I ordered this book a while ago and finally it came in the post yesterday, along with a long awaited Elsa dress and some pretty ugly looking bills.
Monster was working on a masterpiece in her sisters Frozen colouring book so I busted my way into the package and was immediately disappointed with the size of this book?
Seriously it's only 220 pages max. A snack as far as books go. But they say don't judge a book by it's cover and so I tried really hard not to and got to reading.
I finished it today, without much effort really and you know what? I'm not sure if I really liked it.
I thought it was written well, quite cleverly actually.
I should probably read it again before I force my opinions onto you. But I won't wait, it's not my style.
We are quickly introduced to Mia a 17 year old Cellist and her family of "punk rockers" as they call themselves. They are a musical family, this point is driven in repetitively but, it's not done annoyingly.
We meet Mia's Mum, a terrible cook and her Father, an ex punk band drummer turned hipster teacher and her little Brother Teddy, a sweet little blonde haired four year old.
Mia is into classical music and is basically the rebel of the family, you know because they all love rock music. Okay I get it, it would be like Beetle growing up and telling me she doesn't like Doctor Who and Bow Ties are in fact NOT cool! That would be heartbreaking. But you know at the same time Mia is a fantastic Cello player and is being considered for Julliard, so you know you can forgive your daughter for not liking the same music as you. (Not so much around here with Beetle loving One Direction and not really going for Metallica like my dear Husband that might just be unforgivable).
So anyway...
You quickly (I mean quickly) fall in love with the family, they are sweet and loving and Mia actually likes spending time with them. It's established early on that Mia is not the regular type of rebellious teenager and really does not think that a day trip to see her Grandparents is a terrible idea.
So again at this stage they are fighting over music. They of course decide to listen to Classical music because it's not like it's 3 against 1 in the deciding factor on that one. Okay, i'm being a little harsh and the author is obviously a great music lover or she has done her research.
We are just getting into the momentum of the story, we are on a road trip and we really love our family. But, then.....
15 pages in they are in a horrific car accident and the only survivor is Mia.
The story then takes a turn and Mia is having an out of body experience and looking down on the dead bodies of her parents and every worse on her own banged up body.
But don't be scared yet, at this stage the author has done a brilliant job of having Mia describe the events as though they were happening to someone else, because as she is out of her body she has no feeling, she can't feel the emotional or physical pain.
At this stage you won't really feel it. It's very cleverly written.
We follow Mia through her experience through the surgeries, the visits from her loved ones in the ICU but most important we go through it with her. We wait for her boyfriend Adam to visit, we wait for him to find a way to see her, we wait for him. Throughout we get a glimpse of her life before the accident, we meet her best friend Kim and her parents oldest friends and we go to the gorgeous rocker boyfriends gigs and we live it and remember it with her.
The entire book is about the decision of whether or not Mia should die and be with her family or stay with the living. Death is easy, is stay alive an option?
Her friends an family tell her to fight to stay and also that it's okay if she can't (Basically this is when you start to feel it and the tears aka in true fangirling terms "the feels" start. This is where you cry).
If only we all had this choice.
If I Stay is not my favourite book. (Don't worry John Green, you can still stake that claim) Will I read it again? Probably, I won't be able to help myself.
When I stumbled across this trailer, I immediately wanted to read the book. I waited patiently for it to be shipped to me (well not that patiently, I was elbow deep in the Vampire Academy books swooning over Dimitri and cursing Rose for breaking Adrian's heart) and I happily devoured it and I am glad I did. I got to escape into another world and isn't that why we all read?
Now we'll wait for August for the film patiently with many distractions. I mean I can't be the only one waiting for the final Mortal Instruments Book to hit the shelves on the 20th can I?! I've had my preorder in for AGES!
I will just leave this trailer here for you, Jamie Blackley is H.O.T. as Adam by the way and Chloe looks like she will make the perfect Mia. I can tell they have changed it up a bit but that's okay by me.
As long as they don't create a main character out of thin air like they did in the Hobbit aka Tauriel! Are you listening Peter Jackson? While I'm on it shouldn't that White Orc be dead by now?
Anywhoo, reeling myself back in here, I can't wait to see the movie and the book is worth reading. I liked Mia and Adam (I will ship them and call them Madam), I wish I could follow their story on further. If you want to borrow the book you know where I am.
I have to go and trawl Pinterest for pictures of Miles Teller now, it could be a long night.
Stay Golden
Stacey
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