Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher:  Dutton
Cover Designer:  Rodrigo Corral
Age Audience: YA

Genre: Contemporary

Summary: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs...for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Review:
The Fault in Our Stars lives up to the incredible hype.

It was lovely that the dedication was to Esther Earl, the Nerdfighter girl in whose memory the This Star Won't Go Out Foundation was founded. While little things like "my best friend was an author who didn't know I existed" can set you off, remember that this book is a work of fiction. Mr. Green has stated several times that Esther and Hazel are nothing alike.

Hazel has cancer, and Augustus had cancer, but this wasn't a "cancer book" as much as it was a book about teenagers with cancer. When it came to characters, the first thing I noticed was that the secondary characters weren't as developed as they were in the author's other novels. In Looking for Alaska, there was the whole gang. In Paper Towns, Q had Ben and Radar. But Hazel and Augustus created a little world that was only for the two of them. I rather liked Isaac, even thought the part he played in the story wasn't as important as I hoped.

There were times I wished that An Imperial Affliction, the book that Hazel and Augustus loved, was real so I could read it. The author, Peter Van Houten, never wrote anything else and lived isolated from the world in Amsterdam. Because they knew so little about him, Hazel and Augustus romanticized him as the great thinker of our time. But things changed. Eventually Hazel referred to Van Houten as "an author we used to like".

The Fault in Our Stars followed Mr. Green's style of being both funny and philosophical, sometimes simultaneously. Hazel and Augusts were humorous in their nerdy, adorable ways, but deeper things lied beneath. One of the recurring themes was death. How everything is a side effect of dying. How thousands die every day, but few are recognized, and why are they the ones to be recognized? How Anne Frank was built a museum and went down in history for being killed in the Holocaust, but the four Aron Franks were not.
Another theme was being a hero. Augustus was obsessed with the idea of a traditional hero. But we were shown that not all of us are going to win wars or save the world. We can be heroes in smaller ways, in the ways Augustus was a hero.

I was not expecting the turn of events. I knew someone was going to die, but I was wrong about who it was. For a while, I even thought the book would end mid-sentence in the style of An Imperial Affliction. As for how it really did end, let's just say that if you care about Hazel or Augustus at all, you're in for emotional pain.

Everything you've heard about this book is true. The Fault in Our Stars is everything from heartbreaking to haunting.

★★★★½

Review: Speak

Title: Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Release Date: October 22, 1999
Publisher: Puffin
Cover Designer: Michael Morgenstern
Age Audience: YA

Genre: Contemporary

Tagline: The tough, tender, and darkly funny story of a teenage outcast.
Summary: Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth.

My Review:

I certainly have mixed feelings.
Based on what I’ve been hearing ever since I started reading YA, I’d come to expect something amazing and true and relatable from Speak.
However, this was not the case for me.

One of the things I liked was the writing. It was very simplistic, yet beautiful in an ordinary and everyday sort of way. Because there weren’t definite chapters in the book, it was almost like reading Melinda’s thoughts and feelings in their purest form.

I think that high school was portrayed stereotypically and unrealistically. Yes, it’s not a blast, but it isn’t exactly the worst thing that’s ever going to happen to you. I don’t find it believable that Merryweather High changed their mascot several times in one year. My school has had the same mascot for 30 years, and it will probably keep it for another 30 years.
Maybe this only applies to my school, but I don’t think “cliques” exist. There are divisions of sorts (the athletes, the people in band, the theatre kids, etc.), but not so strong that you don’t associate with people outside your group. Also, not every cheerleader is a ditzy blonde princess. I know that this book was published in 1999, but really?

Thanks to the lovely people on Goodreads who don’t put spoiler warnings in their reviews, I knew the reason for Melinda’s silence long before I read this book. I’ve never had something like that happen to me, so maybe I’m being insensitive, but I think that Melinda really should have told someone. It would have saved her so much pain and loneliness. This is another reason this book would be better for people other than me, because what happened to Melinda is not something I can relate to.

Overall, I don’t have any strong feelings of like or dislike. Speak is a good book, it really is. It just wasn’t for me.

★★½

Review: Looking for Alaska

This review is going to contain spoilers. I always try to write spoiler-free reviews, but this time I couldn't. The spoilers will be marked, but read at your own risk.

