What do you think?!

I can't even.....there simply are no words.....

I am curious about what you all think about Will's decision? And Lou's attempt to "save him".....

I knew going into this book that I was going to cry at the end, but I was so not prepared for the powerful effect it had on me. Wow. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes is an adult novel with the power and FEELS of wonderful books like If I Stay and The Lovely Bones--for me. The controversy, the questions Moyes raises make this an incredible thought-provoking novel that I want to talk to others about to hear what they think!!! 

I respect Lou and her attempt to "save" Will. I see so much of myself in her, especially in the fact that I would so very much love to have a pair of yellow and black, bumble bee tights, as well as in the fact that I want everyone around me to be happy and to see life as valuable and worth living.

At the same time, I don't know that I think Will is so very wrong to want to do what he wants to do. I can't even imagine what life must be like confined to a wheelchair, to have to have someone even reposition my legs for me, not to be able to roll over or readjust myself at will, or even to scratch and itch by myself--not to mention having to be spoon-fed every single thing I eat and wearing a catheter 24/7--even if/when I go out in public. And the sicknesses Will has to deal with on a constant basis as a direct result of his injury and/or the fact that he isn't able to move around.....My heart aches for what people in Will's situation have to live with.

I can't help wondering....if I was in Will's shoes, would I feel as he does--that life simply isn't worth living if I can't live it as I did BEFORE.......

How about you???? What do you think?!

And yes, I started reading Me Before You immediately after seeing the new movie trailer. In fact, the movie trailer hadn't even finished playing before it was downloading to my Kindle app on my phone!!!! I am very excited for the movie to come out. It looks like it's actually going to do justice to the book. I read that Moyes helped write the screenplay, so I expect that will make a huge difference in taking this amazing book to the big screen.

The Terrible-Awful-Wonderful Book

Nicholas Sparks, I have a love/hate relationship with your books.  I hate so much the body-shaking, soul-deep, heart-wrenching sobs that wrack my body when I read your books.  I hate crying like that.  A few tears trickling down my cheek is one thing, but to SOB like that....man, there are only so many tissues in this world to hold not only my tears, but my snot.  UGH!

Yet, your stories are sweet, gentle, loving and remind me that even when things are at their worst, LOVE is still important in our every day lives.  We all want (dream of having or hope to have one day) the kind of love that you write about in your books, and THE CHOICE is no different.

I love the story of Travis and Gabby.  I see how it parallels the love story in THE NOTEBOOK, but yet it is still completely its own beautiful, wonderful, terrible, awful love story.  I also see a little bit of Gayle Forman's IF I STAY; ok, a lot of it.  Of course, THE CHOICE is told through the point of view of the male while IF I STAY is told through the point of view of the female who is actually in the coma, the fact remains that both stories deal with the power of love in the midst of horrific tragedies that result in the females being in a coma.

Beautiful.  Wonderful.  Terrible.  Awful.  Horrible.  Powerful.  Worth reading.  And, yes, I read the whole thing in one day, of course.  Thanks, Victoria Fullbright, for recommending this terrible-awful-wonderful book!!!!

Sometimes it really does take Just One Day

Wow.  Wow.  Really.  Wow.  It's a basic story.  Boy and girl meet.  It's exciting.  It's quick.  It's not something either normally does.  It's whirlwind.  It's wonderful.  It's over.  Then the pain.  The heartache.  The living in a fog.  Then LIFE begins because of a CHOICE.  And then the story REALLY begins.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

Gayle Forman, I want to meet you and not only shake your hand, but hug you like you're my best friend and just listen to you talk.  The way you tell a story.....Wow.  This is now the third book I've read by you in less than a week and I will be reading (and finishing, I'm sure) JUST ONE YEAR within the next 24 hours.  You have taken what, on the surface, is nothing more than a "simplistic" and romantic love story and turned it into something POWERFUL and amazing that has rocked me to my core.  I feel--honestly--as if I've never REALLY READ anything until I've ready your books (except for HARRY POTTER, of course).

I have all three of Forman's books (IF I STAY; WHERE SHE WENT; and now JUST ONE DAY) on my Nook and I will read the next two (JUST ONE YEAR and JUST ONE NIGHT) on my Nook as well, but I want each of these books as BOOKS.  Books to hold in hands and touch and feel the power of them in the palms of my hands...to hold them close to my heart, physically.....to be able to open to any page and just start reading at any time....to see the written words on the pages....

I have always dreamed of being someone who goes on adventures such as Allyson does in JUST ONE DAY, but I never have.  I always find excuses for staying home and not going anywhere.  When I was young and in college, I always tore off the information on the posters about studying abroad, especially studying in England.  But that's all I ever did with the information.  The slips of paper got lost in my books where I'd used them as bookmarks or fell down into the bottom of my bookbag where they simply became scraps of paper to throw away at the end of a semester.

Then I met a boy, decided he was more important than going on any adventures, and that was that.

Do I regret getting married instead of doing something that is still on my bucket list?  In some ways I do.  I'm older now.  I'm in TERRIBLE shape.  I can barely walk from my car into my office without being out of breath and wheezing.  My back gives me enough trouble that not only do I see a chiropractor every three weeks, I'm also seeing a massage therapist every two weeks.  My health hasn't been good at all since I hit 30, but other than being overweight and my back, I'm in better health now in my early forties than I was throughout the decade of my thirties.  But now I'm married.  I have a son who is 13 and still seems to need me--and sometimes even WANT to spend time with me.  I have a GREAT job that I honestly and truly love.  I already don't see my biological family (Mom, Dad, brother, sister, niece, nephews, etc.) as often as I would like because I'm so busy all the time.

