Author: Akarty D

If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

‘If I stay’. I’m not even sure where to start with this review, honestly. There’s so much to say. Let’s start with a summary.

Mia Hall is a 17-year-old girl who is left to pick up the shattered pieces of her life after a car crash that killed the rest of her family, leaving her all alone on earth without her mom, dad, or little brother.

But she has a choice.

She finds herself outside of her body after the crash, floating around like some sort of ghost. Except she’s not a ghost, because she’s not dead.

If she wants to die, she can. If she wants to stay, she can. She has all the power.

Damn, this book really did hit me right in the feels. I started it right before I went to bed on a Tuesday night, and let’s just say I didn’t go to bed on Tuesday night. There was so much emotion in this book. It was moving and powerful, and I found some tears rolling down my cheeks as I read. It felt so overwhelming, yet so not overwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like some parts of the book, like the reason Mia made her decision to stay or go, and just some general things that annoyed me. But even if I didn’t like those parts, I still had emotions. And boy, my emotions were a complete mess while reading this book.

Give this book a chance, honestly. I promise it’ll tug at some of your heartstrings and possibly cause an existential crisis 🙂