My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Seventeen-year-old Mia loves her life. She lives for her cello, her friends and her family. She might even have a shot at Juilliard. Sure, her life's not perfect, but whose is? Today was supposed to be perfect. It was a snow day; school was cancelled. She'd go and hang out with some family friends for a while, and then go to see her boyfriend's band play in Portland.
And then there's the crash, and now: the choice.
Does Mia stay here, with both parents gone and her brother's fate hanging on the balance? Or does she go, leaving behind Adam, her boyfriend, and Kim, her best friend?
There's very little to be said about the book without giving spoilers, it's so short. What there is to say is almost only good: The narrative is beautiful, weaving in and out of past and present. Personally, I loved all of the jumps back into Mia's past, but the present was far from badly written. Adam is larger-than-life in a very real way, and Kim, warm and loving, will remind readers of their own best friends. All of the characters are neatly and perfectly drawn. Mia's parents are great; eccentric and funny, not run-of-the-mill but still not hideously unusual adults who didn't care about their own children.
Additionally, Mia is truly torn by her decision. Her life hangs in the balance for the entire book, as well as whether she even could make the decision.
All in all, it's the perfect book. Mature writing, by the way that it doesn't seem at all like a debut. Forman knew what she was doing when she wrote it.
Yet... it still lacked something for me. Everything was so perfect that it seemed there was something missing. It was too textbook. Don't get me wrong, the premise isn't textbook at all, nor is the plot. But the execution and the narrative seemed almost so well-done that they were lacking. Maybe I'm crazy and imagining things, but I couldn't give it five stars.
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