Let's imagine for one moment that the people in the books are real. That they could walk out the pages one day and into your life. That they have good sides and bad sides, but they're still the same people you connected to between the covers of a small novel. If that was the case, could I please, please have ADAM?

It shocks me to say this, but I didn't cry while reading If I Stay. I expected to, I had a roll of tissue paper all ready to be swamped in my emotional tears, but somehow, I just didn't feel it. I liked the book, I liked the characters, but they didn't have emotional depth to pull me out of myself and into their lives. Except, of course, Adam. How can you NOT like a guy who lines his girlfriend's window with flowers every day while she had the chicken pox? In fact, that was the only part of the story where I found myself feeling a little misty.

Some part of my disconnect came from the length of the book. I'm not saying I expected long, angsty internal debates, but this book was so short! I feel like I never got a good grip on any of the characters seminal to Mia's decision, not her grandparents, or Kim, or even Adam. I found myself objectively and clinically understanding the idea behind the narrative style. The fact that all those little snippets into Mia's life were all the more heart-breaking because those warm, likeable people who were the centre of her life were dead. But on a deeper level, I couldn't connect. I didn't have enough of a glimpse of Mia's turmoil, of the reason she wanted to go, and the reason she chose to stay. Everything felt like it just zipped past me, her brother's death, her internal struggles over the choice she had to make, her binding love for Adam that finally dictated her decision.

I actually decided to read If I Stay because of this review. The words were just so pretty, and Adam sounded so awesome, so I figured it was time I jumped on the Forman bandwagon. And I'm going to stay on it, not because If I Stay was so awesome, but because I'm really looking forward to hearing Adam's side of the story in Where She Went. Otherwise, this was only a 3 and 1/2 star read for me.