Title: Before I Fall (Amazon)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Around the World ARC Tours
Published: March 2010 by HarperCollins
What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?Samantha Kingston has it all: the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.
Instead, it turns out to be her last.
Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.
My Thoughts:
Before I Fall is narrated by Samantha and starts off like this:
They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me.It’s Friday, February 12th, which also happens to be Cupid Day. It’s a competition between Samantha and her friends to see who gets the most roses. This is also the day that Samantha has planned to finally “do it” with her boyfriend Rob.
Samantha has it all - the popularity, the hot boyfriend and the friends. In the beginning of this book, I didn’t like Samantha one bit. She’s bitchy and selfish and her priorities are all wrong. But during her journey of self discovery, I grew to like her more.
On the way home from a party, she gets into a car accident and dies. But then she wakes up the next morning to the alarm going off. She thinks it’s Saturday and wonders how she ever survived since she has no recollection of last night’s events. But then things start replaying themselves. Her sister comes to wake her up. Her friend Lindsay is waiting for her so they can get to school. It seems like a weird, vivid case of déjà vu. It takes Samantha a while but she finally realizes that she’s reliving the day over. She eventually comes to the conclusion that there’s something she needs to do, a wrong she needs to make right, and sets out to accomplish that so she can finally die and move on.
In this story of Groundhog Dog meet Mean Girls, debut author Lauren Oliver delivers a thought-proving look on life. Before I Fall is a real eye-opener. Oliver did a superb job on reflecting on such a deep and heavy topic. She did a wonderful job on retelling the same day over and over seven times. I never lost interest or felt disengaged each time I revisited Samantha's day. Oliver held onto my attention, leaving me to look at each replay with a different prospective. A very hard task but she did it splendidly and made it work. I look forward to reading future work by this author. She’s definitely one to keep a close eye on!
The Book Vixen’s Rating:
I just preordered this one recently I cant wait to get my hands on it, awesome review!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds amazing!!! I can't wait to read it. Your review makes me even more excited for this book!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure if I would like this. So, thanks for the review. Sounds like something I may put on my tbr!
ReplyDeleteI cannot WAIT to read this book! :]
ReplyDeleteI'm with Robby. I cannot wait to read this. I have a copy for review. Yay!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great review, and thanks for including the trailer. It is definately going on my wish list. It sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have read a lot of good reivews on this one, but yours makes me want to read it! :) Thanks! :)
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