If I Stay by Gayle Forman

A morning car ride with her loving family turns Mia's life upside down within the first chapters of Gayle Forman's , If I Stay. The devestating crash takes Mia outside of her injured body that is fighting for survival. As an unseen observer in the ICU ward of the hospital, Mia is keenly aware of what is happening around her and the tragic aftermath of her familiy's crash. Mia flashes back to the past and reflects upon her life, her family, and her first true-love, Adam, who is ever-present and urging for Mia to fight her way back to him. The question is, will Mia stay and live in a world that is strikingly different than the world she woke up to that fateful day of the wreck?

Gayle Forman weaves a mystifying and emotional tale of the strong bonds of family and friends in a person's life. If you've ever had someone you love, fighting to survive in a hospital bed, you know the anguish that Adam and Mia's friends and family feel for her. To balance such an emotionally draining tale, Forman compliments Mia's present struggle with laugh-out-loud flashbacks of Mia's eccentric and humorous parents and family. I'm pretty sure that Forman based Mia's grandfather on my own Pawpaw, and I boo-hooed like a baby when Mia reflected on memories with her grandpa. Reflecting on Gramps's conversations with a comatose Mia still make me tear up as I type this review. Although a short narrative, this novel is powerful and will leave you savoring the everyday moments with your loved ones, because in the end, it are those moments that we will cherish the most! An AWESOME book that will also be a movie directed and produced by Catherine Hardwick (director of Twilight) in the next year.