Name: If I Stay
ISBN: 9781101046340

Gayle Forman

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.

If I Stay

Veronica Palmieri

If I Stay (If I Stay #1)

Very good book. Almost cried at the end lol

Melinda Hamrick

não importa quantas vezes eu revisite esse livro, ele sempre continua sendo especial e importante para mim!!!!

eu amo tê-lo me acompanhando durante as diferentes fases da minha vida <3

não importa quantas vezes eu revisite esse livro, ele sempre continua sendo especial e importante para mim!!!!

eu amo tê-lo me acompanhando durante as diferentes fases da minha vida <3

NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING CHLOE GRACE MORETZ '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. Everybody has to make choices. Some might break you. For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they're all about a future full of music and love, a future that's brimming with hope. But life can change in an instant. A cold February morning . . . a snowy road . . . and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one. As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all. Haunting, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be. Includes interviews with the stars of the film, Chloe Moretz and Jamie Blackley.

anna

It's taken me a month to read this probably because I watched the movie first so it was hard to really get into it. Still I liked it a lot, I liked discovering that they kept the same dialogs in the movie. 
I don't know what else to say about it but overall it was a beautiful book and the soundtrack of the movie makes it even better. 
PS: One think I love more in the movie is Adam's band name haha

Monicap

This book was interesting. It didn't wow me. I DID watch the movie trailer before going into this, so that might have something to do with it... premise was interesting, plot was extremely internalized. The characters were enjoyable, and the writing was alright.
Nothing to special, to me anyway.

aileeeeeeen

reading If I Stay after watched the movie made me a bit ick. maybe because I got to know how the story went in the first place, or few characters that bored me off. but it is quite ridiculous, I think, to ponder and choose between life and death. maybe, if there was one thing that seemingly interesting, it could have been good.

         I have been a fan of young adult literature since I was, well, a young adult.  I have been an avid reader since elementary school, and that love of literature never went away.  Even when I had grown up and gone off to college, I had two siblings who were considerably younger and were themselves turning into readers, so I would pick up the books they were reading so I could talk to them about their books.  Then I became a teacher and spent many of my classroom years as a language arts teacher, again surrounded by young adult literature.  I will likely enjoy books aimed at youth for the remainder of my life, and I have absolutely no shame in that.  Nor should anybody else. 

            So, here’s my gripe about a large number of young adult books: they are always sad, morose, about depressing subjects, etc.  Why?  Why is that a thing?  Why do we ply our kids with these books about death, destruction, heartbreak?  It’s no wonder our kids stop enjoying reading when they go from The Magic School bus to a book about a girl in a coma whose entire family perished in a car accident.  It’s such a tragic premise, and so many other books aimed at kids have equally terrible plots, and it just makes me wonder why we keep doing this to our kids.  Don’t 14-year-olds enjoy magic and adventure too?

            Ok, I’m getting of my children’s literature soapbox.  Obviously, I enjoyed this book, I did give it four stars, despite the sad storyline.  While don’t typically enjoy a back-and-forth format in a novel, in this one, it worked well.  It allowed us, as the readers, to walk along the decision-making journey that Mia was on throughout the book.  I enjoyed the relationship she had with the members of her immediate family prior to the car crash that took their lives.  Her parents seemed witty, loving, incredibly intelligent, and genuinely interested in the lives of their children.  I had many laugh out loud moments while reading the interactions between the kids and their parents…I wish my own parents had treated me like that (I do love my parents, but the witty banter didn’t come until I was much older). 

            I also found Mia’s relationships with her best friend and her boyfriend to be far deeper than what I’m used to reading in a young adult novel.  Mia and her boyfriend, Adam, seemed to have a connection that was far deeper than what is common amongst teenagers.  The focus on Mia’s other relationships, outside of her nuclear family, helped us understand why the decisions she had to make became such a difficult one for her.  Mia’s best friend, Kim, and her boyfriend provided relationships that made staying alive valuable for her.  I found the portrayals of those relationships to be poignant and important to the story as a whole. 

            While intensely sad, this book does highlight the value of friendships and youthful romantic ties, which I appreciated.  It’s a good book.  I do have to finish this with a thought that was brought up to me by my husband’s cousin.  She commented that her one take-away from reading this book was that when the schools shut down because of unfavorable travel weather, maybe everybody should consider staying off the roads to avoid scenarios such as this. 

Kristen Claiborn

         I have been a fan of young adult literature since I was, well, a young adult.  I have been an avid reader since elementary school, and that love of literature never went away.  Even when I had grown up and gone off to college, I had two siblings who were considerably younger and were themselves turning into readers, so I would pick up the books they were reading so I could talk to them about their books.  Then I became a teacher and spent many of my classroom years as a language arts teacher, again surrounded by young adult literature.  I will likely enjoy books aimed at youth for the remainder of my life, and I have absolutely no shame in that.  Nor should anybody else. 

