I decided to read If I Stay after hearing loads of good things about it on Instagram and Tumblr, and believe me, they weren't wrong. When I first started reading it I thought it was just going to be your average YA novel, but it was so much more than that.

It starts off with 17 year old, cellist-virtuoso Mia coming down to breakfast with her family – her rocker dad, her punk mum and her utterly loveable younger brother, Teddy. Its a snow day so the family decide to take a drive, call in on some friends, perhaps get some lunch, maybe even stop off at Mia's favourite second-hand book store. Except it's on this drive that The Accident happens…

Trapped in a coma, Mia watches everyone come and visit her, including her boyfriend, Adam. She spends the time locked between life and death, unsure what she should do: stay and live without her family, or go and leave everyone who she loves the most…

This book is gut-wrenchingly sad yet heart-warmingly happy at the same time. There are parts where I was practically bawling my eyes out, and then others where it made me laugh out loud. The ending was the biggest cliffhanger I think I have ever read and I immediately went and bought the sequel (Where She Went by Gayle Forman) to know what happens next. All the characters are incredibly written and the story line is gripping and emotion-inducing – both good and bad.

If you enjoyed reading The Fault in our Stars, The Perks of being a Wallflower and other books like these I think you would really enjoy this book, just like I did!

• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.

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