What would you do If I Stay?

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman
Pages: 250

Publisher: Black Swan

Source: Bought

Rating: 4.5/5

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
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, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters. 

If I Stay was the first taste I got of Gayle Forman's writing and oh my gosh, it was just delicious. If I Stay was a compelling read for me and it really got me wondering about life. Although I didn't cry, like I heard quite a few people did, it did make me get a little emotional.

If I Stay had a good storyline to it. I really liked how it was set over a 24 hour period, but it featured so many moments from the past. There aren't many books that pan out over 24 hours, so this was something I really liked. Although it was short, this didn't really matter to me as I felt that it was necessary, especially for the situation that our main character was in. Plus, even though the book took place over 24 hours, I grew to know a lot about Mia. Oh, and I just can't get over how beautiful Gayle's writing is. It's wonderful and the whole telling of the events and the thoughts of our main character, Mia, was just amazing. I officially love Gayle's writing style. It's so detailed and it really helps you connect more to the character in the book.

 Family seemed to play a big part in this book, and if you've seen my past reviews, you may have noticed that family and friendships are themes that I really enjoyed seeing and reading about in books. Family as well as friendship plays a big part in this book (as said just a second ago..), and I really loved it. I enjoyed seeing how big a part Mia's best friend played in her life, and her boyfriend also. I also enjoyed seeing that, although Mia didn't feel like she fit in with her family, her relationship with them seemed to be good with them - there wasn't any major fighting, so this made for the book to be a good one! 

I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy of Where She Went soon, as I believe that's the follow up to If I Stay! I did really enjoy If I Stay and am hoping to explore more of Gayle's books, such as Just One Day, which I've heard is very good!

In all honesty, I really enjoyed this book and would most definitely recommend it, especially if you enjoy books that literally grab your heart and don't let go for the duration of the book!


Have you read If I Stay? If so, what did you think? If not, are you hoping to read it soon? Is it sat on your TBR list, or are you currently reading it now? Let me know what you thought of If I Stay!