Before I Fall

Written by Lauren Oliver

Narrated by Sarah Drew

They say 'live every day as if it's your last'—but you never actually think it's going to be. At least I didn't. The thing is, you don't get to know when it happens. You don't remember to tell your family that you love them or—in my case—remember to say goodbye to them at all.

But what if, like me, you could live your last day over and over again? Could you make it perfect? If your whole life flashed before your eyes, would you have no regrets? Or are there some things you'd want to change?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Oct 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781444766684

Lauren Oliver

Lauren Oliver is the cofounder of media and content development company Glasstown Entertainment, where she serves as the President of Production. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the YA novels Replica, Vanishing Girls, Panic, and the Delirium trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem, which have been translated into more than thirty languages. The film rights to both Replica and Lauren's bestselling first novel, Before I Fall, were acquired by Awesomeness Films. Before I Fall was adapted into a major motion picture starring Zoey Deutch. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, garnering a wide release from Open Road Films that year. Oliver is a 2012 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award nominee for her middle-grade novel Liesl & Po, as well as author of the middle-grade fantasy novel The Spindlers and The Curiosity House series, co-written with H.C. Chester. She has written one novel for adults, Rooms. Oliver co-founded Glasstown Entertainment with poet and author Lexa Hillyer. Since 2010, the company has developed and sold more than fifty-five novels for adults, young adults, and middle-grade readers. Some of its recent titles include the New York Times bestseller Everless, by Sara Holland; the critically acclaimed Bonfire, authored by the actress Krysten Ritter; and The Hunger by Alma Katsu, which received multiple starred reviews and was praised by Stephen King as “disturbing, hard to put down” and “not recommended…after dark.” Oliver is a narrative consultant for Illumination Entertainment and is writing features and TV shows for a number of production companies and studios. Oliver received an academic scholarship to the University of Chicago, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from New York University. www.laurenoliverbooks.com.

Reviews for Before I Fall

[gmomaj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and 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 her charmed life. 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.

[sunshine608 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. A great story with great characters. Samantha and her friends felt so real and many scenes in this book to me back to my own HS years. IN the beginning I felt like I was supposed to hate Sam and she wasn't my favorite, but I loved how she grew and the realizations she had at the end.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The writing is a tour de force, the first section is a shot through the rapids followed by a deft mix of serious and light frantic and calm. I could not for myself feel that Sam should not blame Lindsey at all for her death, but I can sort of see, with how it ended that, for Sam, Lindsey wasn't at fault. I however, wanted to dash Lindsey's brains against the wall.

[startwithgivens · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first this book was really irritating because when we die, we don't get any second chances to make things right. We don't get another chance to figure it all out. However, the message of this story was clear and the ending was very fitting.

[edensteffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book! It didn't end quite like I expected.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did this backwards. I watched the movie first then listened to the book. The narrator does a great job. This book really shines a light on how hard being a teenager can be and how cruel teenagers are to each other. Some think they are better than others and torture those they think are lower than them. Then one day Sam and her friends are in a car accident and she wakes up starting the day over. It's kind of like groundhogs day because she starts the day over and over until she figures out why she keeps living the day over. It's a very dark and sad story. But wonderful writing and well worth the time.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s “Cupid Day” at school, and Sam and her best friends love this day! It just reinforces how popular they all are! This day ends with a party, a confrontation with a girl Sam and her friends have been bullying for years, and a car crash. And Sam wakes up the next day to replay the day over… and the next day, and the next day… Omg, those are hateful girls! I hated them all so much! Of course, this being from Sam’s POV, though I hated her at the start, as the day kept replaying for her, she learned things and did get “better”. I actually thought I was going to hate the book at the start, those girls were so terrible! I listened to the audio and the narrator did a great job! She was very good with distinguishing voices, as well. Lindsay (the worst of the four of them) had a voice that “fit” the personality, I think, and Elody had a kind of sing-song, whiny, airhead voice. I suppose getting the reader to hate the hateful characters so much, as much as I hated them, is a good thing?

