Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Release Date: March 2, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins 
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 427
Source: Library
Buy the Book: Amazon

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.

This is a novel, I both love and hate, but wouldn't hesitate to read it again. There are many great review revolving this book, and I can totally see why. Lauren Oliver does such a great job of keeping the reader captivated. I felt as if I really was in my high school, full of all the gossip and drama. 


Now, this book doesn't follow much of the criteria for most young adult book. The main character dies in the first chapter and knowing this, we can still enjoy the greatness of this book. Sam isn't really perfect, in fact far from it. She is what we know as, part of the in-crowd. And not too surprisingly, not one of my favorite characters. I have not read many books where the main character was not one that I loved right from the start, but this is definitely one of them. I disagreed with almost all of what Sam did, and it was agitating to read all of her silly mistakes. 


The book was very long, divided into seven chapters, each describing her days as she dealt with the idea of being given a  second chance. It took me a while to get into the book, but I realized that you have to go through the process with Sam in order to really understand her path


Although I knew where the books was going right from the beginning, I couldn't help but be a little shocked when Sam died. Sam finally had an understanding of the mistakes she made and the people she missed out on knowing because she was the way she was. And all in the end, it was for nothing because she wouldn't be able to see how it all affected her.


Before I Fall was such a great novel, it's hard t believe that this Lauren Oliver's first book, I can't to read more of her work!