The novel If I Stay is based on the story of Mia, a 17-year-old girl and the aftermath she has to go through after her family gets into a car accident. Author Gayle Forman does a great job of getting his audience intrigued throughout the story by being specific and realistic with the sounds, smells and vocabulary that the characters use. He provides a highly distinct sequence of events of the cruel 24 hours Mia goes through. Forman also describes how she has a big decision to make.
Mia is a young talented cellist that falls in love with a boy named Adam. After her accident she has an out of body experience where she witnesses everything in the present. After her parents die that day Mia has a life changing decision to make. She can stay with her grandparents or start her life over. It has a great moral and theme because you can reflect about it.
While Mia is in a coma she has flashbacks of the best moments she had with her friends and family. This young adult novel does a substantial job of making the readers think of how they have to  cherish the time they have with their family. It makes the readers realize how much they have to treasure the lives they are living and how lucky they are to have certain people in their lives .
I would recommend this book to young adults because it is heartwarming and nail biting. I enjoyed reading the book because Forman does a great job of mixing genres into one book. You will not want to stop reading it once you are hooked.  This is one of the best books I have read so far.