Why I Picked itIf I Stay is one of the first books I put onto my Goodreads Want To Read shelf last year when I made my account. A couple weeks ago, I decided to participate in the Reading Rush, and one of the challenges was to read a book from last year's TBR. When I saw that If I Stay was available as an audiobook via Libby, I decided it would be a good, short read to get me through another book for the readathon! SummaryMia and her family are struck by a terrible accident. The whole family experiences large losses, and Mia can't do anything about it. Why? She's having an out-of-body experience and gets a rare chance to see the innerworkings of the lives of those that surround her. Ultimately, she gets to decide to stay or go. what i likedOh my goodness, throwback to the first book I ever wanted to write. I had an EXTREMELY similar idea for a book. I wanted my main character to get into an accident that puts her in a coma so that she can realize how important her life is to her loved ones and those around her. Mia and my character sound like the same person! Mia as a character worked really well for me. I liked the music-nerd character who fell in love with the more outgoing rock-star boyfriend. It reminds me a little bit of me and my husband, just not to the same extremes. I'm just a major introvert and he can be friends with everyone. I also really liked the age difference between Mia and her little brother. It added an interesting dynamic and level to the story. Mia got to help raise her brother, and that means a lot to her. I like the timeline of the book, because I think it all happens in about 24 hours (plus flashbacks). This adds another cool layer. All of the action that happens occurs within a few short hours. That can be difficult to write, so I’m impressed. Overall, the book brings a lot of thought: what would your reaction be if you were the one in Mia's situation? Would you want to stay with the loved ones on earth or leave and join other loved ones that have already left you? Since I listened to the audiobook version, I also want to tell you how much I LOVED the narrator! She did such a great job differentiating voices and really adding emotion and meaning into her vocal acting. What I didn't likeSome parts of the book were pretty ridiculous and far-fetched. Like the boyfriend trying to get past ER nurses to see Mia. I'm pretty sure her actual family could have helped him get in, but instead they had to go to extreme lengths to irritate the nurses and try and distract them. I don't know. I just don't get it. Another thing I wasn't a fan of was that I'm pretty sure the story was sent in pretty current day, but Mia's boyfriend goes to great lengths to get a crappy recording of one of her favorite musicians for her. If it was really current, that wouldn't really be the case. I don't know. Maybe my interpretation was wrong. Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟Overall I liked this book. I don't know if I'd read it again, but I did think it was a good read. It made me think and try to figure out what I'd do in Mia's situation.
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Why I picked itI picked up Scythe last month because I had heard so many things about this book on Bookstagram and Booktube, and it sounded intriguing! I wasn't sure what I was going to think about when I dove into this kind of dystopian world, but I decided to try it out to see if it was worth the hype! summaryCitra and Rowan live in a world with no disease, sickness, or natural death at all. People can be brought back from being deadish. People jump off of buildings and "splat" for the adrenaline rush and can be back at their jobs or school within a couple of days. People can reset their age when their body starts getting too old. There is no illness, so people don't get sick and die. The population continues to grow, and with no natural death, there is an organization that gleans lives so that the population can be curved to an extent. The Scythes are tasked with choosing and gleaning lives. Citra and Rowan end up being chosen by a Scythe to be trained up. Soon they learn that it's a harder job than they ever imagined. what i likedLike I said in the first section, I wasn't sure what to think about this post-apocalyptic world idea, but I actually really liked it. In my opinion, Shusterman thought this world through well and did a good job in building it. It has its own ecosystem and culture, and I think that it is very cool. Not only that, but he has thought about cultures within this new world and how that would differ. It's a really interesting concept that I never would have thought of before. Shusterman made the world very intricate with specific laws and rules that were thorough and didn't leave much room for holes. Within the scythe community he's even created two orders: the new and the old. Both do things differently, and there's a conflict that keeps tension in the storyline. I also really liked the random plot twists throughout the book, not just all at the end. Sometimes, books get boring to me because they are just too predictable. This book kept me on my toes the whole time. I was anxious to keep going and learn what was going to happen next. what i didn't likeThe romance that happens is just too dang fast. Forbidden love, blah blah blah, etc etc. At first, it looked like Citra and Rowan would just be good friends, or even friendly competitors. But then all of a sudden, they're thinking about the feelings they have for one another. It was just so fast, and there was no good reason for it. It just happened. I know that sometimes love is like that, but there's normally some sort of turning point, especially the way these two started out. Overall Impression 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟I loved this book. A few minor details weren't my favorite, but I can deal with those. The intricate storytelling overarches throughout and really overcomes any of the minor issues I had.
This is a new concept that is fun and suspenseful to read. I encourage anyone who likes reading about the battle of "right" and "wrong" or post-apocalyptic worlds to read this book! |
AuthorJust sharing my passion of reading through my passion of writing. Archives
May 2020
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