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I Was Here by Gayle Forman is a masterpiece! The book is such a pleasure to review as it is a unique story. There is a whole ball of emotions that will arise as you read this wonderfully written story.
Title: I Was HereAuthor: Gayle Forman
Also by this author: Just One Day Series
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Rating:
Cody and Meg were inseparable.
Two peas in a pod.
Until . . . they weren’t anymore.When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.
I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.
Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman
I Was Here is so unique. Gayle Forman has such a descriptive way of writing and knows what young adult readers really want to read about. Yes, this book mentions suicide, but it isn’t a typical suicide book. The main character, Cody goes on a mission to discover the cause of her friend’s death and connects with her friend’s friends to help her out. Unlike other books, I Was Here doesn’t really focus on the death itself, but more about uncovering every secret the main character’s “friend” never told her.
❀ Right Mix
This book has just the right mix of sorrow and joy. What I liked about this book was that when something sad happened, something happy would usually follow. This saved me from crying after each time I turned a page. Thank you, Gayle, for not completely drowning me in my tears!
❀ Lyrical Writing
The story is beautifully written. I just love Gayle Forman’s writing. There is something very lyrical about her books. This one is no different. There are just so many details that the readers of the book will easily make connections to. I felt that I was right there with Cody! I love reading books where I can see myself in the setting and I Was Here definitely provides reader with this amazing thrill!
❀ Best Book of the Year
I Was Here by Gayle Forman is easily one of the best contemporary books I’ve read this year! If you haven’t yet read it, what are you waiting for? Add it to Goodreads right away!
About Gayle Forman
Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels for young adults, including the Just One Series, I Was Here, Where She Went and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than 40 languages and in 2014 was adapted into a major motion picture.
Gayle published Leave Me, her first novel starring adults in 2016 and her latest novel, I Have Lost My Way, comes out in March of 2018.
Gayle lives with her husband and daughters in Brooklyn.
About The Candid Cover
Olivia ❀ Canadian YA book blogger, Starbucks lover, & professional bibliophile.
I love your review. And I agree with you I Was Here is an amazing read.