Hello Book Lovers!!!
I've just finished reading the If I Stay and Where She Went Duology by Gayle Forman. This has been on my TBR list for a long time now and I thought it was about time I got round to reading it!
I'll discuss If I Stay first and then I'll go onto discussing Where She Went.
If I Stay is about a girl called Mia who is in a car accident with her parents and her brother Teddy. She ends up in a coma in hospital however we see her perspective from outside of her own body. So although Mia is in a hospital bed unconscious, she is also wandering round the hospital trying to work out what happened as well as whether she actually wants to wake up.
There isn't a lot more I can say about this story without spoiling anything but I hope that very brief synopsis gave you an idea of what the story is about.
I enjoyed reading this story and I liked the different take on it. Instead of getting the perspective from a character that is conscious, seeing it from Mia's eyes when she is separated from her body was a really interesting concept.
I also felt I was getting a bit attached to Mia although there was on some occasions times where she was annoying me a bit. I also really grew to like Adam, Mia's boyfriend as you could really see the connection he had with Mia through his eyes.
I wish I had got to know Mia's family a little more as I think with a bit more time I would have grown to really love them but we still got to learn a lot about Mia and Adam and I enjoyed that about the story.
I really loved reading about Mia's love for classical music as I've always found that genre of music really interesting even though I don't tend to listen to it all that much.
Overall I think this book could have been a little quicker in pace as I thought it dragged on in places however I did really enjoy the way the story was told as that was different.
Rating /5
3
And now onto Where She Went! So this contains spoilers especially if you haven't read the first book!
This part of the story is told 3 years on from the car accident in If I Stay and is now from Adam's perspective. He is now touring with his music band and finds himself in New York City. At this point he hasn't seen Mia since she left for Juilliard School of Music.
However he ends up crossing paths with her when he finds out about a music concert she is doing and decides to go along to support her. After the concert he is asked to go backstage to talk to her and this is really where the story begins.
Adam wants to find out why Mia cut him off and whether it was something he did. And if it was something he did, he wants nothing more than to correct that.
Again I enjoyed reading this story and it was great to see Adam's perspective as we got to learn lots more about him. I felt I got even more attached to Adam in this story and I couldn't help but feel a slight soft spot for him.
The character development was a great leap from the first book. Even the music interests these characters had in the first book began to change and it was interesting to see just how much these two had grown up in the three years they had been apart.
It was great to see both Mia and Adam doing so well in their music careers and how even though they hadn't seen each other in such a long time they still seemed to have a connection that they would never be able to get rid of.
I love how music is such a big element in both of these stories and how it had such a huge part in bringing Mia and Adam together. It reminded me in a way of Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.
Overall I enjoyed this story just as much as the first one and I'm glad I gave this duology a chance. I also would like to pick up Gayle Forman's other books in the near future.
Rating /5
3
Happy Reading!!!
xHannahx
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