Book Review: Where She Went

If you know me, you know I reading love young adult.  In fact, I write young adult lit.  This is one of those keeps-you-up-'til-four-a.m. novels which makes life worth living.  Honestly. 
Aspiring cellist Mia is in a car wreck with her family in book 1. She is in a coma, and has the power to decide if she stays or leaves earth. The story is mostly what she experiences while floating around out of her body. Where She Went is told from her boyfriend Adam's perspective three years later. He's a paparazzi-stalked rockstar and she's a rising clasical musician at Julliard. They're no longer together, but one night in New York, they cross paths.
-Me






Stats:

• Sequel to If I Stay
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Release date: April 5, 2011
• Page count:  264
• Unique elements:  Almost every chapter starts with a verse from his band's album.  This mostly has to do with Mia ripping his heart out (not mentioning her name, of course).  Also, the suspense and sexual tension constantly build.
• Would appeal to: If I Stay enthusiasts, anyone who likes a guy's point of view, anyone who likes music 

Some of the descriptions in this book are phenomenal.  My favorite one is about the stretching fingers of dawn, but I can't find it right now.  Check out some of these great lines.

Favorite Quotes:

"You were so busy trying to be my savior that you left me all alone."

"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 a 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."

And Gayle Forman writes things that resonate with the reader:

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

"Standing here, in this quiet house where I can hear the birds chirping out back, 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."

I find it refreshing to read a story, especially one involving love, from a guy's perspective. Adam is totally believable and totally hot. I stayed up so late to finish this and recommended it to each of my English classes for the pure sake of its descriptions.

I like this MUCH better than If I Stay. A lady at Barnes and Noble said If I Stay would make me cry. It didn't. I think this second book was much more powerful. It deals with so much raw, human emotion.