This book was… interesting. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and honestly, I was expecting a little more. It was sad and emotional, but slightly predictable. The time jumps and memories confused me. There wasn’t always a clear signal to say “we’re switching back to the past”. I personally felt that Mia’s character was a little basic, although it was an interesting perspective to have on death.

I do think I would have enjoyed this book more had I not known there was a sequel (something I just found out before starting to read it) because it would have left a lot more mystery and intrigue to the ending, while knowing there’s a sequel basically gives away the end.

Overall, good book and emotional but the characters were slightly underdeveloped and the plot was slightly predictable. 

"People believe what they want to believe"

"Sometimes you make choices in life, and sometimes choices make you."

Not many books have made me cry. This did. Forman knows how to make you care about this family. And she uses that to rip your heart about. Please read it!

I adore how the characters and their relationships are built through memories and current events in the plot.

If I Stay is such a beloved YA book and it's one of the first YA books I read when I was getting into them as a young teenager. It's been probably five or six years since I read this duology for the first time and even though I do reread pretty frequently, I have never felt a very strong desire to reread them, until I suggested a buddy reread with a friend, which I was especially keen on because I'd also never seen the movie. Anyways, unfortunately I don't have any sort of review from back then because I know for certain that I loved it a lot more on my first read. I had very little memory of any real details during this reread. I won't drop my rating at all, because I know that the book meant a lot to me when I was younger. I just kept waiting to feel like I was in the story, and I'm really not sure if it was anything specific about the book, or just me being a different person at a different time. Maybe the way that Mia is almost an outside observer to her body in a coma makes it hard to feel like I was a part of it. On the other hand, I genuinely agree with everything that all the positive reviews say about this book: it IS heartfelt and a beautiful portrayal of genuine relationships and the small moments of life. I don't really know what point I'm trying to make here. Maybe I'll pick it up again one day and love it again, but at this time my heart just didn't connect to the story as much and I'm okay with that. 

I did really love how all the flashbacks were put in the story and how it really fleshes out Mia's relationships with her family and Adam and how that becomes important after the accident. There were still a couple things that didn't fully make sense to me just because they couldn't be fully shown just in flashbacks. I remember having a real crush on Adam and I just didn't as much this time. There's definitely some great moments between Mia and Adam though and I will always love the rocker boy band trope. I am also so unsatisfied with the ending. I have always loved neat endings with nothing left unsaid and so I'm really glad that I still get to reread Where She Went.