Book Review – Before I Fall

Before I Fall
Author – Lauren Oliver
470 pages

Maybe you can afford to wait.  Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow.  Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, or so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like sand through your fingers.  So much time you can waste it.  But for some, there’s only today…and the truth is, you never really know.

Samantha Kingston and her friends are the IT girls…..every boy wants to date them, all the other girls want to be them.  They’re rude, bitchy, bullies, rich, gorgeous….they’ve got 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 Sam’s charmed life.  Instead, it turns out to be her last.  But she gets a second chance.  Actually, she gets seven more chances.  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 book was wonderful!  It really makes you think….if you had the chance for a do-over, what would you do differently?  Would you right a wrong?  Make sure you told your family you loved them before you left the house?  Get the courage to stand up for yourself?  Kiss THE boy….even though that boy is not "acceptable" to your circle of friends?  What would you do?? 

The book also makes you realize that we should never take anything or anyone or granted….because we truly don’t know when time will run out.  And unlike Sam, we won’t get a second chance…let alone seven.