Quick Stats
Age Rating: 15+
Overall: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 5/5

TW: grief, death, hospitals, surgery, gore, car crash

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for sending me a copy of this book!

I read this book in one sitting, in like two hours, and cried my way through at least 75% of it—and I don’t cry very easily.
When I was in 7th grade, all the girls (and one boy) in my class were obsessed with this book. They all read it and talked about it. But, at the time, I only read fantasy, so I didn’t read it. I think it’s probably a good thing that I waited until I was older to read it, because I don’t think I would have loved it then as much as I do now. There are a lot of hard-hitting moments in this book that 12-year-old Kaley would have glossed over.
This book was so good. I don’t really know what I was expecting going into it, but it wasn’t this. This is the first book by Gayle Forman I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. I can’t wait to read Where She Went, but I think I need to emotionally recover a little more before I jump in to that.
This book did use the r-slur in one instance, which was disappointing. Especially since the copy I read was a brand new printing. I get that when the book was written in like, 2008, that wasn’t considered bad, but it could easily have been taken out of this most recent printing in 2021.
You should also be aware that there is gory descriptions of a car accident scene, including brain matter smeared across pavement, and gory descriptions of the surgery Mia undergoes, as well as, obviously, a lot of death and grief.
I really enjoyed Mia as a character, and I liked every other character we got to meet.
All in all, I quite enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good cry.