Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release date: November 4th 2010
Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance
Source: Bought
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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.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Am I really the only one who doesn't love these books? Unlike the rest of the world, I did not love If I Stay. I didn't think it was a bad book, but I didn't connect with it emotionally, and I didn't particularly like the characters. But because of the rave reviews, I decided to buy a copy and give it a try, hoping I would like this one better than If I Stay. Sadly, though, I ended up having the same problems with Where She Went that I had with its predecessor.

Like in If I Stay, I didn't love Mia and Adam, and I didn't connect with the story emotionally. Adam just seemed melodramatic to me. How he's still hung up on Mia three years after they broke up is presented as romantic and sweet and all of that, and I can see how some readers might see it that way. But it just seemed overdone and, well, kind of creepy to me. I don't mean to sound insensitive, but... really? I wanted to slap him and tell him to get over himself.

Mia, I didn't love, either. Her character did not make any sense to me in this novel. I don't want to spoil anything, but her reasoning.... just, what?? It seemed ridiculous to me. Her going back and forth seemed volatile, and I just didn't get it. 

The ending didn't work for me. Concerning Adam and Mia's relationship, I found it unrealistic and unfitting to the rest of their story. And concerning Adam and his music, I found it very disappointing. Adam's problems in the music world were the one part of the novel that I enjoyed reading about, so the way the ending simplified all of those issues bugged me.

I feel kind of bad about it, but I just can't love these books the way everyone else does. I don't think they're bad books, I just didn't connect with the characters or the emotional aspect of the story. I'll still be reading Gayle Forman's new book Just One Day since I already own a copy, but maybe I'll just have to accept that I don't connect with her books the way everyone else seems to do.