This book is an edgy, heartbreaking and gripping story.

      Seventeen-year-old Mia narrates the story. She explains in utter detail every memory of her life and family. Mia is surrounded by a peculiar but wonderful family, several friends and a beautiful boyfriend. Mia has everything a teenage girl would ever want. One February morning Mia and her family are driving on a snowy road. In a blink of an eye Mia’s life is changed forever. Will she decide to stay or go?

      This book would interest girls from ages 12-17 who are interested in novels that have a heart ache storyline or novels about teenage girls who have to make choices that could alter the whole story. This book would not suite teenage boys due to the feminine side of the story.     

     I would rate this book a four out of five due to the personality that the characters had and how Mia dealt with tough choices she had to make. This book can help change your perspective on the decisions you make.

      Olivia, Year 9

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     “What would you do if you had to choose?”

     To choose whether to live or die? How would it affect your friends and family? How would it affect you? Would you regret the decision? These are only some of the questions running through Mia’s head, but now she must face the harsh reality and make the heart-wrenching decision to live or die.

     The life of 17-year old Mia changes in the blink of an eye. Mia loves to spend time with her family and boyfriend Adam. Her family shares a passion for music. Mia takes a special interest in the cello from a very young age and has been playing it ever since. She is working hard for her acceptance into Julliard School.

     It was a cold February morning like no other in Mia’s hometown, Oregon. A thin blanket of white snow covered the ground outside Mia’s house forcing her school to be cancelled for the day. So the family decided to visit a family friend’s house for the day and their grandparents for dinner. Before they know it whilst driving and listening to their favourite song their car was spinning out of control along the slippery snowy road and collided into a tree, leaving Mia’s Mother and father dead at the scene and Teddy, her brother injured. Mia is rushed to the hospital and into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) with a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, internal bleeding and damage to the brain. Mia is aware of the extensive damage to her body and must now choose whether she would like to stay and live or die.

I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommended it to both male and female teens and adults from the age of at least fourteen years due to the mild coarse language found throughout.  “If I stay” is a heart-achingly painful, sophisticated and gripping book. I would rate it a 9/10 with very high recommendation.

-Rielly B Year 9