[Throwback Thursday Review] If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Throwback Thursday is a Twitter based meme using #tbt to showcase old photographs.
Check out for an awesome linky hosted by I Heart YA Fiction of book bloggers doing the same remix style with books in the TBR pile! 

Buy on Amazon or The Book Depository

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman (Twitter, Facebook, Website)

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary

Release Date: April 2, 2009 

Format: audiobook via public library

Synopsis via Goodreads:

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.

This book has received a lot of hype since before it was even released back in '09. Unfortunately, in 2009 I was buried up to my ears in grad school work, so I decided since I loved Gayle's more recent duology, Just One Day, I had to check it out.

My jaw dropped at least a dozen times, I laughed, I cried and I needed a hug before this was all over. My guess is an 8 out of 10 on the feels scale. 

The plot does not waste time and Mia is faced with her tough decision within the first couple of chapters. Told beautifully from Mia's point-of-view, she recounts past memories of various friends and family members as she balances the choices that are to come. The secondary cast is hilarious! Each one has their quirks and you really feel like Mia is laying on your bed, with popcorn, telling you a series of short stories from her childhood. Ranging from how she met her best friend, her first date with Adam, the birth of her baby brother and her never ending love for the cello. If you're looking for swoon-worthy moments between Mia and Adam, look elsewhere. Their relationship is tender, genuine and a whole lot of other adjectives but the focus is always on the "big issue" at hand. 

Great read and when the audio ended I was definitely like... wahhhh????? So glad I can now listen to the second part, set three years ahead and from Adam's point-of-view. 

4-Stars: Great book, many feels... if you haven't already read this!

This was my first successful attempt with an audiobook. I really liked it! I feel like sitting in traffic was so much more productive... haha.

The narrator's voice was smooth and since the story is told in first person it fits really nicely. I've started Where She Went in audiobook, which is part two to this duology, and its a little bit more jagged. We'll see how it goes...

This novel has been optioned for a film and is currently in post-production. The film will star Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass,Carrie) as Mia and is set to release later this summer on August 22. IMDB

What are your hopes for the movie?
What do you think about the casting choices?

Not the Adam I envisioned... at all!!