Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)

by Gayle Forman

[boghunden]

As much as I liked Adam in the first book, I hated him in this one. At least in the beginning. He was such a jerk! He was so out of reach, and no matter what he went through in the first book, that's not an excuse for his behaviour in this one. Throughout the book it gets better and things were explained. He had a reason - not an excuse, but a reason. And Mia...I felt the same way about her. She was annoying, but I understood her when things were explained. It made sense to me. Sometimes you just don't have a lot of choices if you wanna survive and get through life.

Despite my irritation towards the characters at the beginning of the book, I really liked it. It wasn't as good as the first, but it was close. I was a bit sad to see that it was a "three years later" kind of book, but it made sense. It gave a more honest and realistic look at things. And you also avoided the sad story you would've otherwised gotten.

To see Mia and Adam developing like they do is perhaps a little over the top, but I think it was the only way to really show how they were coping. The development of the characters are amazing.

Like in the first book, this is told in just a day or so, and with a lot of flashbacks and talks about the past. It worked really well, and I'm happy to see that Forman stayed true to the writing and her "voice" of the first book. These two books are sad, but yet somehow they are optimistic and makes you appreciate life.