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is about the last day in the life of high school senior, Samantha Kingston. She gets to relive this last day over and over again until it works out the way it is supposed to. There were times when the teenage angst became a little too overpowering and I found myself wanting to throw the book across the room, but gradually the story took hold and by about the fifth repeat of her last day, I was hooked.Was this last day repeating itself so that Sam would understand what was happening to her or is this a chance to change her fate. She changes little things every day, at first trying to change the outcome and later to simply be a better person. Although Sam is a member of the “it” girls, has a popular boyfriend and lives a seeming happy life, she needed to face the fact that she was just another “mean girl” who made life miserable for the social misfits and people less popular than she. I thought the character of Sam was both conceived and executed very well. Even though she changed considerably by the end of the book, she remained a believable character.Overall this book serves as a message about bullying and how thoughtless actions can impact others in a very negative way. Writing the story from the popular girls point of view brought this story to vivid life and showed that even these girls have a depth of feeling and emotional insecurities that they need to work through. In the end I found Before I Fall to be a worthwhile read.

[emma_manolis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I love this cover. I can still remember the moment I saw it for the first time on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. The girl's face looked positively serene and I knew that I had to find out what this book was about. Reading the summary further convinced me that I had to open it up. I've waited for about two years to actually read this book and unfortunately it wasn't quite worth the wait.


I found it really difficult to like this book. I cannot recall any other book where I so despised the main character as I did with Samantha Kingston. She is truly an awful girl and her friendships and life are nothing more than superficial. There was never a turning point for me. I never started to like her. Not once did I begin to root for her. I just couldn't care less.

On top of that the ending left a lot to be desired. It was disappointing that we went through all that we had for an ending like that. (Even though I didn't like it, I'm certainly not going to spoil it!)

[seasonsoflove_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Samantha is popular, with a gorgeous boyfriend and a group of best friends others in the school would die to be a part of. But it's Samantha who dies-and then wakes up, to relieve that last day of her life over and over again.What does Samantha need to do to get it right this time? To figure it out, she will have to decide what really matters to her, and what is truly important in life.Oliver made high school come alive all over again for me in this book. I felt like I was right there with the characters, and it made me remember so vividly what it was like to be that age, riding in my best friend's car, music blasting.This is also such an interesting concept for a book, and Oliver pulls it off well. Things never seen repetitive or boring, and there is a lot of suspense.I sometimes felt like character development was a bit rushed. Despite this being a long book (over 400 pages), some characters still felt a bit one dimensional, with Oliver adding in details to flesh them out that just didn't really come together for me. I sometimes struggled with understanding the characters' motivations, even the main character and the reasoning behind her big changes.This is a book I enjoyed, and that kept me interested--I flew through it, despite its length. But I didn't love it. Despite how well Oliver made the characters come alive, they still didn't feel as developed and three dimensional as I wanted them to be.

[ncruse37 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know if any book other than Perks perfectly describes the angst of being a teen and explores the concept of people hurting each other just to FEEL something.

[bookishpeach240 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i wasn't sure whether i would like this book since i wasn't a huge fan of the delirium trilogy but there was no need to worry at all! this book had me hooked from page 1 and i literally could not put the thing down. i'm terrible at book reviews so i'm going to keep it short but i loved this book, the concept was original (or at least, i haven't read anything like it before) and the character development was fantastic. i'm usually intimidated by contemporary books because most of the books i read are fantasies and it's hard for me to get in to contemporaries so i'm surprised in a really nice way that i was able to enjoy this book. now i have to decide whether to buy acomaf in paperback, hardcover or kindle edition. (the story of my life!)

[gayla.bassham · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. I really liked this one a lot. A dark adolescent version of Groundhog Day.

[jennysbookbag.com · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Before I Fall is much better than Vanishing Girls. I was so disappointed in Vanishing Girls that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this one, but Lauren Oliver’s stories sound so intriguing that I had to give this one a try. I’m so glad that I did.

Sarah Drew did a fantastic job narrating the novel and bringing the characters to life.

