Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman is told from the point of view of Adam and is set three years after the tragic accident that killed the family of his former girlfriend, Mia Hall, in the book If I Stay (2009). Now a famous rock star, Adam Wilde finds himself at New York City's Carnegie Hall for Mia's breakout cello concert. He hopes he can be anonymous and just listen to the concert but he is spotted and ends up reunited with Mia for an evening of "painful reminiscing, heartbreaking closure, and hopeful discoveries." -SLJ

In an interview Ms. Forman was asked about what themes interest her as a writer.   This was her reply: "Love, I think, in all of its dimensions. The cost of unconditional love…what happens in the absence of love. Love is what we all live and breathe for."

 Where She Went will appeal to all hopeless romantics like myself. Adam has spent three years angry and depressed over losing Mia, his first, his only love. Then, miraculously, he has a chance to see her again, to learn what drove them apart, to be set free from an ache that wouldn't let go, to find the music again. Wouldn't we all jump at such a chance? To have that final wrap-up to some past event that has really been bugging us for a while? I know that I would.

While not as poignant as its predecessor, Where She Went, is a compelling love story which almost has a fairy-tale quality about it. But be sure to read If I Stay first as this story really builds off it.  Enjoy!

Here are a few quotes to whet your whistle:

"Mia faces me now. the wind is shipping her hair this way and that so she looks like some kind of mystical sorceress, beautiful, powerful, and scary at the same time. She shakes her head and starts to turn away."- p. 187

First you inspect me- Then you dissect me- Then you reject me- I wait for the day- That you'll resurrect me. from "Animate" Collateral Damage, Track 1 (p. 254)