            So, here’s my gripe about a large number of young adult books: they are always sad, morose, about depressing subjects, etc.  Why?  Why is that a thing?  Why do we ply our kids with these books about death, destruction, heartbreak?  It’s no wonder our kids stop enjoying reading when they go from The Magic School bus to a book about a girl in a coma whose entire family perished in a car accident.  It’s such a tragic premise, and so many other books aimed at kids have equally terrible plots, and it just makes me wonder why we keep doing this to our kids.  Don’t 14-year-olds enjoy magic and adventure too?

            Ok, I’m getting of my children’s literature soapbox.  Obviously, I enjoyed this book, I did give it four stars, despite the sad storyline.  While don’t typically enjoy a back-and-forth format in a novel, in this one, it worked well.  It allowed us, as the readers, to walk along the decision-making journey that Mia was on throughout the book.  I enjoyed the relationship she had with the members of her immediate family prior to the car crash that took their lives.  Her parents seemed witty, loving, incredibly intelligent, and genuinely interested in the lives of their children.  I had many laugh out loud moments while reading the interactions between the kids and their parents…I wish my own parents had treated me like that (I do love my parents, but the witty banter didn’t come until I was much older). 

            I also found Mia’s relationships with her best friend and her boyfriend to be far deeper than what I’m used to reading in a young adult novel.  Mia and her boyfriend, Adam, seemed to have a connection that was far deeper than what is common amongst teenagers.  The focus on Mia’s other relationships, outside of her nuclear family, helped us understand why the decisions she had to make became such a difficult one for her.  Mia’s best friend, Kim, and her boyfriend provided relationships that made staying alive valuable for her.  I found the portrayals of those relationships to be poignant and important to the story as a whole. 

            While intensely sad, this book does highlight the value of friendships and youthful romantic ties, which I appreciated.  It’s a good book.  I do have to finish this with a thought that was brought up to me by my husband’s cousin.  She commented that her one take-away from reading this book was that when the schools shut down because of unfavorable travel weather, maybe everybody should consider staying off the roads to avoid scenarios such as this. 

chloe rae

2018 re-read:

I’ve been wanting to re-read this book for a while and I feel like I picked the PERFECT time to do so. 
I honestly think this is one of my most favorite contemporaries of all time. It’s absolutely stunning. The writing in this book is both beautiful and simplistic. It’s not over-done and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. This book is just so SAD. I love how sad it is. And I love the love in this book; the love between Mia and Adam, but also the love between Mia and her family/best friend. I found the chapters about Mia and her best friend super emotional this time around. I love my best friend so much and this really made me appreciate her friendship and love. I love everything about this book; how it’s so short but can make me feel so much. Already can’t wait to re-read it a third time! 

Original review:

HOLY CRAP, this book is amazing. I remember picking it up in the bookstore and being like "eh, I'll give it a go" and I am sooo glad I did. This book is made up of memories and flashbacks and questions and love and loss. It's so sad but hopeful at the same time. Hope for Mia and Adam, and hope for the future in general. I'm so glad I randomly picked this book up off a shelf and decided to take a chance. You should too.

Zahra

I think i expect too much from my first Gayle Forman book. Though this book is quite disappointing, i still want to see what's gonna happen to Mia in Where She Went.

A girl whose fortunes have plummeted from wealthy aristocrat to servant-girl. A magic hazel twig. A prince. A desperate escape from danger. This is not the story of a girl whose fairy godmother arranges her future for her. This is the story of Selena, who will take charge of her own destiny, and learn that her magic is not to be feared but celebrated.

Annika Arguemore

Tragically beautiful, this book moved me. It was quite an emotional read near the end. I literally cried. Adam, kudos to you. You're too fugging sweet. I'd kill for someone like you.

Although, it was pretty much a cliff hanger, I still loved it to bits. This is just one of those books that I could read all over and over again. The details nestle into your thoughts and just... I can't fully describe it. You'll just have to read and see ;-)

★★★★☆ // i wish i experience that kind of intensity and passion in my life. that ending.

Samantha gust 

So I don’t really remember reading this the first time around butttt recently decided to pick this off pango books and give it another go. This book what interesting I do like the idea of being able to make decisions on staying or going. I feel like the romance was a little forced and back and forth. I loved teddy and her mom and dad. The reason it was not A higher rating is 1. I did not like how the ending just cuts off 2. There relationship could have been a bit more loving we hear a lot of mentions on how there fought and were different. Over all it was a 3.5/5

Lauren Grey

This is one of those books that I have been passing in bookstores for years, but it just never jumped out at me as a must read. I saw a trailer for the movie when I went to see The Fault in Our Stars and I figured I might get around to reading it before the movie comes out, but it still wasn’t a must read. Then I was looking at some of my favorite blogs and it seemed that everyone and their dog was reading If I Stay and they were loving it. It came highly recommended… so I bought it.

