Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Cover: 5

Characters: 4

Plot: 4

Setting: 4

Writing: 5

SUMMARY
What if you only had 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 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times 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.

REVIEW

This book is absolutely captivating. At first, when I initially got this book, I was thinking "Oh, this is probably going to be just another book that I'll forget about in a few weeks." I didn't think there was going to much of a story behind this, and everything would be drearily repetitive, if you relive your last day seven times. Besides, the story of the dead girl coming back and finding herself is so overrated in movies and books these days, but this book definitely made an impact. While I'm writing about how overrated the idea is, it's actually a really great book.

The beginning was a little slow, but necessary for the rest of the book to build upon. Samantha goes through the almost perfect day, and it ends with a car crash. And she wakes up the next day. Sam starts off snotty and reenacting everything she did previously, but then she slowly starts to notice everything and everyone around her, and just how bad she and her friends have been. 

I really didn't like Sam at first because of her snotty attitude, but she slowly cracked her nasty shell, in my opinion, and became this new girl who started standing up for herself and realizing just what she wanted. As for my worry that there wasn't any romance in it, there was a good enough amount of romance that I was satisfied, but I wasn't feeling tingly and happy, but that wasn't the point anyways.

Sam's really obnoxious and odious boyfriend is Rob, who Sam is still dating for some reason, even though I know even she wouldn't stoop that low, and they're supposed to do "it" the night that she dies, but there's this other guy, Kent, who's had this sort-of crush on her for a long time and is not afraid to flirt. Seriously? SAM, JUST OPEN YOUR EYES ALREADY! Kent's three times the man Rob is, and Sam continues to treat Kent like he's a doormat and worshipping the ground Rob walks on. This annoyed me a bit near the ending.

Review: Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

 

Characters: 4
Cover: 5
Plot: 4
Setting: 4
Writing: 4

SUMMARY
Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances… a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been.


So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life… and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done.


It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last...


REVIEW
I was so extremely excited to read this book at first, and I always LOVE trying to broaden my horizons, especially since I usually just read fantasy, but I know a lot of other people who read contemporaries, dystopians, fantasies, romances, etc. etc. and I want to be sort of like those types of people because reading the same genre of old book over and over again isn't always that glamourous so I'm going to broaden my horizons and start reading more contemporaries. So far, though, I haven't met a life-changing contemporary that's changed my life as much as some of the fantasies out there. (Except for Anna and the French Kiss. I'm pretty sure EVERYBODY loved Anna.)

This cover first reeled me in, and after I bought it, I started reading and reading and reading. I didn't have a lot of time this past week to read it and I actually just recently finished it, but it was a pretty good book. I don't know about you, but I love this cover, because it ties in the book very well, since Hudson's a baker, thus the cookie, and her heart's sort of torn because she has to choose between her love of baking and her love of ice skating.

The thing that really jump-starts Hudson's love of ice skating again was Josh, when they collided during a ice-skating session on the frozen lake. Hudson stopped ice-skating competitively, but she still skates leisurely. I think that moment was really the turning point in Hudson's life. The plot progressed and it got better and better, although I was sort of iffy on the romance, even though it sounds like it's a big deal in the summary; Josh wasn't even mentioned that much.

Hudson eventually gets so overwhelmed with this, after she's waitressing, training for an ice skating competition, training the boys, and baking her cupcakes, that there's a major twist at the end that I did not see and it was crazy. It was sort of cheesy at first to me, the ending, but I got it and this seems like the perfect ABC Family flick—as I've mentioned before—to make.