BOOK REVIEW: If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

ISBN13: 9780142415436

Publisher: Speak

Publication date: April 6th 2010

Pages: 261 pages

Genres: Romance | Contemporary

Buy from: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository

The critically acclaimed, bestselling novel from Gayle Forman, author of Where She Went, Just One Day, and Just One Year.
Soon to be a major motion picture, starring Chloe Moretz!

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia’s story will stay with you for a long, long time.

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.”

I forgot when I finished this book but I didn’t know it would be so popular because the storyline was not that… you know, it was not that amazing. I also liked this cover better than the original one, and the movie tie-in book was as awesome as this too. Definitely one of my most favorite cover-changes ever.

Mia Hall is a 17 year old whose life revolves around classical music. Her parents that look a bit like a Northwestern hipsters, breathe rock music. And her boyfriend, Adam, is a singer and guitarist in his own band. It’s Mia’s senior year of high school and she views her family’s warmth and eccentricity as one of the things she will miss most if she ends up going to college at Julliard in a few months. The family decides to take advantage of their stolen day off from the responsibilities of life, like giddy children, and use it to visit with friends and family in their Oregon hometown.

Mia remembers traveling the winding roads with that familiar sound of familial chatter and classical music, and the next thing she knows she’s observing the devastation in gruesome detail of a car accident that has killed her parents and left she and her brother in critical condition.

Broken in a hospital bed, Mia revisits memories. She watches Teddy grow up, feels her beloved cello in her hands, and falls in love with Adam all over again. She sees her best friend, her grandparents, and Adam visit her in tears. They beg her to stay but acknowledge with brave honesty that they will love her the same if she lets go. Mia needs to decide. If she goes she can be with her family, but if she stays? It still remains a mystery.

“Please Mia,” he implores. “Don’t make me write a song.”

Honestly this book is worth crying for, the ending breaks your heart. All the flashbacks of Mia’s memories make me emotional. But unfortunately the plot is kind of boring and confusing, the whole book happens just in a day so you need to bear with long and slow-paced paragraphs that make you tired. The flashbacks disturb me a bit because it keeps taking us back and forth while reading the book, it’s confusing.

I love Adam’s character the most, I find Mia a little bit too boring. Teddy, Mia’s brother, is also very adorable! I wish the plot was more interesting, 3 stars are enough I guess. I already finished Where She Went a few weeks ago and it was better than this. The review is coming soon, just stay tuned. 🙂

“Losing me will hurt; it will be the kind of pain that won’t feel real at first, and when it does, it will take her breath away.”

You all already know that there’s a movie adaptation for this, right? IT WAS FULL OF FEELS. What do you think about the movie? Do you like the movie or the book better? I’m opening a free discussion in the comment section below. Just share all your thoughts, I’ll be responding to every one of you!

I’m putting the link of the trailer because I cried like a baby when I first watched it.

Now CRY.