Book Review: Before I Fall

BACK BLURB: (From 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

MY REVIEW:

PLOT and CHARACTERS:

This book was so awesome!

Usually I don’t gush about any book, but in this case, I can’t help it.

“Before I Fall” by Lauren Oliver has everything I like in a book: a tangled, complicated plot, great characters, focus and a lovely style of writing. The book is absolutely wonderful from the start, written elegantly and exploring many kinds of relationships. Samantha as a character is refreshing from the noble-hearted heroines we get to see these days: willing to accept her mistakes but never hiding the fact that it hurts to accept them. There’s some kind of ease in the way the relationship of the four girls- Sam, Lindsay, Elody and Allie- is portrayed, a kind of no holds barred familiarity that I could empathize with, having similar girlfriends. The loveliness of the book lies in the fact that we read about the same day, and the same sequence of events with the same cast of characters again and again but each time, the author manages to tweak the plot enough that our interest is piqued. Each time, we understand a little more about each character that is in the book, even the smallest of them who’s in Sam’s life on the fateful day. The complication lies in the fact that what Sam knew about each character in the beginning of the book changes completely by the end of it.

This book is utterly delicious, completely un-put-down-able.

Sam and Kent are both wonderful characters, and I especially loved the tenderness in the writing, a sort of beauty that is vary rarely seen in urban chick-lit these days.

The verdict is simple: highly, highly recommended. Go buy this!

COVER:

Pretty. Could have been better; people like me who don’t really read much of romance might mistake this cover for something mushy- which this book is NOT.

FIRST LINE:

“They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me.”

WEBSITE:

Author’s website: here

 

I am so looking forward to reading Lauren’s second book “DELIRIUM”. It seems so special. Stated to release on Feb 2011.

Check out the book here