The story has a Groundhog’s Day format with one day repeating, but I thought it was very effective and well executed. Each day brought on something new to the story, something different without feeling like you’re reading the same story over and over. I love YA novels like this one that address real teenage issues like underage drinking, drugs, bullying, cheating, and theft without trying to glamorize it.

The writing constantly moved forward at a pace that I found enjoyable. I wish I had a print copy of the book in front of me while I listened to the audiobook, because it had some very cute similes and metaphors.

Samantha and her friends are shallow, popular high school seniors and at times they sounded like they had the same personality, but that’s typical when you’re part of a clique like theirs. You must fit their mold or do not enter. The girls were wild and carefree with a vicious streak, especially towards Anna and Juliet. If these girls were real, they would be the type of girls that their quiet, shy classmates would envy, faults and all. They’d secretly want to be like those girls, going to parties, dating any popular guys they wanted, easily making friends with the other popular kids. As a teen, those things are important, but as an adult, you realize that those things are ridiculous.

I still found the characters interesting even with their shallowness. I had a very clear picture of what they looked like and what kind of people they were; phony, pretentious, entitled – except for Samantha.

Don’t get the wrong impression. This isn’t a superficial, YA novel that has nothing to offer. It actually gives you hope for the Z generation of kids. All it takes is one teen who wants to stand up for another who is bullied. One character learns that his actions have consequences and just because he’s a good-looking, popular boy, he doesn’t get a free pass. Another character has a lisp, but she appears comfortable with it. Samantha has more depth and insight than most teens. She has compassion for others, while her friends are self-absorbed brats. She sees the pretentiousness in her friends. She sees that their act is just a façade to hide their own fears. They’re convincing actors. If more teens realized this, less teens would be bullied because they’d know that their bullies are just as afraid (and maybe even more) than they are.

I was a little disappointed in the ending, not because it was bad, but because I wanted it to end differently. Before I Fall gives me hope for Lauren Oliver and now I actually want to read another one of her novels.

I recommend this book to fans of YA novels, especially novels that deal with real issues.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you can look past the very clear use of the "Groundhog Day" movie plot line, there are some entertaining bits of this novel. Watching Sam go from mindless mean girl to someone who recognizes the value of life - hers and others - is the one redeeming point of this story but I can't say I found the ending very satisfying.

[jadedog13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The moment of death is full of heat and sound and pain bigger than anything, a funnel of burning heat splitting me in two, something searing and scorching and tearing, and if screaming were a feeling it would be this. Then nothing.

Samantha Kingston (Sam) is a popular high school senior and today is Friday, February 12th, Cupid Day, her favorite. Today she knows that she and her popular friends will receive many roses. But the day doesn't end as she expected. She goes to a party with her friends and on the way home, they get into an accident and Sam dies... then she wakes up to her alarm and realizes it's February 12th again. Was it just a dream? Was it a vision? Sam doesn't know what is going on, but she continues to relive Cupid Day, over and over again. She tries to figure things out. She tries to change things, but nothing seems to work. Can she save herself and her friends?

First of all, I have to say that I didn't read the book jacket right before I read the book. I might have read it when I first bought the e-book, but I forgot what it was about. It was on my Kindle, so I read it. I was surprised by what happened.

I was kind of bored with the book until the accident. It just seemed like the same old high school story and really didn't interest me. Then Sam woke up and her day was repeating. That peaked my curiosity. I wanted to know why the day was repeating and if Sam would change and become a better person. It reminded me a lot of Groundhog Day (the movie) but I still enjoyed it very much. The characters were very strong. I loved some, hated others and even sympathized with others. I cringed when the popular girls were mean and it broke my heart when the unpopular kids were treated so poorly.

Recommended to:
Older teens and adults. There is a lot of talk about sex and there is drinking, so it might not be appropriate for younger teens.
All in all, if you like high school stories and stories where characters have a chance for redemption, you will enjoy this book.

