If I Stay by: Gayle Forman

If I Stay (book 1)

Edition: E-book

Pages: 201

Published: April 2nd, 2009

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Purchase: Amazon | Bookdepository

Goodreads Synopsis: 
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.

My Thoughts:
I have been meaning to read this book for quite sometime now, and finally found the time to read it. Also after hearing so much hype for the movie that is coming out I decided that I want to be in the loop as well. Before reading this, I had no clue what this book was about. The only thing that I had heard was that this was such a heartbreaking story!
I have to say that I am not as in love with this book like most people are. The story is very unique, especially with the events that took place early on in the book, but after that hardly anything happened. With that type of beginning I excepted way more jaw dropping events to happen (which they did...Kind of) but I wasn't really impressed. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book enough to want to go on and read the second book, Where She Went, but this just isn't a favorite of mine since I feel that the majority of this book was filler.

Cons:
I literally only had one con while reading this book and that was the flipping back and forth from the present and the past. I found it to be confusing at times and boring. When the storyline picked up I found myself not caring to read the past events (I did read them though) because I just wanted to get on with the story.

Overall, I think this is an interesting read that everyone should at least try. Plus it's such a quick read that it will hardly take much of your time. As far as the movie is concerned, I will see it because I am curious as to how they are going to portray Mia since the majority of the book was a lot of "internal reflecting" on her life.

Favorite Quote: "Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you. Does that make any sense?"

Final Verdict: 3 Stars

The Gunslinger by: Stephen King

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower 1)

Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 231
Published: June 10th, 1982 (1st published)
Publisher: Plume

Purchase: Amazon | Bookdepository

Goodreads Synopsis: Book I

In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

My Thoughts:
The Gunslinger is the first installment in The Dark Tower series by: Stephen King.  This story follows Roland a gunslinger (the last one actually) who is on a journey to find "the man in black". While on this journey Roland runs into a few people, including a child name Jake who accompanies Roland for a good portion of his journey until he meets his fate, so to speak. While reading this book you also get a glimpse of Roland's childhood and the world that he lived in, which is much different from the world that Jake once lived in.

What I gathered from this is that this is a post-apocalyptic book with hints of magic in it, and every character has experienced very different lives but can't seem to remember much from their past lives due to something "the dark man" has done. This book was quiet hard for me to follow compared to another Stephen King book that I had read. Events kind of skipped around and certain things were implyed but never really explained so I found myself struggling to understand certain portions of this book. Also some of the lingo that was used was older so that could be a reason as to why I was confused while reading this book.

Overall, I thought this was an ok book, I might feel differently if I re-read this sometime down the road. I will be continuing on with this series though because I have heard that some of Stephen Kings books connect back to the Dark Tower series. My favorite character is Jake hands down!!

Final Verdict: 3 Stars

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Virgin Suicides by: Jeffrey Eugenides

Pages: 249

Edition: Paperback

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published: November 1st, 2005

Purchase: Amazon | Bookdepository

Goodreads Synopsis: The haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters, The Virgin Suicides, now a major film, is Jeffrey Eugenides' classic debut novel.

The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.
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My Review: I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time now, especially since so many people were talking about how good this book was.  I also heard great things about this authors other books (The Marriage Plot and Middlesex) and decided that this should be a good starting point to see what the hype was about.
I am going to start of by saying that this book is very mind boggling.  In no way shape or form is this a light read due to the fact that it is about suicides.  Now, i can say that I wasn't prepared for the content in this book.  The story was very good to the point that I could physically imagine how the Lisbon sister's lived.  It made me feel completely sad for them, for having to live in the circumstances that they did (the overprotecting mother, strict rules, promiscuity, the terrible living conditions, etc.). 
This book is solely about five sisters who commits suicide told by a few neighborhood boys who were completely obsessed with these sisters, and to this day they can't forget the Lisbon girls.  It goes into detail not only of how each sister committed these suicides, but also you get a glimpse of why.  There were quite a few things that I really did enjoy about this book.  For instance I liked how the author captured each sister and made them completely different from the other.  I also liked how he went in depth with how the suicides had occurred, which is something that most books shy away from.

