WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman Book Review
Series: If I Stay, #2
Publication Date: November 4th 2010 by Dutton Juvenile
Rating: – Exceeds Expectations |

Book Summary: It’s been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam’s point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Book Review Overview:

• It was amazing to read about what Mia and Adam were able to accomplish in the last three years!
• Get the tissues ready – this one is a tear-jerker!

So I basically thought it was too good to be true when just about all of my bookish friends told me that WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman is better than the first book, If I Stay. It was impossible, I thought to myself.

Then I was proved that the impossible is possible.

WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman is all kinds of awesome. I read it in two sittings – I only stopped to cook and eat dinner, which was something I almost forgot to do because this book is so hard to put down.

Fast forward three years later after the accident. Adam is a famous rock star, and it’s been three years since he last saw Mia when she left for Julliard in New York. Despite the fame and money and a celebrity girlfriend, Adam still cannot let go of Mia. Their paths collide in New York when Adam stumbles upon her first concert at Carnegie Hall.

First of all, I loved reading about Mia and Adam three years later. Despite the fact that Adam is pretty much miserable and still heart-broken, I was so proud of what Mia and Adam had accomplished in the last three years. I almost wanted to do a happy dance because they were both able to live their dreams.

I really enjoyed the change of perspective in WHERE SHE WENT, which is told entirely from Adam’s perspective. I feel like male protagonists are so rare in young adult – so it was a refreshing change of pace.

WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman also involved tears and sniffles. I cried a few times while reading when all the emotions and feelings just got too overwhelming. My heart went out to Adam and Mia. They’ve gone through so much. A sign of a talented author, for me, is the ability to make me cry through words on a page.

Gayle Forman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I’m basically going to get my hands on every book she publishes. I’m a fan. WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman will not disappoint fans of If I Stay.

About the Author Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Elle in the US. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Find the Author Website | Twitter | GoodReads

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Permalink Book Review, Four Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Gayle Forman, Book: Where She Went, Genre: Contemporary, Genre: Romance, Must Buy, Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, Romantic Read, Series: If I Stay, Tear-Jerker | 946 words

THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS by Lynn Weingarten Book Review
Series: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers, #1
Publication Date: December 27th 2011 by HarperTeen
Rating:  – Poor

Book Summary: If there’s an upside to having your heart broken, it’s this: A broken heart makes you brave.

The first day of sophomore year doesn’t go the way Lucy planned. After a summer apart from her boyfriend, she’s ready to greet him with a special surprise and instead gets a shocking one in return: He’s breaking up with her. Beyond devastated, Lucy has no idea how she’s going to make it through homeroom, let alone the rest of her life.

Enter three stunning girls with the unnatural ability to attract boys and an offer Lucy can’t refuse: They can heal her heart in an instant. And then she’ll be one of them—a member of a sisterhood that is impervious to heartbreak and has access to magic distilled from the tears of brokenhearted boys. But to gain their power, Lucy must get a guy to fall in love with her the old-fashioned way, and then break his heart in the next seven days.

While the sisterhood may need another Heartbreaker, Lucy’s only desire is to get her ex back. But how far is she willing to go, and who is she willing to cross to get what she wants?

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten Book Review Overview:

• Like/hate relationship with THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS
• Love the writing style, hate the premise
• Not a book I would recommend to teens

THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS by Lynn Weingarten requires readers to suspend their disbelief. The novel is contemporary sprinkled with a dash of magic.

I have a like/hate relationship with THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS. I knew that coming in I would not like any of the characters. They’re cruel and insanely bitchy, but this is one of those books that I was willing to give the characters a chance to make it up to me. They didn’t.

Lucy, the protagonist, is a little naive and a little obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. The moment we are introduced to Alex, I knew that he is Bad News. The boy is clearly not in love with Lucy, but she doesn’t see that. He wasn’t worth all the effort, and it was clearly a lost cause. But Lucy is determined to win him back, so she turns a blind eye against his flaws for the majority of the book. Worst of all, she’s a terrible best friend to Tristan. While he is always there for her in the book, Lucy is quick to abandon him when Olivia and her friends take her in. Lucy doesn’t really feel remorse towards how badly she treated Tristan – disappointing because he was one of the very few likeable characters in the novel.

The mission of the Sisterhood is pretty vindictive and cruel. This book is basically teaching teenagers that boys are their playthings. They are there for you to flirt and date, but when you get tired of them, they are disposable. Um, what the hell? I’m sorry, but just because a boy breaks your heart, it does not mean that it gives you the right to break the heart of others for fun. Weingarten attempts to give her characters a conscience, but it fails hard. I don’t buy it at all that the characters have a bit of compassion in them.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed Weingarten’s writing style – so much that I ended up reading this book in one sitting. I think partially that this has to do with the fact that I wanted to know if the characters were going to disappoint me. I had to know, and I couldn’t put the book down. THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS is a breezy read.

Despite being a quick and breezy read, THE SECRET SISTERHOOD OF HEARTBREAKERS by Lynn Weingarten is not the kind of book I would recommend. In fact, I am making quite sure that my younger cousins stay far away from this book. And to think that this is the first in a series…

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Permalink Book Review, Two Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Lynne Weingarten, Book: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers, Genre: Contemporary, Publisher: HarperTeen, Series: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers | 1078 words

IF I STAY by Gayle Forman Book Review
Series: If I Stay, #1
Publication Date: April 2nd 2009 by Dutton Juvenile
Rating: – Exceeds Expectations|

Book Summary: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck…

A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

Book Review Overview:

• An absolute tear-jerker
• Protagonist with an awesome relationship with boyfriend and parents
• One of the best books I’ve read so far in 2013

Have your tissues ready because If I Stay by Gayle Forman is one hell of a tear-jerker. Mia’s family was just going out for a drive one morning. Next thing she knows, Mia is watching herself get taken away by an ambulance after a horrific car accident.

I love how point of view is used in If I Stay. Even if Mia is in a coma, she has an out of body experience that sees what is going on around her while she remains in critical condition at the ICU. She cannot interact with anyone, but she can listen to conversations and follow family members and friends around the hospital.

Forman also uses flashbacks quite well. Through flashbacks, we learn more about how Mia and Adam’s relationship developed. We also learned more about Mia’s family. By the time I reached the end of the book, I felt such a strong connection with all of the minor characters that the whole novel became even more heart-wrenching. This is one of the few books in YA in which the protagonist actually has an awesome relationship with her parents. For once, the parents are not absentee or ignorant. Their relationship with Mia just makes this book all the more powerful.

Okay, there is so much buzz in the blogging world about swoon-worthy Adam. And alright, I admit it – he is very swoon-worthy. He’s such a nice guy and he’s such a perfect boyfriend to Mia. What more can a girl want?

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I had a hard time putting this book down. Now, I can’t wait to pick up the sequel Where She Went.

About the Author Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Elle in the US. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Find the Author Website | Twitter | GoodReads

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Permalink Book Review, Four Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Gayle Forman, Book: If I Stay, Genre: Contemporary, Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, Series: If I Stay, Tear-Jerker | 738 words