If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman: dual book review

 

DUOLOGY RATING: 3 STARS

 

Author: Gayle Forman

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Find If I Stay on Goodreads here!

 

SUMMARY OF IF I STAY (from Goodreads):

 

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.

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.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

 

REVIEW:

 

I really wanted to like IF I STAY. I'd seen the trailer for it when I saw THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, and it looked SO good.

 

While the movie looked fantastic, the book just did not do it for me. The writing was not engaging enough, and it made most of the book EXTREMELY boring. The only parts that I found interesting were when Mia was having the out-of-body experience in the hospital. All of the stuff about her past I didn't really care for.

 

The next reason I didn't like it contains some spoilers. If you have not read it, skip to where it says END SPOILER.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD:

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The part where Mia and Adam "played" each other like musical instruments? EXTREMELY disturbing. If my boyfriend requested to "play me like an instrument", I would say "GTFO of my house." It was supposed to arouse me, but all I felt was very disturbed. *shudders*

 

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END SPOILERS

 

Overall, I gave IF I STAY 2 stars.

 

But then I decided to pick up WHERE SHE WENT, and this one was so much better. Adam's point of view was WAY more engaging than Mia's, and it was definitely more well-written. Some parts were still a little boring, but overall I really enjoyed this one, and gave it 4 stars.

 

In short, this is a solid duology. If you want to read IF I STAY, suggest you do, if inly to get to WHERE SHE WENT. If you have read it and feel the same way I do, give WHERE SHE WENT a try.

 

CONTENT: As mentioned in the spoilers, there's a scene where the characters play each other like musical intruments in the first book, but it never leads to sex. There are also multiple f-bombs. WHERE SHE WENT is the same language wise, and there is a steamy make-out scene and implied sex.