The Hardcover Lover: Soundtrack Saturday (5)

Alright, everyone! It's time for another Soundtrack Saturday.

Soundtrack Saturday is a meme that I created so I could share my love of books and music. I have a lot of songs that pop into my head when I'm reading, so it seemed appropriate.

To participate, all you have to do is pick a book that you've read and create a mini-soundtrack for it. Be sure to link me in your post, and add your post's link in the link-up tool so others can find it and see what you've been reading and listening to.

If you want to participate but need any help, feel free to ask me. I promise that I won't bite! You can also visit the meme's page here for more information on what to include.

Don't worry... when (or if) the meme starts to pick up, I'll be expanding on my soundtracks to include a few more songs. A full blown soundtrack seemed like a lot to ask of people and myself when I started this meme.

This week's feature is a book that I read a while ago, but I think it's a good one for music because the main characters love music. Have you guessed it yet? Please say you have! Okay... I give up... This week's Soundtrack Saturday feature is If I Stay by Gayle Forman. And I'll admit that I really wanted to include a cello medley to this, but I couldn't find the perfect one.

Beginning of the Book Song:

What I like about the beginning of the book is that it was just a normal day for Mia and her family that turned into something they thought would be memorable for good reasons. If you've read the book (or seen the movie) you know that, unfortunately, that's not the case for the Hall family. The song that I'm choosing for the beginning of the book is "The Violet Hour" by The Civil Wars. I love how it's just music, and I think the music, especially with the church chimes, represents the feeling of being alone in the world.

Character Song:

I personally loved Mia as a YA character. As I was reading, I thought that there were a lot of facets to her because of everything that has happened in her life. She has felt like an oddball in her family because of her appearance and her love for classical music. She also feels insecure in her relationship with Adam because of how different they are. But to her, she breathes music and Adam. Like any other teenager, Mia struggles with her life choices, and she knows that she'll have to make a decision about her future soon, and now in more than just one way. She relives everything through flashbacks to help her make her final choice. For this reason, I think the song that best represents Mia is "Say (All I Need)" by OneRepublic.

Relationship Song:

I've read many reviews for this book, and in a lot of them, reviewers often say how much they enjoyed the Mia and Adam relationship. I agree. I think they are are perfectly compatible, but need a few more years for everything to really fall into place. That doesn't stop them, and the two fall madly in love. I've chosen the song "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional because I think it works both ways. Mia stole Adam's heart, and Adam stole Mia's heart.

Ending Song:

If you've read If I Stay, you know that the ending of the book is very powerful in more ways than one. Obviously Mia is still torn about leaving Adam and choosing to go to the other side with her family, but she finally makes her decision when she's pretty much exhausted every memory of her family and Adam that she has. For the ending of the book, I'm choosing the song "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry because I think it describes how Mia feels about both her family and Adam.

So there's my Soundtrack Saturday for the week. I'm sorry it took so long to get it posted, but Blogger didn't want to let me add videos from YouTube at all today. I seriously sat here for hours to try to add the videos to the post. Feel free to let me know what you think of the songs or if you'd include anything different for this book.

I still haven't seen the movie for If I Stay, so I have no clue what's on the official movie soundtrack. I'm okay with that, though. It made making this more exciting.

Anyways, I really hope you'll participate. People keep saying that they will, but no one is, so sadly, I might discontinue or retire this meme. If you do participate, please be sure to add your post link to the link-up tool.