REVIEW - If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman 

Series: Has a companion novel (I think. . . ) 

Book No.: 1

Rating: 5 / 5 (☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼)


Book Type: Own

Summary: (brought to you by the awesome folks of GoodReads!)

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands. 


First Sentence: Everyone thinks it was because of the snow.

Review: 

I had heard GREAT things about this novel, and I needed to get away from the whole hardcore paranormal books, so I picked this book up at WalMart. I had high hopes coming into this book, and by the end of this novel, I was blown away! My expectations had been met and then some. 

I don't come across a lot of books that made me put the book down and think about my position in other's eyes, but having this do such a thing was so refreshing, and it gave me a new outlook on life that I still have. You can basically say that this influenced how I live today! Such a hard thing to find when reading Young Adult, right? 

I have never had a book that had me so engrossed that I read it in one sitting and had me thinking about it even months after I had finished it, but this had. It impressed me that a book in under three hundred pages could have me in tears, launch me into laughing fits, and make me realize that this is our only life. Live it like you mean it! Life's too short. 

Mia - she happens to be one of my favorite characters from any book I have ever read. She it about a spitting image of me personality wise: musician, loves the people around her, gifted, smart, etc. I have never encountered a character in any book I have read that was so much like me. I was pleased, and this only made me engrossed even more! You have to care about the characters you love in a book, right? AMEN!

All in all, such a beautiful story. The characters will linger in your mind even after you've put this book down. Such a rare thing to come across, but I'm so glad I did!

Cover: A

Yes. I'm biased. No. I still love it.