Book to Movie Review & Giveaway | @IfIStay by @gayleforman - #LiveforLove

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. 


If I Stay e-book | Paperback | Audio book


""Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined.""

If I Stay DVD/Blu Ray | Prime Rent

• Actors: Chloe Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley
• Directors: R.J. Cutler
• Writers: Gayle Forman, Shauna Cross
• Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2014
• Run Time: 106 minutes

"I realize now that dying is easy, living is the hard part." 

Mia Hall is young and talented, she has her entire life ahead of her, the love of her family and her boyfriend Adam. In a split second, everything changes. Stuck in limbo, Mia has to decide if she is willing to live and face her life without her family. Or if she goes with them.

I don't think I have ever read another book before or since If I Stay where the Author kills half the characters on the first page. Also, I've never read a book before where the main plot of the story is given to you before you open the book. Once you read the book you realize, though the accident is the catalyst, it's not the point of the story.

I was completely engrossed in this story from the first page, in tears within five minutes, and proceeded to lock my bedroom door and read the entire book in two hours. I then got in my car and went back to the store to get the second book, Where She Went.

The book starts at the end, during the car accident that demolishes Mia Hall's life. For the next 300 pages the reader is taken on a journey with Mia, stuck in the grey area between life and death, as she watches each member of her close knit family succumb to death. At the same time though, Mia is watching as her friends and family rally for them in the waiting room, praying for her to recover.

One of the most gut wrenching scenes in the book, and in the movie, for me at least, was when Mia's grandfather sat by her hospital bed and told her he wanted her to stay, he wanted her to live. But he understood that if she couldn't stay without her parents and her little brother Teddy, it was okay. Oh my god, I still ball like a baby.

So, for the movie, I think they cast every person perfectly. It was nice to see this book I have loved and read multiple times coming to life on the big screen. There were aspects to the movie that I wasn't sure would translate well from the book. How would Mia be there but be a spirit of sorts? Would Adam the actor be able to sing and play the guitar like Adam in the book? Would the actor playing Grandad be able to make me weep, make me believe him when he sat vigil by Mia's bed?

Chloe Grace Moretz played Mia and she was absolutely brilliant. The shy, awkward chello player that was dumbfounded when the hottest guy in school asked her out on a date. Jamie Blackly played Adam, the cool rocker dude that was completely enamored with Mia. He was drawn to her simplistic beauty, the way she was completely free when she played, her almost naive outlook on life. The movie starts with the accident and then goes back and forth between the present, the hospital, and the year leading up to the accident as Mia and Adam date, fall in love and make plans for a future together. A future that is now uncertain. The chemistry between the two actors was amazing, they truly captured the likeness of the characters from the story and brought Mia and Adam to life in a way that was so much more than I expected.

This is a very dark and emotional book, as is the movie, but there is a lot of happiness and joy in there as well. Like the tagline for the book says, "I realize now that dying is easy, living is the hard part." Life is not always what you want it to be, Life is what you make it. You have to make hard choices and sometimes fate or unhappy circumstance makes those choices for you. If I Stay takes you on a journey with Mia as she decides whether or not she is willing to make the hard choice to live.

5 star read, 10 star movie, one of the best books I've ever read to spite the sometimes teenage turmoil and angst. I still cannot watch the movie and not cry when her grandad, played by Stacy Keech, talks to her in the hospital.

Over a year later, I'm still holding onto hope that they make the second book into a movie as well. Where She Went is told from Adams POV and takes place several years after the events in If I Stay. It shows where the couple are in their lives, which isn't the happiest place, though it's not nearly as heave as where they were the year before. It shows the lasting effects loosing her family had on Mia, how she learned to cope and live as a survivor. I highly recommend it as well, especially if you really want to see what happens after Mia decides to stay.

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimedIf I Stay

Picking up several years after the dramatic conclusion of If I Stay, Where She Went continues the story of Adam and Mia, from Adam's point of view. Ever since Mia's decision to stay - but not with him - Adam's career has been on a wonderful trajectory. His album, borne from the anguish and pain of their breakup, has made him a bona fide star. And Mia herself has become a top-rate cellist, playing in some of the finest venues in the world. When their respective paths put them both in New York City at the same time, the result is a single night in which the two reunite - with wholly satisfying results.

Where She Went e-book | paperback | Audio book

Up for grabs are 3 prize packs:

1 ~ Paperback copy of the movie cover book, movie poster, set of temporary tattoos with the movie logo "Live for Love"  (US only)

2 ~ Movie poster and a set of temporary tattoos with the movie logo "Live for Love" (US only)

3 ~ Winner's choice, an e-book copy of If I Stay or Where She Went OR an audio book copy of If I Stay or Where She Went (International)

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Good luck everyone and thank you for stopping by! #LiveforLove