Review: If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

Title:		If I Stay
Author:		Gayle Forman
Publisher:		Penguin Group
Imprint:		Dutton Juvenile
Pub. Date:		4/2/2009
ISBN:		0525421033 (ISBN13: 9780525421030)
Pages:		201

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.

(Summary and cover via Goodreads)

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Mia is planning out everything in her life. She's auditioning for Julliard and spending time with her boyfriend, a rising local musician. A simple family drive changes all that though. Mia finds herself caught somewhere between life and death with no way of knowing what she is today. Mia realizes that she has a choice to go or to stay. How can she make such a huge decision though? Mia will have to decide what it is that she truly wants to have.

This was a very interesting book and concept. Of course, I had just read another Young Adult book involving s girl who was hovering somewhere between life and death, so I couldn't help but to compare the two in my head. This book had the more likable main character for sure. Mia is basically a really good kid. She works pretty hard, she loves her friends and family, and she just wants to have a  good life. For her this includes music. She has worked super hard for this, and she would love to see this dream come true. Of course the pull to not stay includes some other equally important factors. So what does she choose?

I didn't love Mia's family as much as I liked her, but she had a good life and she knew it. As she works through her past, you get to see glimpses of her past. Soon, her story unfolds, but it is always tinged with sadness because of the circumstances. I found this book to be interesting and thought-provoking. If this were my choice, what would compel me to stay or to go? Would my life be as full as Mia's had already been? As Mia makes her decision, she leaves you with many things to ponder.