Where She Went

In Forman's earlier book, IF I STAY, young Adam Wilde persuaded Mia to rouse from her coma after her family died in an accident. Since then, the pair have been out of touch, living on opposite coasts. She's a cellist on the East Coast. He's a dissatisfied West Coast rock star who's about to depart on a European tour. As in the first story, this companion book takes place in 24 hours--in this case, after Adam and Mia accidentally meet in New York City. Dan Bittner voices Adam's first-person narrative with an intensity that reflects the short time the pair have to understand their past, present, and future. Bittner captures the complexities of Adam and Mia's relationship as well as the strength of the enduring bond between them. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 28, 2011
"I know it's really cheesy—crass even—to compare my being dumped to the accident that killed Mia's family, but I can't help it. Because for me, at any rate, the aftermath felt exactly the same." Forman follows up her bestselling If I Stay with a story that is equally if not more powerful, set three years after the previous book and told from the perspective of Mia's former boyfriend, Adam. Mia and Adam haven't seen each other since she left for Juilliard, deserting him just months after emerging from her coma. Adam's anguish found an outlet in songwriting, and the resulting album, Collateral Damage, has become a sensation, turning Adam and his band into bona fide rock stars, though he's barely keeping it together. Mia's career as a cellist is taking off as well, and a chance meeting in New York City gives Mia and Adam the opportunity to exorcise the ghosts of their past. Having spent If I Stay in Mia's head, readers are, like Adam, thrust into a state of unknowing regarding Mia's thoughts and motivations. It's an extremely effective device, and one that makes this reunion all the more heartrending. Ages 14–up.