Review: If I Stay

[Maddy_Knapp01]

This book is about a girl named Mia who goes to see her grandparents on a snow day and she gets into a car accident with her family. Her family dies but she is left in a coma all throughout the book. While she's in the hospital a bunch of her family comes to visit her including her boyfriend Adam. Adam is a rock star and Mia is a cellist and together both of them have very big dreams. Adam wants his band called Shooting Star to be very successful in the music business and Mia wants to be a very successful cellist. Throughout the book however Mia contemplates whether or not she wants to survive this coma. Meanwhile Adam keeps hoping that she will because he doesn't want to lose her.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster and it is beautifully written. Gayle Forman is amazing at writing a story about love and loss and it's just great to see everything unfold in this story.

[M_liabelle]

I read this novel a year ago. It's not usually a book I'd pick. Mostly, my interests are more on fantasy and adventure YA novels. But. Surprise, surprise! Once I started reading If I Stay, I couldn't put it down. The characters are well developed making it easy to connect with Mia and her relationships with her family and friends and her boyfriend Adam. The issues Mia faced were real and difficult for someone her age. It made it hard to predict the book's conclusion but all the more satisfying. The book overall is sweet and heartbreaking.

I advise anyone who has read this to purchase the second book, Where She Went. It's in Adam's POV and tells you what happened after book 1.

For now, I hope to watch the movie soon.

[Hazel]

After reading the reviews of If I Stay, I really cannot wait to start on this book! Even so when the story is being made into a movie!

[t_ris512]

I read this book a few weeks before the movie after it had been on my reading list for months. And as soon as I picked it up, I couldn't put it back down. It captures your attention from the very beginning and you can connect very easily with the characters. Overall it was a great read, making me laugh and cry. I had heard so many good things about it and I wasn't let down. I'm glad I finally read it.

[Courtney Whittamore]

This is such a great review of the book! The quote you mentioned at the very bottom, "Sometimes in life you make choices, and sometimes they make you" has stuck with me since I read the book. I actually plan on painting it soon for a canvas above my bed. But anyway that aside. I was also weary of the book when I picked it up from the library (yay library buddies!) I hated twilight too. Poorly written and I just didn't see the point. But a fellow writer friend of mine said that this author was worth checking out, so amidst my hesitancy I read it anyway, and I was so glad that I did.

I also come from a very consuming musical background. I even auditioned for Julliard but ended up attending a different music conservatory instead. But the musical aspects of the book really spoke to me and for the first time were really accurately depicted in a young adult novel. Most YA's gloss over the passions of the character, but Mia is music, and music is Mia. There is no difference. You don't choose music, the music chooses you.

So do the tragedies that happen to you. Mia and Adam were on the precipice of so many great things. A great love, a great career, a great life, but then they found themselves of the doorstep of great tragedy, and it was most certainly not of their choosing. However, in the midst of all this imposed life, Mia was given a choice. She was finally allowed to choose if she wanted to stay or if she wanted to let go.

In my opinion, she was able to choose both. She chose to keep some things in her life, but this tragedy that chose her allowed her to decide what to let go of. It was heartbreaking to read and the last several pages of the book are now warped with my tears, but it was the kind of heartbreak that lets freedom shine through. Mia was really living a life that was defined by her passions, and she was allowing herself to be her passions which is fine, but what happened gave her the gift of letting her passions be a part of her, and letting herself grow into even bigger ones.

[michystar12]

I've never read this book, but I've heard many good reviews about his book. Thanks for the review

[Naijasia]

Oh gosh I started to read this on vacation with my family. The tears would not stop flowing from my eyes! It was so heartfelt and I just couldn't help myself. I sped through the pages! I am so excited to read the next part now.

[ssued2894]

I have yet to read this book and it is because I really did not like the twilight series. But now that i see other people that did not like twilight and still liked this book it is now on my list to read.

[AshleyMarie22]

I absolutely loved If I Stay, and the sequel was one of few sequels that i didn't have any issues with as i felt that it built on an already good story and the ending didnt leave me with questions. I'm terrified the movie wont do it justice, but i'm still excited to see it and compare the two.

[ejcogan]

I absolutely loved this book! It was one of those books that you feel as you read making it very realistic. I read it in a day and started the sequel Where She Went that evening. The sequel is just as good, though it gets pretty dark at times from Adam's perspective. These are both must reads!

[jordyn21]

This was a sweet book that I enjoyed but I was not overly impressed. I wasn't in love with it but I will be reading the sequel and watching the movie. This book could have been a lot better but it was still intriguing. If it didn't have such a suspenseful ending I'm not sure I would have read it so quickly because there were a lot of slow parts that you have to struggle through to get to the engaging parts.I love cute couple books so that aspect of the book was enjoyable but there were a lot of unnecessary parts to the story that if there would have been a more developed consistent story line it would have made this book so much better and maybe then it would have lived up to my expectations.

[nsharpes]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! What did you guys think about the second book? I have yet to read it, as I'm waiting to get some money so that I can buy both books and re-read the first one and then move right into the second.

[heatherchoffman]

I was holding out on this one... but now I want to read it! Thanks everyone

[ambalon]

This book is on my to read list! I am wondering though does it have a Sequel now? I have noticed two books when I look it up on my kindle and in the stores! So I have two books by this author on my wish list! I loved the twilight series and look forward to what this novel will bring. I really should read faster than what I do!!! I have way too many books on my wish list and can't keep up with all the good books that come out!

-- 19 Nov 2014, 13:55 --

This book is on my to read list! I am wondering though does it have a Sequel now? I have noticed two books when I look it up on my kindle and in the stores! So I have two books by this author on my wish list! I loved the twilight series and look forward to what this novel will bring. I really should read faster than what I do!!! I have way too many books on my wish list and can't keep up with all the good books that come out!

[Fatima Ariana]

Unlike most people, I actually was not able to enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. I think that's probably because I really disliked the ending. Overall though, the story was really well written. My only other problem with the book was the fact that I don't think Mia struggled too much with her decision. Apart from that, I actually did manage to enjoy the book and am hoping to watch the movie soon.