Where She Went by Gayle Forman

In this sequel to If I Stay, the story is told from Adam's perspective. Spoiler alert! Quit reading if you haven't read the previous book! Stop now! You can never turn back! ;)

We are reintroduced to Adam, now the international rock and roll frontman of Shooting Star, three years later. He is no longer the Adam we remember. This Adam starts his day with "It's just one day, one twenty-four-hour period to get yourself through," (Forman pg. 1, 2011). He pops some anti-anxiety pills to take the edge off, drinks a pot of coffee, and chain smokes on his way to the studio.

He isn't sure when everything got so complicated. Then again, maybe he does. A magazine reporter brings up Mia. Everyone knows that is a taboo subject. No one talks about her, or their past, or the accident - or the devastating aftermath. It's an unspoken agreement.

His new girlfriend is a movie starlette. She is the epitome of what every straight guy wants. So why does it feel so forced? This new life, the tours and stardom, it has truly taken its toll on him. It all started with their breakthrough album, Collateral Damage. After Mia left for Julliard, she started to leave him too. Soon the phone calls became briefer, the texts less frequent, the emails more terse. Then she was just gone, and he was lost. He fell into his own hole, and writing the album dragged him out of it. At least until the high from that first tour started to wear off, and then it seemed like the fame was something he had to endure instead of enjoy.

On the eve of his next tour, he's all alone in the city. His agent and the rest of the band have already left for London, and he's set to follow the next day. It's partially on a whim, and partially as a act of defiance that Adam buys a ticket to see Mia play at Carnegie Hall. He doesn't even dress in disguise - not that she could see him anyway, not that there is the slightest chance that he'll really run into her, not that she could possibly want to see him too. He just wants one last whim before sacrificing himself to the tour gods for the next 7 months.

When she requests his presence backstage after the show, he's not sure what to think. It seemed that she never looked back from that day so many years ago, maybe this was her last goodbye. His heart isn't so jaded that it won't let him hope, however slight the chance ... Adam and Mia, meeting again, getting a new beginning. Can they let go of the past and move forward? Is the pain they shared too deep to mend?

Follow two truly likeable characters on a wild adventure through New York City on their last night before they both take off on international tours. Forman intersperses the text with flashbacks to the time following the accident, highlighting how Adam has held on to this pain. He is a survivor of the accident that got left in the shadows, and he is here with Mia, trying to heal old wounds. It's a little predictable, but it's still sweet.

"I've blamed her for all this, for leaving, for ruining me. And maybe that was the seed of it, but from that one little seed grew this tumor of a flowering plant. And I'm the one who nurtures it. I water it. I care for it. I nibble from its poison berries. I let it wrap around my neck, choking the air right out of me. I've done that. All by myself. All to myself," (Forman pg. 190, 2011).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Forman, Gayle. (2011). Where She Went. New York, NY: Dutton.