Review: Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

4.5 stars

What would you do if you died today...then woke up for the next 7 days to live the day all over again? Would you change some of the things that you have done in the past, would you make amends, would you tell someone that you loved them, would you change??

That's exactly what Samantha Kingston has to decide. Sam is a senior in high school who goes to a party one night only to die. The next day she wakes up again and realizes that she is living the day all over again. She never knows what day will truly be her last.

Sam and her friends are popular, pretty, and have a tendency to pick on other kids. She hates that her little sister is always following her around, she is planning on having sex with her boyfriend the night she dies, she also doesn't like being around her "boring" parents.... typical teenager, right?

I really liked the story itself. In the first part of the book, I didn't care for Sam or her friends. They seemed to be self-absorbed spoiled brats. They would make fun of kids who didn't have money, who didn't dress or act a certain way, they spread rumors about other kids even if they weren't true..... they were just plain mean.

The first two "replays" of the day were kind of slow.... but on the third day, when Sam wakes up, she decides to change some things. The story gets much better after that. By the end of the story, I was "luke warm" toward Sam. She changed in some ways and in others she was still the same. I also liked how Lauren Oliver brought to light the things that teens actually go through.... drinking, peer pressure, depression, etc...

The end of the story leaves some things to the imagination and I thought that it was really well done. I look forward to reading Delirium and hope that I enjoy it as much as I did this one.