Guest Post: Tigerlily Books

If I Stay 

by Gayle Forman  

5 Stars

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This is one of those books that has been languishing on my TBR pile for a very long time but it was catapulted to somewhere near the top when I saw the trailer for the film whilst waiting for ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ to start. The trailer was just so emotional and the emotion was only heightened by the song ‘Say Something’ by A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera. The trailer was like a punch to the gut and stirred up such a mix of emotions that I came straight out of the cinema & downloaded it to my Kindle straight away.

Summary

Just listen, Adam 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, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.
If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make

Review

I devoured this book in one sitting, giving myself a book hangover in the process as even when I finished the book at 2am my brain just wouldn’t switch off as the book had touched me so deeply.

Mia is just an ordinary girl with an exceptional musical talent, the biggest thing she has to worry about is leaving her boyfriend, Adam behind when she heads off to Juilliard but then tragedy strikes and Mia has an even bigger decision to make. Does she want to stay with Adam & live?

The book is mixes present day with a series of flashbacks as we see Mia & Adam’s relationship unfold but one fateful February morning Mia and her family are involved in a car accident that changes their lives forever. Mia narrates the story from her almost ghost like state watching as the tragedy consumes her family and friends, watching as surgeons work to save her, watching what happens to her parents and brother and not being able to do anything about it as she is in a coma.

If I Stay is a highly emotional book that touches the very heart and soul of a person, it looks at loss and whether you have the strength to survive it. It is so beautifully written, even the car crash is set to a symphony making the impact even more forceful. I think what impacted on me more was reading the authors reasons for writing the book, she had actually based it on a real life tragedy involving people that she knew and I feel that this really came across in her writing. This book sucked me in and just didn’t want to let me go so I am so happy that there is a book 2 ‘Where She Went’ so I can see what happens next.