Where She Went by Gayle Forman 

Publisher: Speak
Published: April 2012
Genre: young adult, contemporary
ISBN: 9780142420898
Goodreads: 4.17
Rating: ★★★

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.

Adam and his band, Shooting Star, are rock stars. They’re plastered across tabloids, interviewed on shows and in magazines, sell platinum records, and win awards. Though Adam has achieved his dream, he’s not content with it one bit. Mia isn’t in his life, and he’s not sure how or why they fizzled. The night before he leaves for London to begin a second world tour, he wanders Manhattan incognito and stumbles across a poster of Mia performing in Carnegie Hall. After word reaches backstage of his appearance, Mia summons him to her dressing room — and their night of reconnections and long-awaited answers begins.

Forman excellently writes companion books. There’s something about hers that I enjoy much more than trilogies. Two perspectives at two different periods in time — it works very well. Adam’s voice is different from Mia’s, and rightly so. Adam is overwhelmed with stardom and still devastated over Mia’s absence, so everything in his life instead becomes public knowledge — facts about the band, about the music written, about his history — and his voice is like that of the walking dead. At least, it’s deadened until Mia enters the picture once more. His emotions run high, the writing becomes lyrical like Mia’s voice from If I Stay, and his passion for music rather than the dull facts begin to shine through. Well-crafted.

However, I was torn between enjoying this book for what it was — a glimpse into the future and aftermath of the accident — and thinking it was a bit indulgent. Like I said in my review for If I Stay, I was more invested in Mia’s journey, the music, her parents’ love, than I was in her relationship with Adam. This book entirely revolves around that. Yes, it shows the way trauma wrecks everyone involved, not just the direct victims, and yes, it explores heartbreak, rejection, and closure, but it was very much focused on Adam’s distraught feelings and angst. I’m not sure how else this book could’ve been written, though.

The point is, I enjoyed it but it didn’t make me feel as deeply as If I Stay.