At first I was doubtful about If I Stay, figuring it was going to be some overwrought teenage melodrama. (The moody cover with the girl on it didn’t help.) Boy was I wrong – it turned out to be this lyrical, deeply moving book about life, death, and love. This is a very introspective novel with little to no plot. Mia’s body was seriously injured in a car accident, but her essence seems to be hovering in limbo. She will have to decide whether she wants […]
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
I liked this more than I expected to, which isn’t saying much since I had some pretty low expectations going in (my sister’s recommendation was basically, “it’s not bad but the ending is stupid”–she was right). “All I can think about is how fucked up it would be for your life to end here, now. I mean I know that your life if fucked up no matter what now, forever. And I’m not dumb enough to think that I can undo that, that anyone can. […]
Just writing this makes me want to go and listen to Miss Piggy singing “Five Gold Rings….ba-dum-dum-dum”
Usually, I review my 52 books and then take a break for the rest of the year. And after this review, I plan to do so. But since this is a holiday-themed book, I figured I would write something up. My True Love Gave to Me is a book of short stories, all Christmas themed. The stories are written by an all-star team of YA champions: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow […]
if i stay
If I Stay is the story of Mia, a seventeen year old cellist, who is in a horrific car accident that kills her family and leaves her in critical condition. Mia has an out of body experience during the course of the novel, watching over her comatose body struggling to make a decision: should she die and join her family, or live. Spoiler Alert There is a sequel. If I Stay was pretty breezy for a novel about life and death. […]
One Long and Annoying Year
You know how after you read a really great book, you just can