Title: Looking for Alaska

Author: John Green
Release Date: March 3, 2005
Publisher: Dutton
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA

Genre: Contemporary

Tagline: First friend. First girl. Last words.
Summary: Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

My Review:

Mr. John Green, once again you have impressed me.
Well, it's not really "again" because this was his debut, but it is for me because this is his second novel I've read.

Culver Creek was nothing like I expected, and I mean that in a good way. When I think of a boarding school, I usually picture a grand old mansion in the northeast with a regal history and vintage furniture in every room. Instead, Culver Creek was in Birmingham, Alabama, and everything about it was southern. It was a very unique take.

I felt that the "before" section of the book dragged a little. There were many scenes showing Miles hanging out with Alaska and the Colonel and getting to know them. I just wanted to get on with the story.
But when the story did move on, I wasn't ready for it at all.

*spoilers* I already knew that Alaska was going to die because the summary on the publication page mentioned a "fatal car accident", but when it did happen I was not prepared. I actually cried for the first twenty pages of the "after" section, because I could really feel Miles' pain and grief as he tried to adjust to life without Alaska. *spoilers*

There were a few parts of the book that weren't huge aspects, but I couldn't stop thinking about them. For example, Alaska's theory that imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. I never would have thought of it, but now I realize how true it is. And if that wasn't enough:

"If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."

That, ladies and gentlemen, is perfection. One of the best sentences I've ever read.

I also have something very important to point out. I've seen more than a few reviews on Goodreads stating "all of John Green's novels are basically the same story told over and over again". This is not true.
I have read Paper Towns, and it was uniquely different from Looking for Alaska. The plots of the two books contrasted, as did the characters. Yes, Miles and Quentin have some similar personality traits, but not enough to dub them "the same character". Alaska and Margo are like that as well: they have things in common, but are two different characters. I actually liked Alaska more than I liked Margo.

Even though there were one or two things I didn't like about this book, the things I did were so good that it's more than worthy of 4.5 stars. Looking for Alaska, you deserved every bit of your Printz Award.

★★★★½

Review: Invincible Summer

Title: Invincible Summer
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Release Date: April 19, 2011
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Cover Designer: Cara E. Petrus
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Tagline: Some girls are addictive.
Summary: Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?
Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart.

My Review:
The first thing I want to say is to NOT judge this book by its cover. It’s a great cover, but it doesn’t fit the book at all. The girl in a bikini lying on the beach gives the impression of a fluffy summer romance, which this book most definitely was not.

I heard about the Camus quoting before I started reading the book, and I thought it would bother me. But it didn’t. In fact, I really liked it, and now I’m curious to read more of Camus’ work. This could just be a personal view, but I didn’t think it was unusual for the teens to quote Camus in everyday speech at all. I saw it as no more abnormal than the way my family always quotes TV shows and movies.

The writing was so real and honest. There was a lot of heavy swearing, but I liked that! Teens swear in real life, so it would be short of the truth to not have them swear in fiction. I was so compelled that I was up until 3 a.m. reading this book. And unlike most of the time, I wasn’t reading because I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep because I was reading.

In the beginning, when you’re reading about a barbecue the McGills are having with their beach house neighbors, the Hathaways, everything about the scene and setting gives off such a happy and content feeling you know it’s going to become something you’ll look back on with nostalgia later in the book. The dialogue between Chase and his siblings made me laugh out loud at times because they sounded like conversations I would have with my siblings—though my family is nowhere near as dysfuctional as the McGill’s.

I really don’t know what more I can say about this book. Invincible Summer was not completely a happy story, but it was a realistic, beautiful and intense one that needed to be told.

★★★★½

Review: Where She Went

Title: Where She Went
Series: If I Stay, #2
Author: Gayle Forman
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Dutton
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Tagline: N/A
Summary: It's been three years since the devastating accident...three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.
Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard'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 Review:
I don’t know how Gayle Forman does it! She always comes up with such beautiful titles. “Where She Went”. Those three words sound like lyrics from a sad song, don’t they?

