Book Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

A promissing story with no development.

I knew from the beginning of the book that Gayle was determined to not sugarcoat anything and I was fine with it: I understood that both characters had grown up apart and that they were very different. Especially Adam, but I believe that was because this book was all written trough his point of view. However, I’ve never thought that those 260 pages (if you exclude the extra pages) were going to be so bad that I was relieved when I finished the book.

Both characters were different and when they meet we can see that they are not the same, after all, years have passed by and they didn’t keep in touch. It was fine by me if they hadn’t stayed together. However, I was growing impatient when Adam was being a spoiled because Mia broke his heart. He had three years to forgive and forget that. Move on. But he didn’t and instead he always had Mia’s ghost following him everywhere and that ended up destroying all good that was left. And then, we find out that Mia pushed him away because he made her stay. That was the final drop. I don’t truly think that she hated him for making her stay. At least, that’s not the information we have in the first book. Adam was one of the reasons why Mia decided to live, but he was not the only one. Actually, it was his song that made her connect with her body again, but she had made the decision to live before that.

In conclusion, I didn’t like the way it all went in this book, I believe that If I Stay should’ve been a standalone book, because Where She Went doesn’t bring anything new to the story and it only brings confusion and frustration. 

©TeresaBars