** spoiler alert ** 
 When I first started this story, I was like this: 
 As I was reading, I grew angry like this: 
 Then the book made me want to do things like this: 
 And ultimately Adam made me feel like this: 
 Basically the book had me all over the place. 
 When I read If I Stay, I finished feeling a sense of sadness yet hope. With this book I mostly felt despondency. With Mia off at Juilliard, excelling at all things classical music, and Adam touring the world as a famous musician, the couple seemed so far away from each other. I wondered whether or not they'd be able to find their way back. 
 From Adam's point of view, we got to witness his current state of mind while seeing various aspects of the accident aftermath. Truthfully I expected to fall more in love with Adam while growing to hate Mia. As a female reader, I think we tend to have a soft spot for the male lead, particularly when we feel they've been wronged. Adam, having been left by Mia years prior, was heartbroken and obviously still grieving over her loss. However, I didn't hate Mia. 
 While I despise how Mia let him go, leaving him without a word, I can understand why she did it. Adam asked her to stay when she barely had anything left. Short of music and the man who loved her, Mia could have crossed over without many qualms. She resented him and silently lashed out, taking out her grief and anger on the one person she counted on not to hurt her. She didn't understand her own pain. I can understand why she went this route, even if I don't agree with it. 
 Our poor Adam did not understand for a majority of the book, his bitterness more apparent than the phoniness of his girlfriend. He missed Mia. He took out his anger and pain on his music, making his only source of counseling no longer a means to relaxation and therapy. Throughout this book, I merely wanted to hug him. 
 I'm exceedingly happy that Adam waited to kiss Mia until he ended it with Bryn. It would have been so easy for Gayle Forman (a woman I adore after meeting) to let them kiss in the heat of the moment and put off Adam's commitments until later. Adam isn't that type of guy, though. He's slept with groupies and he has a temper, but he's not a cheater. He's faithful and loyal, like he was to Mia all those years. Waiting for the kiss was right. 
 Then learning it was Mia who had his guitar... 
 She followed his career and everything he'd done and his concerts and him...it made me all sorts of weepy. She still loved him, and while she could have clung to his past, she instead focused on their future together. She allowed him to mourn the past by letting him grieve for the death of her family. He lost them too. That was the part that truly broke me apart. 
 I'm pleased with the ending for we got to see witness a brief period of their life together. We didn't get to assume they got the happily ever after, we got to witness their commitment to one another. 
 Normally it takes a lot to make a sequel more successful, but in this case, I think the feat was accomplished.