Have you seen this?
It's gorgeous, right? And it sounds like a crazy good book - just look at the summary from Goodreads:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
Totally looking forward to reading this in January. If you haven't checked out Brodi's blog, you must! She's hysterical! www.brodiashton.com
On to today's review:
From the flap: My first impulse is not the grab her or kiss her or yell at her. I simply want to touch her cheek, still flushed from the night's performance. I want to cut through the space that separates us, measured in feet - not miles, not continents, not years - and to take a callused finger to her face...
It's been three years since Adam's lave saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it...
...and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.
Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is L.A. 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.
From Me:
I went into this book questioning its ability to measure up to If I Stay. And the truth is, it really did.
It was definitely different. It wasn't as "big" emotionally - there is no tragic accident in this one - but seeing the rest of the story from Adam's heartbroken point of view was quite interesting. His story is tragic in its own right and you still feel that pull in your heart as he's telling it. He's certainly much gruffer in his language and, presumably, his lifestyle than Mia was, but you still get to see his sensitivity and definitely his vulnerability, which really makes you root for him.
I didn't feel as emotionally traumatized by the story as a whole (If I Stay left me stunned and sobbing... in a good way), but that could be because I devoured it in a matter of hours... It could also be because the choices the characters make in this book are much less... I can't even come up with a word to describe the choice Mia made in If I Stay. The choices in Where She Went are more universal; everybody has to go through something similar (don't they?). But that's not a bad thing - it just brings the book down to a level where we can imagine having to decide.
Overall, I did really enjoy the book. It definitely satisfied my need to know what happened after Mia's choice. Forman has a very simple, understated, yet totally powerful and beautiful way of telling Mia and Adam's story. And I truly hope to read many more books by her.
Everneath cover art:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9413044-everneath
Forman, Gayle. Where She Went. Dutton: NewYork, 2011.