I have to agree with everyone else- this is a fantastic novel. I ended up reading it in just under two days. It really holds your attention and doesn’t let it go until you reach the last page. This was my first Gayle Forman novel to read and I really liked her writing style. It was like you were just listening to a friend tell a story. It flowed so well and I just kept flipping the pages.

It was rather short (only 234 pages), but it was packed with love, laughter, and tears. I didn’t necessarily find it that sad; I didn’t cry, but there were times when I thought “wow her life sucks”, but other times when I felt that she must feel super loved. I really liked the characters too. Mia, the main character, was very likable; I wanted her to succeed and to figure out life and to stay. Her parents were probably my favorite though; I felt they were so sweet and real and different… I like reading about parents, because all parent-characters are so different. It is fun to compare them to the parents you have or you know.

Overall it is a quick read, but will leave you pondering the question– “would I stay?” The novel has a sequel, but honestly it was good on it’s own and doesn’t really need one. I will definitely be reading more from Gayle Forman though.

Maria Shade

One of those books that stays with you, and leaves you with a lot of different feelings.

If you have ever wondered what to e line between life and death could be like. This book’s explanation is such an insight into the decisions that come with both living and dying 

Lea ;)

Jacqueline Gonzalez

I started my adult book reading with this book and I loved it! It was so heartbreaking and touching!

dija

So i was browsing YouTube at 1 am as you all do, and the trailer of this book's movie came up, so i watched it and it looked meh but i scrolled down to the comment section and of course all those "READ THE BOOK" got the better of me. 

So i did. 
This was good definitely not because it was short and fast paced  but not THAT good like meh-ingly good but i still enjoyed it and it kinda moved something inside of me while reading it so that's something.

Jeannette Ordas

I had high expectations for this book, but I was a bit disappointed. I didn't know anything about the story going in, but it was well told - loved the parents, and the family relationships, just not so much the main protagonist.

Nicole

devin.reads

If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. SO amazing!

Review to come!

An short yet slow & amazing read. Emotional, passionate and heart tugging. 
I had huge expectations from this book, since it got really high ratings and came highly recommended. 

Mia's loss really tugged at my heart strings. Her bright, happy life made the loss more tragic. The words and narration made me very empathetic towards Mia, and I felt every single emotion on the pages so clearly as if they were mine. Im sure even the most shallow, self-centered person would feel bad for her. There is just so much emotion in this book. 

And of course, the narration. Thumbs up to miss Forman for the incredible writing. She did a wonderful job. It was entirely original, and the transition from Mia's memories without getting sidetracked from the story was pretty good. Through flash backing, you felt the loss more clearly, seeing how the characters were once so alive and colorful. The memories she had created more of a backstory than plot,and you could see how the events and memories pieced together. Gayle Forman is a genius.  Plus, her prose was beautiful. Like I said before, you were able to relate to Mia. 
The characters were part of which made me cry so much. The most interesting character was her Gramps. He was always in the background, and he was never the center of attention yet you felt his presence clearly. The moment he had with Mia was one of the most poignant parts of the book, and in that scene you could really feel the love he had for Mia. 

Such an achingly beautiful book.

An short yet slow & amazing read. Emotional, passionate and heart tugging. 
I had huge expectations from this book, since it got really high ratings and came highly recommended. 

Mia's loss really tugged at my heart strings. Her bright, happy life made the loss more tragic. The words and narration made me very empathetic towards Mia, and I felt every single emotion on the pages so clearly as if they were mine. Im sure even the most shallow, self-centered person would feel bad for her. There is just so much emotion in this book. 

And of course, the narration. Thumbs up to miss Forman for the incredible writing. She did a wonderful job. It was entirely original, and the transition from Mia's memories without getting sidetracked from the story was pretty good. Through flash backing, you felt the loss more clearly, seeing how the characters were once so alive and colorful. The memories she had created more of a backstory than plot,and you could see how the events and memories pieced together. Gayle Forman is a genius. Plus, her prose was beautiful. Like I said before, you were able to relate to Mia. 
The characters were part of which made me cry so much. The most interesting character was her Gramps. He was always in the background, and he was never the center of attention yet you felt his presence clearly. The moment he had with Mia was one of the most poignant parts of the book, and in that scene you could really feel the love he had for Mia. 

Such an achingly beautiful book.

Olivia Mitchell

The first book I've read in the BookTubeAThon 2014 and oh my what a way to start! A truly beautiful book, heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Incredible.

** spoiler alert **
           I really enjoyed this book. It was a great telling of the never ending question, what happens when you die? Do we get a say? I’ll definitely read the 2nd book

Stefanie  Uwah

Not terrible but I don't think it was great either. I have a review on my youtube channel so check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlYzQA...
secretsofabookie.blogspot.com

If I Stay

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