Where She Went

Forman again expertly explores tough topics such as grief and letting go of love, this time using Adam's continued uncertainty and despair to create the dramatic tension in the novel. As in If I Stay, the author effectively intersperses the present with flashbacks that fill in the gaps of the three-and-a-half years since Mia's accident. It's satisfying to get Adam's perspective on the difficult months after Mia wakes up to discover she's entirely orphaned, and also hear him relate the earlier days of his relationship with Mia -- including how wonderful the Hall family was to Adam, who always felt part of the clan. His feelings are understandably raw throughout the book, and he expresses them well in the lyrics of fictional album Collateral Damage. Forman beautifully describes the heartache Adam faces when seeing Mia again, and how it feels having to be pleasant and overly formal with someone you want to either kiss or hurt.

The story's one-long-night-together format is somewhat reminiscent of the classic romantic film Before Sunrise, except instead of young strangers on a train who quickly fall in love, this book's focus is in on a young couple that never stopped being in love -- but also has no idea how to move past the damage they've endured.