocketed him and his band to fame. However, on the coattails of that fame is a guilt and an anger that is so real, so potent that it cannot be ignored.

I don’t want to ramble too much more here. I will simply say that I related deeply to this book, to all the stages of grief and loss and numbness. While I found If I Stay moderately distancing, there is a rawness to this sequel. And a beauty to it.

[Anish Kohli · Rating 4 out of 5]

“She kissed me good-bye. She told me that she loved me more than life itself. Then she stepped through security. She never came back. I’ve come to realize there’s a world of difference between knowing something happened, even knowing why it happened, and believing it.”

One of my fav quotes is by Jon Basoff. “There is no free will. Choices aren’t made.”
And I have used it many times before and it always reinforces itself. This idea, the quote, it keeps proving itself to me. I mean picture this, I am having a chat with this dumbass lady, telling her that I need a short-ish kinda book to fill my long weekend but nothing too intense since I am in the middle of multiple series. And instantly she says, “You could try If I stay series, it’s a 2 part series. Kind of cheesy sad romance but good.” Twice! I never even told her I am considering reading a sad romantic book and yet she just happened to guide me to it. And it was a PERFECT FIT!
Not bcz it was a romance novel per se, atleast not the kind I was or am looking for. But this was a book that I needed right now. Somehow, fate happened to guide my hand through her. Thank you for this series, crazy lady!

Picking up 3 years later from the events of the last instalment, this book is a major improvement in all ways. Unlike the last one, I think the author fit in the shoes of the character much better and sounded much better. This book is a first person POV and while the first book was being told by Mia, this one was being told by Adam and I think, personally, that the male POV was much better captured. Or maybe, it was just that 3 year maturity phase the author put her characters through that made them sound better.

Reeling from his breakup, Adam is hardly functional, if that. This book has such a strong sense of alienation. That feeling of isolating yourself. It’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy and it’s a feeling you have to have been through to actually understand. To have reached a place where nothing would soothe you and your soul no matter what you do. When things you loved start to lose meaning for you and all you can do is try to take one day at a time. Aim to survive it as if going to battle every day, never really knowing if you’d make it to the next sunrise. All through this book, I was reminded of a quote from a recent review copy and I think it fits.

“When you've foolishly imagined your whole life in a certain way and the very basis of that imagination, one that you'd thought to be irreplaceable, is suddenly ripped away from you; when you've resigned to the safety of the only reassurance you thought was true and then, you are made to return to the insecurity of your solitude, how cheated you feel. How you learn then what unmitigated anger is. – Anupam Patra (Promises of a Firefly)”

Sometimes, moving on doesn’t happen bcz we don’t let go of things. We hold onto them as if for dear life itself. No matter how it hurts or how it kills, we refuse to release that stranglehold even a little only bcz it was once what we wanted. Just how we wanted it. Change, is a constant companion, one we sometimes even refuse to acknowledge and in turn, it gives us hell.

This is one of those 2, maybe 3 books that I have read till date that actually had NOTHING to offer and yet…yet they had EVERYTHING I needed.
This book isn’t great writing wise, there aren’t life changing words in here, the story is, clichéd at best, if not a VERY old beat up one. But this book is still better than a lot of intense books bcz it has that feeling of being a product of emotions, you know? It’s kind of pure, in its own way. There is some sense, in the way it’s written. And maybe it’s as simple as the fact that this book has a reminder of the innocence that we shed and lose somewhere along the way and call it cathartic.

This story is also about the need to NOT treat the other person as a snowflake when they are in a bad place. Most people are highly resilient and it’s the special treatment and free passes that break them, not the problem itself. All they need is to be treated regular so that they can forget their troubles and heal and talk about it. How often do we afford that dignity to the other person? How often do we not push the crutches on them in order to make it easy on them? Maybe easy is not needed. Maybe…just maybe, what is needed is being there, not babysitting but being there. Not giving them shelter but not letting them stand in the rain alone either. Something to ponder on?

This book is also about something that I believe in and yet, maybe, fail to practice. The need to not bullshit our own selves. To not change the basic dynamics. Once we start to do that, it seeps into everything and while we will fool the world that we keep at an arm’s length, there might be no fooling the person you hold close. And I think that is the worst thing. To see someone you love, lost to you even when they stand right next to you. When you realize, that basically something has changed and won’t be put back.

It’s actually almost funny how I read a book and at the back of my mind there is a song playing that just fits the situation in the book somehow. Defines how I am feeling at that point in the book, mostly. But never has it happened before that the song felt like it was derived from the book or the book derived from the song. Like they were part of the same story. This book is so strongly based in music, not bcz the leads are musicians but more like how music is an extension of them and how it helps them.

“We don’t really get how music heals the brain but we know that it does. Just look at Mia.”

It’s a part of them. No, not a part, the life force. It’s the common ground for both Adam and Mia, a ground on which they can build anything. This is what really connects them, and what divides them. And in light of this, for once, I will allow myself to quote a song here that just goes with this book...
Only know you've been high when you feeling low,
Only hate the road when you're missing home,
Only know you love her when you let her go,
And you let her go...


This book is a memorable read. This book’s a proof that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, things can’t be black and white. Sometimes there simply are no winners. Sometimes, both the parties lose even when neither did anything wrong. Nothing except for living. And that, in itself, can go horribly wrong sometimes.
In a moment I could hate, nay, loathe Mia! Hated her and felt like she was being a Bitch! I pitied Adam. But as I read on, I realized how she wasn’t. I realized that no matter how we like to deny it, sometimes there are grey areas. Sometimes, the only way to cope is through what people call being a Bitch. And this book is a reminder to me why I always made a point to not judge someone’s life choices in anyway. Bcz I do not know their story. And even if I did, I would never know what it was to be in their shoes.

Adam and Mia, both were right. And they both were horribly wrong too!

But most of all, this book is about closure. That thing we all know about but don’t really understand. It’s not about letting go, it about accepting that it’s time. And that maybe someday there maybe more, but not right now. Not today…

“I think I’m kind of getting the concept of closure. It’s no big dramatic before-after. It’s more like that melancholy feeling you get at the end of a really good vacation. Something special is ending, and you’re sad, but you can’t be that sad because, hey, it was good while it lasted, and there’ll be other vacations, other good times.”

[Jln · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already read this book a couple of years ago, but I decided to check out the audio version. In a nutshell, kind of like with the movie, the book is better. It just is. The problem is that there really isn't an actor or voice narrator who can rise to the standard of the Adam who lives in my mind after reading the book.

"Adam is mumbling something now. In a low voice. Over and over he is saying: Please please please please please please please please please please. Finally he stops and looks at my face. "Please, Mia," he implores. "Don't make me write a song."

That's my favorite quote from the first book. Oh, god...I love Adam so much. Most of my friends already know this, because I've relentlessly pestered so many of you into reading this series. :))

I can't help it, because when I love a book character this much it's hard to control myself. I have to say though, it kills me when I see that some of you read the first book but not the second. In my opinion, the whole point of reading the first book is so that you can experience this one!

"Her voice jolts me back to reality. Back to the reality of the past three years. There are so many things that demand to be said.Where did you go? Do you ever think about me? You've ruined me. Are you okay? "

I love so many things about this book. The song lyrics, the depth of Adam's emotion. I have to admit I was mad at Mia though...I mean, it took her long enough to put the poor guy out of his misery! On the other hand, I understood where she was coming from. The scene with the guitar still makes me tear up, because I'm just that sappy.



This book is a gold mine of quotes, and this review could easily go on and on. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said already. The other thing about the audio version, is that it's missing important special scenes at the end which are my favorite parts. So, just read the book is my advice.