This book takes place three years after If I Stay. Like its predecessor, the actual book takes place over a very short time, a few days in this case, but there are many flashbacks. Except this time, we’re reading from Adam’s POV. I was happy to be reading about the characters that I came to love in If I Stay again (actually, one of them had changed so much that they weren't the character I knew and loved—but I'll get to that soon). When Adam first saw Mia again, I was so excited that it was almost like I was the one meeting my long-lost first love after three years apart!

However, I’m sorry to say that I didn’t like this book as much as the first one.
You see, one of the things I liked the most about If I Stay was that it wasn’t very emotional. But in Where She Went, Adam was no longer the sensitive, supporting boyfriend and all-around great guy that he was in If I Stay. He was an angsty, heart-broken rock star. Between his flashbacks of missing Mia and his accounts of how horrible life as a rock star is, there was so much emotional whining in this book. This is dislike is more of a personal thing than an actual problem with the book. I’m sure most people won’t mind that aspect, but I minded Adam’s melodrama very much.

I was very happy with the ending. At first Adam began saying things that made me worry, but it all turns out well in the end. I’m so glad that Mia and Adam’s suffering is over, and they can be happy now. I’m also glad that Mia helped Adam rediscover his love for music.

While I did like Where She Went, If I Stay was better. If you don’t mind lots of emotion and angst, you’ll probably like this book better than I did. But even if you do, you should still read this if you’ve read If I Stay and you want to see what happened next.

★★★

Review: Brother/Sister

This is the review of an uncorrected advance copy. Changes may be made in the final book.

Title: Brother/Sister
Author: Sean Olin
Release Date: June 9, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: Will and Asheley have a troubled past. Their father left them when they were little, and their mother has just been carted off to an alcohol treatment center. Now, they have the house to themselves, and an endless California summer stretching out before them. Through alternating perspectives, they tell the story of how and why their lives spun violently out of control—right up to the impossibly shocking conclusion you'll have to read for yourself to believe.

My Review:

For some reason, when an ARC of this book was handed to me by the people at the Penguin booth at TLA, the first word that came into my mind was “incest”. I mean, doesn’t the title “Brother/Sister” sound at least a little suggestive? And the tagline was “Just give them a chance to explain…” That sounds quite suggestive too. But I wouldn’t say this book was incest-themed.

No, it was not incest-themed, but Will and Asheley did have a very close relationship. Maybe a little too close. At first, Will just seemed misunderstood to me. He got angry easily and was very antisocial, not wanting to be around anyone except Asheley. Considering that he and Asheley had had pretty rough lives, I didn’t blame him. But then…he just goes insane. Seriously insane. All rational thinking gone, just “Oh, that person pissed me off. I’m going to kill them!”

The book is told in alternating points of view. From what it seemed, Will and Asheley were telling their story to the police. At first I had trouble distinguishing their voices, but they became unique to me later on. Will is full of paranoia while Asheley is more innocent and trusting. As the book progresses, they start explaining the same events differently, so you start to wonder which one of them is right.

The summary clearly states that the ending was shocking. At first, I thought “Wait, there was no ending!” because the book ended mid-sentence. But then I re-read the last page a times, and I understood. Even now I haven’t quite absorbed the conclusion, because it means that everything I was led to believe earlier in the book was wrong.

While I was very intrigued, I can’t say I liked this book. Brother/Sister was not my cup of tea, but I still would recommend it to those who can handle the rough stuff. Also, I think that this book would be excellent if adapted into a made-for-TV crime movie.

★★

Review: Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

Title: Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie
Author: Jordan Sonnenblick
Release Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Cover Designer: Marijka Kostiw
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: Thirteen-year-old Steven has a totally normal life: he plays drums in the All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the hottest girl in the school, and is constantly annoyed by his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey. But when Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven's world is turned upside down. He is forced to deal with his brother's illness and his parents' attempts to keep the family in one piece. Salted with humor and peppered with devastating realities, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie is a heartwarming journey through a year in the life of a family in crisis.

My Review:
I am not a fan of cancer-themed stories, especially fictional ones. I read this book for my book club, and probably would not have read it otherwise.

