Before I fall by Lauren Oliver
Published: October 25th 2010 by HarperCollins
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 470

“Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. Maye for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let is slide ilke coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it.
But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”

This is one of the best YA books I have ever read. It mixes the struggles of high school with fantasy and gets into some serious subjects. Masterfully done, with great writing that flows so effortlessly. It’s a real pleasure to read!

Samantha or Sam as everyone calls her is one of the mean girls, one of the popular girls that rule the school. Until one tragic night she’s in an accident and wakes up to the same day over and over. There’s no getting around comparing it to Groundhog Day. (A movie that I loved and watched a hundred times over!)

“Things change after you die, though – I guess because dying is about the loneliest thing you can do.”

I think it was gutsy of the author to go after such a well know and loved concept as Groundhog Day – living one day over and over. How do you write a story like that without tapping into clishés and/or writing the same lines over and over?

That was my first fear, that I would have to read the same passage over and over. Luckily, those tedious things were avoided and I was pleasantly surprised with how different this was. Original in it’s execution and a lot deeper that I thought it could ever be.

Young adult novels sure have grown up lately. The topics are getting more and more complex and the tone is more serious now than I remember them being. Looking forward to see what they do with the movie and if they manage to keep the tone of it.