If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Goodreads
201 pages, YA Contemporary
If I Stay #1
My rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

My 2 cents

I had no idea what this book was really about.  It kind of shocked me on what happened!  I don't feel its a big spoiler, as it happens right in the beginning of the book.  Basically, Mia, her parents, and her little kid brother all get a snow day in Oregon.  They decide to have a fun day trip, and end up in a horrific car crash. Mia's parents are dead, and she and Teddy (brother) are barely hanging on.  She spends the rest of the day in an out-of-body experience, watching everyone in the hospital and trying to decide if she wants to go back in her body and stay, or leave this world behind.

So its a very sad story, although there are some great light-hearted moments, too!  Most of the book is flashbacks she has about her loved ones.  Her biggest complication in her life at the moment is her boyfriend, Adam. He's a freshman in college and she's a high school senior.   They are very much in love, but starting to drift apart.  Mia is a gifted cellist, and is waiting to here if she got into Julliard.  Adam is a gifted guitarist, who plays in a band, and the band is taking off.  So he travels a lot.  

I loved the flashbacks part of the story most of all.  There is such great character development.  These people in Mia's life really felt real to me.  I think that's why I was in tears a few times!  I especially loved her father and grandfather, and of course, Adam!  

I really wasn't sure what she was going to decide.  I could have seen it going either way, and I didn't feel like the story would be a happy ever after kind of story.  I was surprised by the ending, and I really need to read the next book, which continues the story!  This is a great contemporary, right along the likes of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green!