BOOK REVIEW - WHERE SHE WENT by GAYLE FORMAN - IF I STAY # 2 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE - RANDOM HOUSE

By: Gayle Forman
Published By: Random House
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 264 Pages

RATING: 5 GRIEVING STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life.

And three years he's spent wondering why.

When their paths cross again in New York City, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night.

Adam finally has the opportunity to ask Mia the questions that have been haunting him. But will a few hours in this magical city be enough to lay their past to rest, for good - or can you really have a second chance at first love?

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I just this second finished, Where She Went. My fingers started immediately typing my review.

I simply adored this book, told from Adam’s pov.

I was endeared to this lost young man, his grieving process for the girl he lost, the family he also lost, his jaded look at his music career and the relationship he was in, that was going nowhere.

Gayle has this sneaky way of building her story, until she has me shedding the tears.

Her words are quite beautiful to read, sometimes I felt like I was just walking around with Adam and his inner monologue and the next I am feeling how crushed and lost he is.

We are spending twenty four hours with Adam and his inner monologue, how he is feeling, what he is going through in that twenty four hour period.

At one stage I was totally lost to why Mia did what she did, but then it came crashing down on me, and it HURT.

My heart got squeezed real tight until it leaked.

Men in general have a hard time expressing their emotions, they aren’t made like women, we can pour our stuff out when prodded enough. Men can need a lot of prodding.

Adam showed me how vulnerable and hurt a guy can be on the inside and the damage it is doing, but they try to hide it. Then they crack.

"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" I scream louder than I've ever screamed in my life, so loud my breath is knocking down trees in Manhattan, I'm sure of it. And as 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.

What Mia did , confused me, because here is this guy who has such a beautiful soul, and she left him.

But, then all is revealed with how these two people just needed time to grow and find themselves, a tough decision by Mia, one that luckily worked in their favor.

"But..." I grasp for the words like a drowning man reaching for floating debris, "... you said you hated me?"
Mia lets out a long, deep sigh. "I know. I needed someone to hate, and you're the one I love the most, so it fell to you."

An engrossing read, that just goes to show, you don’t need four hundred pages to tell a story that endears to the reader. It only takes twenty four hours in each of these characters lives to have made reading a Gayle Forman book, such a beautiful and memorable experience.

So touching and emotional.

All my annoyance melted. "You dumb-ass," I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. "You don't share me. You own me."

*sniffle*

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - IF I STAY by GAYLE FORMAN - IF I STAY # 1 - YA CONTEMPORARY - RANDOM HOUSE

By: Gayle Forman
Published By: Random House, Definitions
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 233 Pages

RATING: 4.5 MOVING STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

The critically acclaimed, bestselling novel from Gayle Forman, author of Where She Went, Just One Day, and the forthcoming Just One Year.

On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

I realize now that dying is easy.

Living is hard.

Yay! A story where the parents are ultra cool and hip.

I really adored this story by Gayle Forman. It is my first Forman read and it is this sneaky story that quietly builds until you become this emotional ball that will move you to tears by the end.

Sure you get the horror of what happens near the start of the book, but because Mia is inner monologuing for most of the book, it really was Gramps who made me get emotional.

A small book that packs a punch by the end and has you grabbing for Where She Went. You will understand once you get to the end.

Mia is a musician, she plays the cello, she is that good she has auditioned for Juilliard.

I know it’s silly but I have always wondered if Dad is disappointed that I didn’t become a rock chick. I’d meant to. Then, in third grade, I’d wandered over to the cello in music class -- it looked almost human to me. It looked like if you played it, it would tell you secrets, so I started playing. It’s been almost ten years now and I haven’t stopped.

Adam is her boyfriend, he plays guitar in his band Shooting Star, they are currently on tour.

He’s such the cool guy with his pegged jeans and black low-tops, his effortlessly beat-up punk-rock tees and his subtle tattoos. He is not the kind of guy to end up with someone like me.


You’ve all heard the term, ‘just before you die your life flashes before your eyes.’ That is pretty much how this story is told.

Mia revisits her memories and she is deciding if she should stay.

The book is told over a twenty four hour period.

Gramps did me in, he cracked my emotional exterior and left me in a puddle.

It’s OK,” he tells me. “If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues. “But that’s what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s OK if you have to leave us. It’s OK if you want to stop fighting.”

I had a favorite memory.

Adam lay down on my bed, stretching his arms above his head. His whole face was grinning -- eyes, nose, mouth. “Play me,” he said.

“What?”

“I want you to play me like a cello.”

I started to protest that this made no sense, but then I realized it made perfect sense. I went to my closet and grabbed one of my spare bows. “Take off your shirt,” I said, my voice quavering.

Adam did. As thin as he was, he was surprisingly built. I could’ve spent twenty minutes staring at the contours and valleys of his chest. But he wanted me closer. I wanted me closer.

I sat down next to him on the bed, perpendicular to his hips, so his long body was stretched out in front of me. The bow trembled as I placed it on the bed. I reached with my left hand and caressed Adam’s head as if it were the scroll of my cello. He smiled again and closed his eyes. I relaxed a little. I fiddled with his ears as though they were the string pegs and then I playfully tickled him as he laughed softly. I placed two fingers on his Adam’s apple. Then, taking a deep breath for courage, I plunged into his chest. I ran my hands up and down the length of his torso, focusing on the sinews in his muscles, assigning each one a string - A,G,C,D. I traced them down, one at a time, with the tip of my fingers. Adam got quiet then, as if he were concentrating on something.

I reached for the bow and brushed it across his hips, where I imagined the bridge of the cello would be. I played lightly at first and then with more force and speed as the song now playing in my head increased in intensity. Adam lay perfectly still, little groans escaping from his lips. I looked at the bow, looked at my hands, looked at Adam’s face, and felt this surge of love, lust and an unfamiliar feeling of power. I had never known that I could make someone feel this way.

When I finished, he stood up and kissed me long and deep. “My turn,” he said. He pulled me to my feet and started by slipping my sweater over my head and edging down my jeans. Then he sat down on the bed and laid me across his lap. At first Adam did nothing except hold me. I closed my eyes and tried to feel his eyes on my body, seeing me as no one else ever had.

Then he began to play me.


Adam visits the story through Mia’s memories and then he makes a real appearance.

“That was a pretty boneheaded move you pulled earlier,” I hear her tell Adam.

“I know,” Adam answers. His voice is a throaty whisper, the way it gets after a particularly screamy concert. “I was desperate.”

“No, you were romantic,” she tells him.


This is a beautifully told story that has very heartfelt moments throughout. Moments that make you think about your own life and the impact you have on your family members and friends.

I’m looking forward to seeing the movie in August 2014. I leave you with some Yo-Yo Ma.

Michelle