The characterization was not so great. Jeffrey was a little too sweet and well-behaved, especially for a kid so ill. Some of the things he said seemed unlikely to come from a five-year-old.
Steven…I’m not sure if I liked Steven or not. He pitied himself too much, and I wasn’t impressed by his sarcastic sense of humor. Yes, I love dry, witty humor. But I love dry, witty, intelligent humor even more. And his humor was anything but intelligent. Actually, there was a lot less humor in this book than I thought there would be, judging from the title.

After I started reading this book, I was surprised that “Dangerous Pie” was in the title. Dangerous Pie only makes one appearance in the book. In the first chapter. It’s never really mentioned again, and it’s not integral to the plot. But that’s just one way of looking at it. You could also say that Dangerous Pie in the title represents the hardships Steven went through because of Jeffery, rather than Dangerous Pie itself.

Jeffery’s cancer almost seemed staged. I’ve read cancer stories in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul that weren’t this melodramatic. And I don’t believe that “my brother has cancer” would be a good enough reason for Steven to miss months of homework with no consequence except makeup work if this were real life. Also, why did Steven start crying nearly every time he talked about the cancer? I know that it would be a traumatic experience, but I don’t believe that a real teenage boy would cry that much and that often.

The ending surprised me. For some reason, I expected Jeffrey to die at the end. I’m not going to give away spoilers, but it still wasn’t happily ever after (okay, maybe it was).

I give this book 3 stars instead of 2.5 because I actually enjoyed reading it, and it only took me a few hours. But I don’t think I’ll be reading similar books anytime soon. Between Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie and Where She Went, I’ve had my fill of emotional books for this year.
★★★

Review: The Last Little Blue Envelope

Title: The Last Little Blue Envelope (13 Little Blue Envelopes, #2)
Author: Maureen Johnson
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny's backpack—and the last little blue envelope inside—she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end. Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he's found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure—one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits...and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.

My Review:

Have you ever taken longer than usual to finish reading a book, not because you didn’t want to read it, but because you didn’t want it to end?
That was what happened to me with The Last Little Blue Envelope. Usually when a book that was intended to be a stand-alone has a sequel, I end up not liking it as much as the first book. But in this case, there was nothing to dislike!

I loved reading about more of Ginny’s adventures. She had matured, and her relationships with the other characters had developed as well. I liked Oliver very much, especially once I got to know him and found out about his past. The quirky humor that made 13 Little Blue Envelopes so fun was present in this book too, but there were also serious tones. Maybe it was because of that that I liked this book even more than its predecessor.

In my review of 13 Little Blue Envelopes, I said that it made me want to visit England. Well, this book made me want to move to England. Maureen Johnson’s vivid descriptions made it seem like such an amazing place.

Enjoyable, intricate and lively, The Last Little Blue Envelope is a must-read for fans of the first book. Because of the conclusive yet open ending, I think there’s no harm in hoping for a third book (please, Maureen?).
★★★★

Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes (13 Little Blue Envelopes, #1)
Author: Maureen Johnson
Release Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: HarperTeen
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

My Review:
First of all, I want to say that even if I didn’t like this book, I would still be aware of the fact that Maureen Johnson is an awesome, awesome person (if you don’t believe me, go follow her on Twitter).
Luckily, I really liked this book!
The concept was creative, and you can tell from the way this book was written that Maureen Johnson has had travel experience. Reading about Ginny’s adventures was fun, and relatable if you’ve ever done any traveling.

I also liked how Ginny never went anywhere too tourist-y. For example, when she was in London she didn’t even go to the Tower of London or any other landmarks. She went to the more everyday places of the countries she traveled to.

My only criticism of this book was that Ginny’s parents seemed to have disappeared. It’s hard to believe that they’d let her go to Europe alone without even keeping in touch (the instructions in Envelope #1 said not to bring electronics). And judging from what we’re told about Ginny’s mother, she wasn’t too fond of Aunt Peg’s schemes. So why would she let Ginny follow something of her doing?

Other than that, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was a great book. I loved all the characters, and can hardly wait to read The Last Little Blue Envelope!
(Oh, and this book made me want to go to England sooo much. Paris too. But mostly England.)
★★★½

Review: Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Release Date: October 16, 2008
Publisher: Dutton
Cover Designer: Christian Funfhausen
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary 
Summary: Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

My Review:

I discovered Paper Towns about a year ago, but I had no interest in reading it until I saw a fan-made trailer (which was very well-done) for it during a presentation at TLA 2011. I didn’t know what to expect (remember that I generally don’t like contemporary fiction), but I was absolutely blown away! It was so fascinating, I really couldn’t stop reading.