[theyodamom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I started reading this book i thought I was going to be bored with the repeating of days. I wasn't, if fact it was hard to stop reading. It is a hard look at High school peer pressure and bullying. It was heart breaking, and full of unexpected twists. I did not get the ending I wanted or expected. The teens seem to be future alcoholics, drinking in excess fills the story. The story will thrust you down a roller coater of emotions, a very good read. i finished it in tears.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book had the potential to be something really great, but unfortunately it didn't deliver. In fact it was not until page 250 that I actually liked the main character. At the start of the book Sam Kingston and her friends are obnoxious, shallow and cruel to those who they think are not as good as them. It is only as Sam re-lives her last day over and over and over again, which did become become rather monotonous, that she realises that her actions, and those of her friends, have consequences - often with devastating results. For me, however, the real star is Kent, the long suffering boy who Sam finally comes to appreciate. This will undoubtedly become a popular book with teenage girls but I think it needs to be for older readers as it covers some really disturbing social issues including bullying, drug use, truancy, smoking, alcoholism, promiscuous sex, depression and physical abuse.

[caropi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So i started to read the book.... First 100 pages I was feeling that I was reading an episode of 90210. I was in a love - hate relation with the book. I was keeping reading because is very well written and invites to do it. But then the book started to transform itself, started to get more powerful and I understood the road to redemption.
Is a beautiful book it teach us to pay more attention to the small details to enjoy more each moment of our lives, and if you are already out os school and university sometimes it can make you nostalgic and make you want to go to that years, when you have a card of possibilities of what will you do after.... It surprise me in the good way, I was planning to give it 3 stars, but I just keep reading, and a little bit as Sam I start to understand...

[fefferbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting plot that moved along quickly. Oliver's a decent writer, but I'm not sure I'd give this to my YA, being the stuffy old lady I am. It's pretty heavy on the sexual content, et. al. ...but I liked where she headed with her protagonist.

[rmagahiz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book really picks up in the last third, where the heroine gets to ring all the changes on this one confusing day which either ends with her asleep or dead, over and over again. Although by the end I didn't come to like all the people in her crowd, I could accept them for what they were. I don't think there's ever any kind of reason given why the protagonist has ended up in the situation she finds herself in, but it does make a sort of emotional sense by the very end. I can also see how this novel would appeal to the YA audience, not only girls but boys too. It is quite well put together especially considering that it's the author's first novel.

It's just the right sort of book to have finished on Groundhog Day.

[bluepigeon-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I normally do not read books about American high school stuff. I find almost everything about the culture annoying, including the characters, teachers, parents, etc. Having grown up somewhere else, I do not care much for the obsession with the mean years, the horrible HS experience, etc. I remember watching films like Clueless with American college friends, who all found them hilarious, while I thought they were the most boring, un-hilarious films ever made... But over the years I have come to understand two things:
1) The American high school experience, its significance, and its consequences, as well as its sub-categories (urban vs. suburban, for example)
2) Perhaps it wasn't too different in my high school, perhaps there was some verbal bullying, perhaps there were kids we all made a lot of fun of, perhaps... The difference may not have been that the culture was very different, but that I was totally, completely, utterly oblivious! I had no idea that people made fun of me, and if they did, I didn't give a fuck.

Reading Before I Fall made me understand 1 better, and made me realize 2.

Oliver's language is perfect. By that, I mean that there is no doubt in one's mind that a high school popular girl is telling the story. Everything is there, from the way they talk to the way they think.

The days relived develop the narrator's character in an interesting, though not surprising way. We know she will live through the same day over and over again to mature and learn to grow out of the self-centered and mean popular girl phase. We know she will fall for him. We know she will try to save her life. But still we read on to see just how it will happen. And if she will be able to change the end. Because we know, from the very beginning, that she will die (that's how it all begins.)

In the end, I have no sympathy for her or the other mean popular girls. I am not saying that I think they are evil. I just won't waste my time feeling sorry for them. In the end, then, Before I Fall has a superbly developed story, a good premise, and very good narration; my only problem is that I could not like the main character much.

[sunnycouger-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I actually went into this book not realising it was a YA book and although I have no aversion to the genre it just didn't feel like a YA book despite the youth of the characters.

