Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Goodreads: 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—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined.
Have you ever read a book and wanted to review it but had no clue what to say? That there is nothing you can add, or no way to get your point across without revealing the twist or the ending? I am having this problem with Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall. I want to scream from the rooftops read this book, alas how do I say it coherently or professionally?
We follow Sam reliving the same day over and over Groundhog Day style. She is the popular girl, the pretty girl with the perfect boyfriend. She is a bully, and she dies. She dies seven times over and is rewound and gets a new chance at making amends. Can Sam figure out what to change in her life and how important her actions are in time?
This book is written perfectly. You know the characters immediately and even if you dislike their mean-girl attitudes, you cannot put this book down. The ending was shocking and poignant. I had mixed emotions. I was in awe, I was angry, then I was in awe again. I never saw it coming.
I love that Sam learns her actions have consequence and bullying is wrong. There is some drinking, there is some drugs, there is some sex. Trust me people your teens aren’t as impressionable as you think. This book is more about discovery, and learning how to treat others.
If you like Laurie Halse Anderson, or Gayle Forman you will love Lauren Oliver!
Book Trailer for Before I Fall:
Review: The 8th Confession, The Women’s Murder Club book 8 by James Patterson
The 8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is the first of the Women’s Murder Club for me, and the 8th in the series. The book is up for sale on the 27th of April, so no spoilers here for you.
I have to admit I always wanted to read some of Patterson’s books and just never got around to it, my official excuse was “I am in the middle of so many trilogies and series now how can I possibly keep up with another one.” I still do not know the answer to that but I know this, I am adding several more series to my list of things to watch out for while I back read some of James’ work. I am especially interested in The Women’s Murder Club and the Maximum Ride books.
This book follows the women through several cases at once and some personal drama. Rich socialites keep turning up dead with no clue on cause of death. Even the toxicology reports are clean. Lindsay and Rich are having a hard time finding which way to go on this case and they had been pulled off a case they wanted to work. A local homeless messiah called Bagman Jesus turns up dead violently on the street, happens all the time for the homeless right? This story is just a bit different, everyone loved Bagman Jesus, he saved so many people on that block, and no one saw or heard a thing of course. Cindy the reporter and Rich start seeing each other and both decide not to tell Lindsay, of course Cindy has no clue how Lindsay and Rich feel about each other. These are the kind of secrets that rip friends apart.
I had to give this book five stars, I was reading it thinking, okay there are lots of characters here but I can keep up this is great, and all the characters are so well defined. There are 4 separate plots but they are all very interesting, but how is this going to tie in to the last couple of chapters. Well let me just say it all tied in, I stayed up late last night to finish this book and the ending was so mind blowing and sublime I immediately wished I had another Patterson novel to pick up and start with, but alas I will have to order them today and wait for the mail.
Big thanks to Miriam at Grand Central Pub and Little Brown for giving me the unique opportunity to discover and review Patterson.
