Review by Alex- If I Stay

If I Stay by Gayle Forman



"Just listen," Adams says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen.
"Stay," he says

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones. Stay true to her first love-music-even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then, one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everthing changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.

If I stay is a hearachingly beauiful book about he power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

This book was a surprise for me. It revolved around something entirely different than I expected. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, since it had me in a great shock- which is good- so I won't say exactly what. So please excuse me for being incredibly vague for this review.

The narration skips from the present to back in the past. It could get confusing or boring, but it doesn't. The whole thing is very well executed. If I Say is woven with many great musical references, some nice humor, and great characters. For a short book, there's a lot in it.

While one does have to suspend the disbelief and dispell questions that arrive, If I Stay is definitely worth it. It has everything and it works. There's romance that can trump all, a family that's wonderful and loving but also different and interesting, and more. It's fascinating and very beautiful and flowing. Mia must make such a tough choice, and Gayle Forman writes it wonderfully.

I loved it. It went a little slow for me maybe, especially since not a lot happened in the present. It was just a lot of flipping back to past memories to show Mia's life before. Mmm. I don't really know what else to say. Just read it. It's really sad and heartfelt, with all sorts of different loves just flowing off the pages.