The characters were awesome. I loved being drawn into the world of Quentin, Ben and Radar, all of whom made me laugh several times throughout the book. I loved how they weren’t ashamed of their intelligence and general nerdiness. I’m not sure how I felt about Margo though. I think it was selfish of her to run away. Even though it wasn’t the first time…Quentin missed her so much! He even though for a while that she was dead! (See? Look how attached I am to him.)

But behind the witty dialogue and captivating writing, Paper Towns had a profound message. It teaches that you should see people as people, and not expect them to be anything but who they are.

“What a treacherous thing it is to believe a person is more than a person.”

Here are a couple more quotes that are worth sharing:

“It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.”

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”

The ending was bittersweet and a little bleak, but hopeful. I may or may not have gotten a little teary-eyed. Paper Towns was a compelling and meaningful book that both young adults and not-so-young adults should read.
★★★★½

Review: Imaginary Enemy

Title: Imaginary Enemy
Author: Julie Gonzalez
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Publisher: Laurel-Leaf Books
Cover Designer: Vikki Sheatsley (dinosaur designed by Julie Gonzalez)
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: Jane White has been writing to Bubba, her "imaginary enemy", since second grade, blaming him every time something in her life goes wrong. And now that she’s a teenager, Jane exudes an I-don’t-care attitude. But Jane does care. She cares about fitting in at school; she cares that Sharp deMichael and his brothers next door think of her as normal and start excluding her from their offbeat plans; and she definitely cares the day she receives a letter from Bubba. How can an imaginary enemy write back? Just as the time comes for Jane to face her lifelong foe, she must also decide whether or not to assume responsibility for her actions.

My Review:
★★★
Imaginary Enemy was the kind of light story perfect for after you've read something dark and heavy. Although many elements of the story were pretty generic, the concept of an imaginary enemy was unique and interesting.

The main character, Jane, was smart-alecky and a bit of a troublemaker, but despite her flaws (or maybe because of them), she was such a lovable character. I loved how she was an admitting slacker and took being called "normal" as an insult (reminded me of quite a few people I know). The book starts when Jane is in second grade and ends when she's in eleventh grade, so you get to see her grow up and the problems she write to Bubba about mature.

This was one of the most predictable books I have ever read, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. From the beginning of the book, you can predict that she will stop writing to her imaginary enemy, and you know who the person who writes back will turn out to be.

Overall, this was a fun and simple reading experience that you'll probably race through in two hours.

Review: If I Stay

Title: If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)
Author: Gayle Forman
Release Date: April 9, 2009
Publisher: Dutton
Cover Designer: Monica Benalcazar
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary  
Summary: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck. A sophisticated and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

My Review:
★★★★
This may sound unusual, but what drew me to this book was not the cover, but the title. If I Stay. It just sounded so…songlike. I guess you could say that I judged this book by its title. However, I was unsure when I found out it was realistic fiction. I usually steer clear of contemporary/realistic fiction because it tends to be too melodramatic and sappy for my liking. I don’t think I would have even gotten around to reading this if Gayle Forman wasn’t going to be at the TLA this year.

I read this book in three hours. But those three hours were unforgettable.

It’s difficult to tell what the book is about from reading the summary, so I’ll tell you that If I Stay was about Mia, the protagonist, deciding whether she should keep on living after a tragic car accident, or join her family in death. But this book wasn’t only about death. It was also about life, family and love, as you can see from Mia’s flashbacks throughout the novel.

Surprisingly (at least to me), this book wasn’t melodramatic at all. The characters and their situations were realistic and truthful. This book was touching as well. I mean, it wasn’t Between Mom and Jo-touching, but one of my eyes slightly leaked at the end.

I also loved the musical aspect. I’m not a huge fan of music-themed books, but I can’t imagine If I Stay without the music. It flourished and upheld the story, which made this short book even more engrossing.

Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to Where She Went.