Leave Me

July 11, 2016
YA author Forman’s successful foray into adult fiction features a New York City magazine editor, Maribeth Klein, an über-organized mom who is juggling her stressful job, a self-involved husband, and a set of preschool twins that are a handful. She’s so busy helping everyone else she ignores her heart attack symptoms, ending up with emergency bypass surgery. Following this massive disruption in her life, Maribeth decides the only way to recover from the emotional and physical trauma of what she’s been through is to suddenly leave her family, fleeing to Pittsburgh, not only to escape but also, spurred by her health problems, to find out more about her own background as an adoptee. The author nimbly explores what drove Maribeth from her family as well as what compels her to look for her birth mother at the age of 44. She goes off the grid—using cash from her savings, a burner phone, old-fashioned yellow pages, and the local library—to get her bearings and put a semblance of a life together. With humor and pathos, Forman depicts Maribeth’s complicated situation and her thoroughly satisfying arc, leaving readers feeling as though they’ve really accompanied Maribeth on her journey.

July 1, 2016
What if an overworked mother simply walked away? Could she find herself yet keep her abandoned family?Maribeth works full time, keeps house, and even manages to be a hands-on mother to her 4-year-old twins so her husband, Jason, can work longer hours --after all, it's not easy to make it in the music business. So when she starts feeling a bit queasy, tired, and achy one day, she simply carries on. Luckily a previously scheduled appointment with her gynecologist soon sends her to the hospital. But a heart attack and emergency bypass surgery don't buy her any recovery time. Within days of being sent home, her mother, who was supposed to help her recuperate, doesn't, even refusing to go to the store in the rain; the twins require emergency lice patrol; and Jason calls her selfish. At her wits' end, Maribeth walks away. Circumspect but careful about her health, she looks for a cardiologist who will accept her on a no-insurance, cash-only basis. She lands in the office of Stephen Grant, a man who clearly has secrets of his own: his name is spoken in hushed tones, he doesn't appear to have any other patients, and, unlike the cursory doctors of her past, he takes the time to really understand Maribeth. Maribeth's thoughts turn to finding her biological mother, leading her to Janice Pickering, founder of BurghBirthParents.org, who takes a personal interest in her. Award-winning teen author Forman's (I Was Here, 2015, etc.) adult debut nails the frustrations of working motherhood, though the love complications conveniently disappear and the frayed ends of Maribeth's life are retied too easily. An appealing fairy tale for the exhausted and underappreciated.

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Starred review from August 1, 2016
Maribeth Klein is too busy with her four-year-old twins and her increasingly demanding job to realize she's had a heart attack at 44. Shrugging off the pain, she continues with her day, heading to the preschool to be the storytime reader. She tries to chip away at her increasing to-do list by persuading her husband take over dinner dutiesparenting group is meeting at their Tribeca apartment that night. She manages to keep her ob-gyn appointment so she can mention that she's feeling a bit off. Next thing she knows, she's having open-heart surgery. Complications lead to an extended recovery period, yet somehow Maribeth is quickly back at everyone's beck and call. And her illness brings up long-buried questionsas an adoptee, she's clueless about her family medical history. When the demands get the best of her, Maribeth packs a bag, cashes out her bank account, and catches a train to Pittsburgh, where she hopes to find some answers about her past, as well as some time to herself. Popular teen author Forman's adult debut examines just what it means to be a working motherbeholden to everyone, seemingly obligated to forget who you really are. Maribeth's search for her birth mother and the way she settles into her newalbeit temporarylife away from home will strike a chord with readers, especially those who enjoy Jennifer Weiner and Meg Wolitzer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

June 15, 2016

Forman is no stranger to complex and emotional stories, having written the best-selling YA novel If I Stay, which was turned into a movie of the same name in 2014, along with writing its sequel Where She Went and the "Just One Day" series. In her first adult book, Forman breathes life into the story of 44-year-old magazine editor Maribeth Klein, too overworked and overwhelmed to realize that her chest pains were, in fact, a heart attack. While contemplating her future, Maribeth comes to terms with her past, fleeing her husband, Jason, and children Liv and Oscar to uncover the secrets of her adoption in Pittsburgh. Forman shines in letting readers decide if Maribeth is a villain for abandoning her family or a victim of her circumstances, following her long recovery through mysterious appointments with Dr. Grant, swimming lessons with adoption researcher Janice, and excursions with neighbors Todd and Sunita. In learning that everyone, including members of her birth and adoptive families, has secrets, Maribeth realizes the power of family in friends. VERDICT While it may leave fans of Forman's previous books wanting more, this novel is sure to be in demand and will especially interest adoptees and their families. [See Prepub Alert, 3/28/16.]--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016

Forman, a best-selling YA author whose If I Stay won a NAIBA Book of the Year Award, goes adult with this story of working mother Maribeth Klein, so frantic she doesn't realize she's had a heart attack. Upset that her recuperation seems an imposition on others, she packs her bags and flees. A Day of Dialog panelist.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.