I actually really enjoyed this - it was an original concept, almost Groundhog day but with slightly higher stakes. Sam, your stereotypical popular High School student who trashes the less popular students just because she can. It all comes to a head when she goes to the party at an old friend's house and while there helps her friends torment and humiliate a classmate. On the way home from the party, the car crashes and she dies. Instead of it being all over she wakes up on the same day and relives it all over again.

The book shows as Sam, over the course of a week, relives the day and veers from a 'screw it' attitude, to trying to avoid it, to finally accepting what went wrong. We see her learn things about the other characters - the friends she has and why they act the way they did, the girl they tormented until she felt she had no choice but to kill herself, the boy she ignored for years but who never gave up hoping for her to change and we see her finally come to terms with her fate.

This story doesn't have a happy ending, the main character isn't particularly likeable and there are certain points that you almost want to strangle her for some of the things she does, but despite it all I really enjoyed it. The idea about what you would do if you only had one day to live and you had a chance to make it right really appeals to me. Definitely worth a read.

[bgraves81 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What I loved? The writing. Lauren Oliver has a way of sucking me and making me forget my own life. For that alone I will always be willing to read her stories. This particular one had been sitting on my shelf for nearly a year. It sounded sad. Doesn't it sound sad? And it is. But it's so much more than that.In the beginning, there's a group of stuck up, b*tchy (yes, I really did just asterik that... lol) girls who are best friends. And they are not very nice people. They are mean to people just for the fact that they are different or just because. Honestly, I was almost done with the first day and I was thinking, Why do I care what happens to Sam? I mean, yeah, dying sucks, but I just don't like her. And then, came this:"Is what I did really so much worse than what anybody else does? Is it really so much worse than what you do? Think about it."I thought, Whoa. Wait a minute. Did she really just make me rethink it? Here I was judging her and her actions and not liking her... how did that make me much different from her? So I opened my mind a bit and read on. By the time I got near the end I was so anxious. Was Lauren Oliver going to rip my heart out? She had already broken it numerous times... but would she rip out completely and do a Mexican Hat Dance on it or help it get mended? (I won't say which happened...)Needless to say Sam grows as a character. It wouldn't be a story if she was a complete and total b*tch the entire time. We have various characters throughout the story, some of which I didn't care for and some I cared for very much. Sam's boyfriend, Rob, is a grade-A tool. I mean, she can only be with him for the 'status' that comes with it, and that right there says so much about her state of mind. She doesn't care enough about herself to be with someone who would treat her like she should be and appreciate her for all she is, or all that she could be. Her best friend, Lindsey, isn't the nicest person either. The more I found out about her the less I liked her... until Lauren Oliver started peeling back the layers. Most of the characters in the forefront of the story had more than the superficial facade we first see at the beginning. I started to see them for more of who they really are or who they want to be than who they portrayed themselves as throughout.As I said, I wasn't sure how my heart was going to feel when I was done, nor was I sure if I was going to need a full box or a half a box of Kleenex. So. Emotional. Heart-wrenching. Unnecessarily necessarily so. It's not action packed, it's not an on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller. It's character driven. It's about evolving and acceptance and friendship and love. And it should make you think... if I were to die tonight have I lived today as I would want to be remembered? Have I shown love, compassion, happiness, or kindness to others? I realize that's dripping with sappiness, so hopefully it doesn't pour out and make your screen sticky. But really. I can guarantee that I don't act the way I probably should every day. But the next day isn't always guaranteed. Not that we don't know that, but it helps to be reminded of that. I think.

