Mundie Moms

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev

We are very excited for this new cover that Lisa Mantchev just posted. It's the sequel to last year's Eyes Like Stars. We're just dying to read the book!! It's on our list of books to read this year when it's released May 25th, 2010!!

Tell me that's not an amazing cover!?!? It's beautiful and definitely one of those covers that grabs your attention and sucks you in. You can read more about the cover and read a little teaser on Lisa's site.

Review - If I Stay by Gayle Forman


Published - April 9th 2009 by Dutton Juvenile
Hardcover, 199 pages
Rating - 5 out of 5 Stars

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

Mia is seventeen years old and is a Cello player extraordinaire, and has the most amazing family anyone could wish for. She lives with her funny quirky ex-punk rocker dad and feisty feminine mum, and her adorable if slightly hyper younger brother Teddy. When school is cancelled due to the snow, her mum decides to call in work and get the day off so they can spend the day together. On the drive to visit her grandparents, their car skids on the slick road, right into the path of truck. Suddenly, Mia is stood next to the road, looking on at the car wreck in front of her.

Throughout the book we follow Mia’s journey from the morning of the accident to the events that unfold over the next 24 hours. The storyline flows from present tense; Mia in the hospital, watching her family and friends struggle with the turn of events, to her significant memories of the past. Memories of her and her family, of her friends and her loving boyfriend Adam are predominant, memories of their love of music and the happiness and even sadness it can bring.

I would like to firstly apologise, I know that my review will never give this book the justice that it deserves, but I’m sure going to try. I have read only two books in my life that have really affected the way I view my life and the people in it. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is one and If I Stay is the other. This is a story of love and of friendship and of how even when you know things will never be the same, you carry on regardless, because dying is the easy part, its living that is much harder. The way Gayle wrote this story is truly breathtaking and I am in awe of how she wove this story into something so heart breakingly sad but also so uplifting and life affirming.

Mia is easily relatable; she deals with a lot of emotional conflict from her family and Adam, and learns over time how to deal with these struggles and insecurities. The relationship between her and her family was strong and well developed, and so easy to fall into that when she saw them on the road broken, a part of me broke too. They were not perfect by any means, but the moments of happiness they shared together were saturated with love and understanding. Each and every character in the book had the chance to shine in their own personal defining moments. This book is an absolutely stunning novel and broke me in a way only exceptional books can.

This book is so thought provoking and I constantly asked myself throughout the book; Would I stay?? My family arrangement is quite like Mia’s, we both have younger siblings around the same age, so maybe that’s why my favourite character was Teddy. The adorable yet still annoying younger brother, reminded me so much of my own sister, so the hardest part for me was following his story. The thought of living in a world where my own family on longer existed is more than unbearable, but like Mia’s family, would they be upset if I give up, surrendered. To be honest, I am not sure what I would do. What about you? Would you stay?

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