Gayle Forman is a YA author known for crafting sentimental stories. The author of If I Stay, she doesn’t shy away from confronting her readers with gut-wrenching plots, troubled characters, and scenes that will make you cry ugly tears for hours on end. So when I picked up I Have Lost My Way, Forman’s latest tear-jerker, I knew exactly what I was getting into. And then, I didn’t.

The novel opens with a bang, literally, as the lives of three teenagers collide in a coincidental accident on the streets of New York City. And this isn’t your typical fender-bender; one of our main characters falls off a pedestrian bridge and lands on our second protagonist, while the third plays the part of reluctant witness. That is, until he realizes that the girl who fell is a famous vocalist – and his ex-boyfriend’s favorite singer.

It’s a clever opening that pulls you in from the very first page. A moment of magical realism where the stars align and destiny prevails. But be warned: this is not your feel-good YA story where lives are restored and everyone lives happily ever after. It takes only a few more chapters for the darkness of I Have Lost My Way to creep in, and the true vulnerability of these three teens to shine through.

In reality, these three strangers have all been through a terrible loss:

• Freya, the sole girl in the group, woke up a few weeks prior realizing that she could no longer sing. Without her voice, her career was over. And for Freya, the adulation of her fans is what defines her. Without them, she is lost.
• Harun, a homosexual Muslim boy, recently ruined his relationship after refusing to come out of the closet and be honest with his parents. Expected to travel to Pakistan and find himself a wife, Harun is caught between the person his family wants him to be and the person he is – with no idea how to rectify the two.
• Finally, Nathaniel is grieving the loss of his father, a man stricken with mental illness who carved out a separate world just for the two of them. Unsure how to keep going without the man who made him who he is, Nathaniel heads to New York City with his heart set on ending his own life.

These are the circumstances that surround our main characters at the start of the novel. Forman turns back time just long enough to provide their backstories, and then forges ahead in a series of events that transpires over the course of a single day. Now some of you might be thinking, a book that takes place all in one day? That storyline must drag on and on… But it doesn’t! Between the fast pace of the writing and the point of view switches at each chapter, I Have Lost My Way holds the reader’s attention from beginning to end. The practice of utilizing multiple points of view is a common one in young adult literature, but few authors pull it off quite like Forman. I Have Lost My Way weaves together three separate narratives told through distinct voices, but united by the raw, heartfelt tone that underlines the entire novel.

Now, I have a confession to make. I’m a big adventure junkie. I once jumped off a train going at full-speed, just for the fun of it. I’ve landed a plane safely on the ground after enemy forces took out our one and only pilot. I was even the one to finally slay Medusa, using nothing but a rusty sword and a compact mirror.

Okay, so maybe I haven’t done any of those things. But some of my favorite characters, my biggest literary heroes, have. Their triumphs are what made those books great – each exhilarating page made me squirm with excitement, anxious to see what would happen next.

So why read a book where the most impressive feat is a girl tumbling off a bridge and managing to land on the cute guy below who, as it turns out, is her soulmate?

Because if we’re honest, none of us can relate to the warrior princess or the golden boy. We can admire them, root for them, even wish we were them, but chances are we’re never going to be the hero we want so desperately to be. Real life is much less exciting. And near-death experiences aren’t thrilling when they happen to you – they’re downright terrifying.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I used to read only the kinds of stories that raised my blood pressure and had me screaming “he’s right behind you!” I wouldn’t bat an eyelash at a realistic portrayal of modern life. Sometimes, I still reach for those heart-pounders, especially when life is starting to get a little too real for my liking. But over the past few years, I’ve discovered the beauty in character-driven novels where not a lot happens. In fact, I’ve started to gravitate toward them. It’s like trading in an explosion for a slow burn. The experience is different, but the end result is the same – fire is fire in any form.

If you’re sick of the high-intensity thrillers and ready for a change in perspective, I urge you to give Forman’s novel a try. Like me, you’ll grow to love Freya, Harun, and Nathaniel. You’ll root for them as they battle their own giants and slay their own dragons.

At the end of the day, when you strip away the pomp and circumstance from any novel worth the cost of ink, what you’re left with is humanity (or in some cases, extraterrestrial life). I Have Lost My Way is humanity in all its painful, beautiful glory. It’s about the bond between sisters, and father and son; romantic entanglements between boys and girls, and boys and boys. As promised, the ending will have you in tears, but also leave you with a newfound hope that no matter how lost you become, there are people out there who will help you find your way back.