Just a big pile of blech.

I was fairly certain that I had already read my least favorite book of CBR7, the horrid pile of stink called Seating Arrangements. But sadly, I was wrong.

This was worse. And so disappointing, as I’ve read — and mostly liked — all of Gayle Forman’s previous books. She’s a decent writer, as she proved with If I Stay, and good at developing characters that you want to know more about (proof: the companion book to If I Stay, Where I Went, and the combo of Just One Day/Just One Year).

Gayle Forman, I am begging you. Do not write a companion piece to this book. The characters were awful people that I never want to revisit.

I Was Here starts off well enough. Cody, recently graduated from high school in rural Washington, is attempting to deal with the suicide of her best friend, Meg. Meg was away at college in Tacoma, and her death came as a shock to everyone back home.

When Cody heads to Meg’s apartment to gather her belongings, she finds out that maybe Meg had some secrets, and that maybe her death shouldn’t have been such a shocking surprise.

Look, I appreciate Forman’s attempt to tackle issues as serious as mental illness and suicide. But the characters that I was supposed to care about were the worst. THE WORST.

Cody was simply a bitch. I’m sorry her friend died, but she was a very unlikable protagonist. There was nothing about Cody that made me see why the awesome Meg would be her best friend, or why the amazingly hot Ben would be so taken with her. Her mother was a monster, and all of the characters at the college were really quite two-dimensional.

Gayle, I’m willing to give you another chance. I really hope your next book is better. Please don’t turn into Lauren Oliver, torturing me for years, waiting for your next book to be as good as your first.

You can read reviews of books that didn’t suck on my blog.