Where She Went by Gayle Forman

From Goodreads:

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

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

From Misty:
Fantastic book.

I've read a lot of reviews of Where She Went, mostly good, some negative. The negatives all have to do with the language and content, not the writing or the story. To be honest, I don't even recall there being language in it. I think that might be because I listened to it instead of read it. I mean, think about it. How much more do you put up with on TV than you would in a book (here's a hint: it's a lot)?  So, for me, the language was not an issue at all, but for some (better) people, it will be.

Where She Went is the follow up to If I Stay, a story about a prodigy cellist, Mia, whose family is involved in a car accident. They all die but her. While she is in a coma, she flashes back on her relationships with her family, friends, and boyfriend, Adam.

This book is written from Adam's perspective three years later--after his rock band has become successful and after Mia moved away and let their relationship fade into nothing. He can't understand why and lives recklessly because of it, because of his grief. Basically, he doesn't have closure, and they were so close in the first book that you wonder if he could ever even get it. During a chance meeting, the two reconnect and explore the whys and how comes of the past, hurtful three years apart.

I hadn't really planned to review this book here at Six Mixed, but, like with Eli from Along For the Ride, I can't get Adam out of my mind. The first book, If I Stay, is decidedly better than this one (this reads kind of like a long epilogue in the same way Enduring Light does), but Adam's story is more compelling than Mia's. His story does not have the shock and awe factor of Mia's accident, of her father's brains on the highway. It does not need that in order to entwine itself around your heart as each new layer of his emotions are revealed.

Unless you're squeamish about language, I highly recommend both of these titles to anyone interested in a character driven exploration of loss, grief, hope, unbreakable love, and how they affect relationships.