Cons: One of the biggest cons that I have for this book is how i felt that most of the book was just filler.  The first suicide had occurred during the first few pages and it wasn't until the end that I found out what had happen to the other 4 sisters.  I also didn't understand why the neighborhood boys was so obsessed with the girls, even decades after they had died.  It just seemed over the top to me.  Lastly, I would have liked to see a bit more of what the girls were going through so I could get a better idea as to why they would have wanted to kill themselves.  I just didn't think that it was talked about enough for me to have closure at the end of this book.

Although, I had a few qualms with this book I do think that it is really good and very different from anything that I have ever read before.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who can handle dark subjects.  And I do believe that I will reread this book sometime after I recover from this book hangover I currently have!

Final Verdict: 3 Stars

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by: John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

By: John Green & David Levithan

Edition: Paperback

Pages: 310

Published: April 5th, 2011

Publisher: Speak

Purchase: Amazon |  Book Depository

Goodreads Synopsis: One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers cross paths. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, culminating in heroic turns-of-heart and the most epic musical ever to grace the high school stage.

My Review:

To be honest, I have had this book on my bookshelf for about a year and had just decided to take the plunge and read it, especially since it received a lot of good reviews on goodreads.  I guess the reason for me waiting so long to read this book is because the description did not really provide much detail as to what the book was actually about.  This resulted in pushing this book further down my TBR list. In the end, I feel like the short description is a good thing since this book is packed with a lot of awesomeness that you wouldn't have even imagined.

After completing the book, I felt that it was an ok read.  What I mean by this is that there was not a lot of "sit on the edge of your seat" action, but it was a good book to  take your mind off of the heavier genres (i.e. dystopian) for a bit.  I felt myself trying to figure out which author wrote which Will Grayson and it soon becomes clear, especially if you are familiar with John Green's writing.  Shockingly, I did not like one Will Grayson better than the other Will Grayson.  They both had annoying moments and then some really cute moments as well.

I loved how Will Grayson (the original Will Grayson) developed throughout the book.  He started off just trying to be under the radar and not getting too emotionally involved , to knowing that it is ok to show your feelings and show your appreciation to the ones that you really care about.  The other Will Grayson (the extremely depressed one) annoyed me at the very beginning because everything he felt or said was coming from a dark and angry place.  But that was ok because once I got a better feel for his character I began to understand that he is not a bad person at all, he just shows his emotions a little differently.

There was one section of the book that made me feel really bad for the depressed Will Grayson pertaining to his friend Maura.  I wont go into that, so I don't spoil the book but I just could not believe she would do something so low like that.  No one deserves to have gone through the things the depressed Will Grayson had to go through.  I did not feel bad for the loss of friendship that Maura experienced because I felt that she should have a dose of her own medicine, but at the same time it is good to forgive and move forward from certain situations and that is what the depressed Will Grayson learned by the end of this book.

Tiny was a character that kind of annoyed me but I'm sure we all have met someone like him.  I feel like he took his friend for granted at times and was definitely out there as far as relationships go but he became really likable at the end (I can only imagine what his character looks like in real life LOL). I do have to admit, the musical turned out better than I had imagined it sounded FANTASTIC, especially the character Phil Wrayson. I was LOL'ing the entire time, it was incredibly hilarious.

I do think this is a good book if you want an easy read that you can just enjoy the characters personality and to read in between books with a more complex atmosphere.

Cons: The cons that I have with this book is that I wish their was more dialogue between the two Will Grayson's because after all it is called Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  I just felt that they did not interact much through this entire book and that truly disappointed me.  The last thing that I did not like was the connection between Gideon and the depressed Will Grayson.  Don't get me wrong, I loved both of them together but they just didn't end up they way I had imagined especially since it seemed like they had such a connection with each other.  I just wished that something more could have developed.
Final Verdict: 3 Stars