If I Stay by Gayle Forman

[description from author website]

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.

Review:

I must have a heart of stone, because this book did not make me cry. I've seen that most everyone has cried. It was very sad, I'll give you that. But it was a bittersweet kind of sad, I think. Which only made the book all the more better.

Gayle's writing is brilliant. The scenes alternate between the present when Mia is in the hospital and past events that have affected Mia in some way, which increases the emotional intensity in the book. Seeing Normal Mia in the past while she does normal things makes realizing just how dire Mia's situation all the more sad. The scenes give the characters, and the book in a general, another layer of realism.

Also, I loveloveloved how music played such a big part in this book. Even though many books contain lots of music, the classical music mentioned in this book gave it a little something unique. Mia was often shown playing music or being around music, which made her even more real than all the other characters. LOVE.

All in all, If I Stay = fabulous. It's worth every penny you'll spend on it. And it's being released TODAY, so don't miss out; this one is sure to be one of 2009's talked-about books.

8.5/10