《我曾经来过》

    Cody and Meg have been inseparable since childhood. They planned to leave their small town in Washington and move to Seattle to go to college, but that changed when Meg got a full scholarship to a small, prestigious* private college in Tacoma, Washington State. Having no scholarships or money saved, Cody is now stuck in town, cleaning houses to have a little bit of money to give to her mom toward living expenses and to take a couple of classes at the local community college.

    Those classes have gone by the wayside, though, since news came of Meg’s suicide. Meticulously* planned, her former best friend ordered a poison that had a high fatality rate*, and sent emails to friends and family on a timed delay so that no one could interfere with* her fatal decision.

    Cody struggles to figure out why Meg took her own life and puzzles over a suspicious* line in her friend’s suicide email. The sad but determined teen begins to check files on Meg’s laptop, which lead her to a suicide support group and posts from All_BS, a character who encourages suicide as a way out. As she goes further down the rabbit hole, Cody comes to the realization that she needs to forgive* Meg, and, more importantly, herself.

    The good thing about this book was that it dealt with suicide in a realistic way. Even though this mystery was fairly predictable*, it is important to allow Cody to get to a point where she could properly grieve. This is a good read by Gayle Forman and she handles a sensitive topic well, but it lacks the depth of “If I Stay.”(SD-Agencies)