And don't even get me started on the money issue....

I lived vicariously through Allyson as I read her story and I remembered my dream of going overseas--to England, in particular, and I wish I had had the courage Allyson had.  That just once, I'd allowed myself to take that first step towards the unknown and just follow my instincts--my heart.

I don't wish for things to be different.  I simply wish that I would quit making excuses--even now--and follow through with my dreams and just DO them.  It's time to write and publish that book that's been inside of me waiting to be shared.  It's time to take that trip to England--and maybe even take my son with me.  It's time to DO and quit making excuses and quit living in that fog that I've wrapped around myself because it's SAFE.

We never know where life is going to take us until we take the first step towards LIVING.....(I read that somewhere; if I find out where, I'll add the source information.)

Again, this is a MUST-READ.  Thank you, Gayle Forman, for sharing your stories.  Thank you.

She--and He--went to Hell

Gayle Forman knows how to SHOW a story.  I'm always telling my students the importance of SHOWING not TELLING a story--really making their audience FEEL what is happening on the page.  Forman has caught that.  Wow.  What makes WHERE SHE WENT even more powerful and wonderful is the fact that it is told from the point of view of Adam whereas IF I STAY is told from Mia's point of view.  I don't remember ever reading books in a series where one book is told from one POV and the next book in the series is told from the POV of another character in the story--albeit a major, important character, but seeing the story through the eyes of that other character....WOW.

Jodi Picoult has a wonderful way of weaving the POVs of several characters within her books and she does it VERY WELL.  So well that for the past ten years, I have pre-purchased every new book of hers which means that I have at least ten years' worth of hard-back books for Picoult.  And I don't regret a single hard-back purchase.  Of course I will continue to do that with her books.

Stephenie Meyer attempted to begin to rewrite the TWILIGHT series through the eyes of Edward in MIDNIGHT SUN--a wonderful foil for having read their story through Bella's eyes, but because the manuscript was leaked during the drafting process, Meyer chose to quit working on the project--much to the dismay of her fans.  As far as I know, she'd be the only author to write the same story from the POV of a different character in the story--and it sell just as well as if not better than the original!  Finish MIDNIGHT SUN, Stephenie!  Please....?!

Adam's story of what has happened after Mia decides to stay is REAL.  Having suffered horrific tragedies within my own life, I GET Adam's fall into hell, but I also GET Mia's rejection.  There is no right or wrong when it comes to Grief.  It is what it is:  powerful; overwhelming; all-consuming; destructive; restorative; devastating; soul-wrenching; and it is NEVER exactly the same from one person to the next.

I can't even begin to imagine exactly what Mia and Adam each go through during this horrific time in their lives, but I do understand the all-consuming grief and how neither one knows how to handle it--what to do with it.

WHERE SHE WENT is a powerful, wonderful, sad, amazing story that is WELL WORTH YOUR TIME TO READ.  Forman is a true storyteller and I, for one, am thankful that she is sharing her stories with me.

Should I Stay or Should I Go....Choice

If I could, I would give Gayle Forman's book IF I STAY more than 5 little measly stars--so many more.  I stayed up late to read this book (it's 2:00 am) because I just couldn't put it down.  And I can't stop sobbing.  Mia's story is heart-rending, heart-touching, wonderful, terrible, amazing, awful, fantastic, horrific, and just plain and simply WELL WORTH READING.  Forman truly has captured this horrific story in all it's glory and gory detail in a manner that isn't off-putting--it draws the reader in and makes the reader CARE as well as understand Mia's choice and why her choice is truly a difficult one.

I could compare IF I STAY to Jodi Picoult's SING YOU HOME in that both stories show the wonder of music in our lives.

I could compare the love story in IF I STAY to John Green's love story in THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.

I could compare it to Alice Sebold's THE LOVELY BONES.  If I share the why, I might give away a part of the story that you need to read for yourself, so I won't say any more than that....for now.

I would NOT, as the cover of the book does, compare IF I STAY to the TWILIGHT saga.  Fans of TWILIGHT might enjoy this book, but the statement that is on the cover referring so specifically to fans of TWILIGHT infers that there are vampires in the story.  Clarification:  there are NO vampires in this story.  I guess maybe the quote on the cover is referring more to the comparison of the love story between Adam and Mia and Edward and Bella, but other than the fact that both couples fall in love HARD, I don't see any more to compare the two stories.

I wish I had had a soundtrack of the songs mentioned in the book to listen to as I read the book.  Apparently, though I found this out AFTER I finished reading the book, we can download the song playlist if we want from Forman's website: Playlist for IF I STAY

As I've finished the book and started to search for an image of the book to use in my blog, I have also learned that the book is being made into a movie that, according to IMDb, will be released in August of 2014.  Here's a link for the trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2agNeovUjr0

I can't say enough wonderful things about IF I STAY.  I want to talk to someone who has read it so we can cry together and share the powerful emotions that this book invokes.  I can't wait to read everything else written by Forman.