Review: "Before I Fall" by: Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by: Lauren Oliver

Release: March 2nd, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 470
Overall: 3 out 5 stars
Recommend Level: Medium
Challenge?: 2010 Debut Author (The Story Siren)
Summary: 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.

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Review: This book is one of the most highly anticipated, reviewed, and talked about books around the blog community and I was completely ecstatic to read it. I haven't read a long book in a while and was glad to see that it is 470 pages long. I jumped into the book the day after receiving it from the library and was completely taken in...until I got into about Day 3 of the book and was actually annoyed with the repetitive days. By this time I was about 120 pages into the book and once I'm that far in, I can't stop reading. I got frustrated with the girl, Sam, and hated that even though she was repeating the days over and over and knew it she kept making the same mistakes or even worse mistakes than the previous "day". I was so ready for it to be over and I honestly didn't know throughout the entire book if she would find away to save herself or die at the end.......and I still don't know! I loved Day 6 and was excited for Day 7; until it ended.
I liked the writing style and that it was obvious Lauren Oliver is still connected to her youth but I just wish there was more depth to this book.
I'm probably in the minority of liking this book.
On a positive note it did make me look at my life some and think how I overlook things or how I make the smallest things into something completely different. So, I have been trying to take pleasures in the smallest things.

(Check out the full list of 2010 Debut Authors I have lined up to read as well as the reviews of the ones I've already read. Just click here!)