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.
Let me say, this book was long. I don’t mean just long, I mean loooooonnnnnngggg. The first part was so hard to get through because I truly couldn’t stand ANY of the girls. And with 80-something page chapters, it was kinda’ painful. Mainly Lindsay but the rest weren’t much better. I finally emailed a friend (who I won the book from; thanks TK!) and asked, does this girl get any nicer because if she doesn’t, I’m done. By the way, go check out TK Richardson's website if you haven't. Her book Return the Heart is coming out soon. Anyway, back to Before I Fall. She assured me that about page 272, Sam was nicer. I read on. Yes, Sam got nicer, but the fact that these girls were so cruel really bothered me. I liked Kent quite a bit, but he was really the only redeeming character. I will say that the last portion of the book went rather quickly. I was happy to see Sam getting together, albeit for a brief time, with Kent. Thankfully, I don’t remember people being that cruel in high school. I think if they were, everyone probably would have opened a big can of whoop ass on ‘em and that would have been the end of that. Seriously though, I remember sticking up for kids who might be getting a hard time from someone. All I could think was, they’re a human being too. One could hope this book would give kids pause, before being cruel to their fellow students. While those four years seem so important at the time, they’re so quickly put to the back of the line as adult life begins. It would sad to be known as a horrible person for those four years. I give this one two and a half roses.
Let me just say that this was one of the books I had my dear daughter put back on the shelf last weekend. She had her hands full and I said, "Pick."
ReplyDeleteThankfully, this didn't make the cut. If she ever picks it up again, I'll have her read the first few pages before purchasing.
Thanks for the review. I'd thought it sounded good, but yeah, I struggle when I see no redeeming quality in the MC (aka Diary of a Wimpy Kid---I mean, sure it's funny, but it's hard to enjoy the book when I don't like the MC).
ReplyDeleteI don't like mean girls. It seems to be a trend right now in YA.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same exact way about this novel. It was loooonnnng. People told me to push through so I did, it wasn't awful but I am right with their on your rose count. Not the best it could have been and mean girls just shouldn't be that mean. Aubrie is right, it seems to be the trend.
ReplyDeleteI assure you that for my current YA novel it has nothing to do with mean girls, in fact it doesn't even really showcase girls that have the potentional of being mean. Phew! I won't be having that problem!
Thanks for your comments. Yeah, I just can't do the whole mean girl thing. I think Sam would have been nicer had she learned these lessons sooner. Ah, the pain of lessons learned too late. :)
ReplyDeleteLisa, thanks for the mention! (And I agree with you about this book.) :)
ReplyDeleteI've heard so many great things about this, but I cannot stand MC I don't like. So I think I'll pass on this and pick up the author's next book, DELIRIUM. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really hard for me to read a book if I don't like any of the characters. I had that problem with Willow. I just didn't like her, so the book dragged. Thanks for the review. I'll have to think on this one.
ReplyDeleteoh thank god I didnt buy this. I always listen to the reviews of fellow readers and writers. They always get it right.
ReplyDelete