If I stay

if i stay

Gayle Forman

★★★★☆

            How am I supposed to decide this? How can I possibly stay without Mom and Dad? How can I leave without Teddy? Or Adam? This is too much. I don’t even understand how it all works, why I’m here in the state that I’m in or how to get out of it if I wanted to. If I were to say, I want to wake up, would I wake up right now? I already tried snapping my heels to find Teddy and trying to beam myself to Hawaii, and that didn’t work. This seems a whole lot more complicated.

            But, in spite of that, I believe it’s true. I hear the nurse’s words again. I am running the show. Everyone is waiting on me.

            I decide. I know this now. And this terrifies me more than anything else that has happened today.

            It happened on a day that began like any other.

            Mia had everything anyone could wish for- a loving family, an adoring boyfriend and a bright future filled with music. All that is taken away in an instant. The moment the crash happens, Mia is spirited out of her own body and watches as the ambulances arrive, watches as she is taken to the hospital, watches as the paramedics frantically work to keep her alive. Torn between life and death, Mia watches her loved ones come to terms with her nearly fatal injury and her family's death and contemplates the biggest decision of her life- to go, or to stay.

            Simultaneously forlorn and hopeful, If I Stay is a thought-provoking, uplifting story of a girl who is given the choice of life without her family, or certain death. I would recommend this book to readers of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. This book is a beautifully and  hauntingly woven tale of memories, love, romance and decisions, but most importantly it’s a story of music, life and death.