*Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman*

I'm going to take this summary from the front flap. It's just too good.

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.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Anyway... You probably noticed I starred the title of this post. I did that because If I Stay deserves an extra something special. It's a book that everyone can take something from.

The dialogue, narration, flashbacks, plot, everything. It all just fits together like magic. Finally we have a protagonist with a functional family! (This always bothered me.. it's like everyone has something wrong with their family. "Wicked stepmother disease".) 

So believable, so real. 

I can imagine all of this happening in real life, because it does! Almost 40,000 people are killed in car-wrecks each year in America alone. That could be your sister, your cousin, your favorite teacher, your friend, a parent... All gone. It could be you, gone.

I loved the mystery. I didn't know what Mia's choice would be, though I think Forman could have pulled off either ending well. But that's all I'll say.. don't want to give anything away!

It is the perfect length.. any longer and it would have gotten annoying .

If I Stay has left me thinking about my life, and wondering, if I had the choice and was in Mia's position, would I stay? That's what Gayle Forman was trying to accomplish, I believe, and she succeeded. With flying colors.

Rating: 5 Star*

Clean?: Language and brief sensuality

Length: 196 Pages

Most Like: Speak (maybe? kinda close)