If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Author: Gayle Forman
Original title: If I Stay
Pages: 256
Edition Language: Russian
Series: If I Stay #1
Format: Paperback 
Genres: YA, Contamporary
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Original title: Where She Went
Pages: 286
Edition Language: Russian
Series: If I Stay #2
Format: Paperback 
Genres: YA, Contamporary

If I Stay.
Blurb:    
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.

My thoughts: 
     Truly I had no idea what I am getting into. When I started the book I thought I am going to read yet another ordinary YA contemporary with love triangles and high school problems. And when this plot twist happened at the beginning of the story I felt like I was hit by that truck. The whole story was turning on this soft spot, making me cry almost non stop. I felt so much for this family that I did not pay much attention to some flatness of other characters and over sweetness of romance line.
     The book is basically is about the idea of life values and when everything you loved is gone how to find strength and, most important, wish to go on. I enjoyed it even if there were not much character development and action. The story left me touched and emotional.

Rating: 

    4/5 

 

Where She Went.
Blurb:    
It's been three years since the devastating accident and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.
       Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance. 

My thoughts: 
      And here this book was a normal ordinary YA contemporary. It was a very sweet read, but did not raise any emotions in me, though the narration from Adam's was quite interesting and captivating. I do understand my many prefer this book over the first one. At last there is some action and plot development in a story. We moved from the tragic point on which the whole first book was concentrated and moved to back to live with its ups and downs.
      I enjoyed Adam's character development and how he truly analyzes his state of mind and emotions. Mia, on the other hand, was rather shapeless and neither fish nor flesh. I could not picture her; nor feel for her anymore.

Rating:  

    3/5