If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Let me start off by saying that I haven't experienced a loss even remotely close to what happens in this book. It was honestly hard for me to relate to that. In addition, I am not an overly emotional person, especially when watching a movie or reading a book (since I know its not real and always have a skeptical view of things that happen). I want a book to entertain me. Whether that is to make me laugh, or excited with its action or make me cry because it is so sad (which there is so very few that make this list.) This book does none of those things except in the very beginning.

Synopsis: As Mia lies in between life and death, she has an out of body experience that enables her to see how people are reacting and listen to what they are saying to her. She has a difficult choice to make. She must go back and examine her past and decide if she wants to have a future.

Have you ever thought about what you would choose?

I liked the conjunction of music and family in the book. These two things are most important in Mia's life. As she recalls past events, both aspects take center stage in her tales. I thought the relationship with Adam was a bit pedantic and undeveloped. As I feel with most YA books, the romance aspect was thrown in just because. The author assumed Mia had to have a boyfriend because there had to be someone close to her at her side. I really got no sense of Adam as a person. 

It's a solid edition to the YA genre but not a real favorite of mine.

Rating: 3/5