[rmboland · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was one of the most heavily influenced books I've ever read-fans of both Groundhog Day and Mean Girls are in for a literary match made in heaven. I'm glad I recently came across an interview with Lauren in which she stated (somewhat) that this book was intended to explore elements of both movies/ideas. (Also, I know reference is actually made in the book about the movie Groundhog Day). It just slightly bothered me to read just how similar the demeanor of the four girls in the book were TO the 4 female leads in Mean Girls (did anyone else notice this?). I won't expand on that though, because I really did enjoy that movie.I loathed the protagonist in this book. Samantha Kingston was an arrogant, snotty, and delusional little wreck, and I wondered at times if I was even going to be able to finish the book-but I was intrigued. As much as I hate story lines ripped from existing ones, I have to admit that I needed, almost yearned, to find out how her character was going to evolve; how Sam would concur each "new" day. It seemed like it took her so ridiculously long to come to any sensible conclusions, that I found myself, literally, yelling out loud at the book (or, uh..my phone..read it as an ebook). Towards the end, I still don't think I was able to completely feel Sam's sincerity, if I can call it that, but my GOD..it has been forever since a book has made me look within myself the way this one caused me to do. Lauren wrote some extremely powerful lines within these pages, words that really hit home for me personally-and by the end of it all, I was pretty much in pieces:"I shiver, thinking about how easy it is to be totally wrong about people-to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it's the effect or vice versa"Here's one of the things I learned that morning: if you cross a line and nothing happens, the line loses meaning. It's like that old riddle about a tree falling in a forest, and whether it makes a sound if there's no one around to hear it. You keep drawing a line farther and farther away, crossing it every time. That's how people end up stepping off the edge of the earth. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to bust out of orbit, to spin out to a place where no one can touch you.To lost yourself-to get lost.This book just had an overall magical feel for me. Intended or not,Lauren Oliver's descriptions, the way she painted the world around her characters..had me in a daze. I pretty much lived for scenes between Sam and Kent, I don't think I've ever rooted for a possible pairing more than I rooted for them. I want to give this book 4 stars, but I'm torn between hating that it reminded me of Mean Girls so much, and liking how it affected me. *Sigh*..so 3.5 it shall stay..

[drachenbraut23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"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, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you 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.”“The last laugh, the last cup of coffee, the last sunset, the last time you jump through a sprinkler, or eat an ice-cream cone, or stick your tongue out to catch a snowflake. You just don't know.”When I started to read this book I was not quite sure whether I liked it or not, sometimes I just got so frustrated with this book that I wanted to walk away from it. However, despite these mixed feelings the book started to grow on me with each new chapter. This book is about a lot of things. Well, the whole book is like groundhog day - Sam dies during a car crash, and re-lives the same day again and again. We are shown that she belongs to a very cruel group of High School girls who are absolutely and sometimes disgustingly mean. For me this was a very schocking experience, although I am very much aware that school life in higher education schools can be like that. However, to wake up every single day on the same day, Sam eventual reflects on her life, her behaviour and examines her group of friends much more closely. She experiments with different things and observes the results. On one side I found the book very frustrating and annoying and at other times I needed to ensure that I had a tissue handy.Maybe, not my most favourite read, but definately a good one.

[whitebalcony · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A literary version of "mean girls" repeated seven times. The first few iterations were interesting.

[pocketmermaid · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I underestimated this book. When I finished it, I awarded it three stars. But upon months of reflection, it's getting kicked up a notch to four.The premise is that cool/cruel girl Sam Kingston relives her last day for one week. At first, I found the book annoying because I couldn't stand Sam and her popular girl "problems." But once I got to a certain point (closer to the end than I'd like to admit), I realized that it was actually the entire point of the whole novel. The reader isn't supposed to like Sam. That isn't this story's goal.While it's hard to get through a book in which the main character is so unlikable, I found the story incredibly riveting and the writing completely lovely. Even if you can figure out what's going to happen at the end of the book before you finish the first page, it sort of isn't the point.

[debbiemccauley-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sam is popular. At Thomas Jefferson High she has the best friends, best table, best car park, best everything, until she dies. She lives her last day on earth seven days over, alway looking for the reason why and trying to make things different. This is a wonderfully compelling story - a must read,

[cutemcginn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What if you knew you died? Dead, cold as stone, not a beat left to your heart but you were still living? Still living that same day, your last day, over and over and over just hoping to finally get it right? That is life for Samantha Kingston, well that is non-life for Samantha Kingston. Sam doesn’t go to heaven, or hell, or purgatory, or reincarnated, or even just cease to exist. She’s not haunting people, living life as a ghost. No, she is stuck in the last day of her life forever. Sam thought she had the perfect life but maybe what she thought of as perfect wasn’t quite true. Now, she is on a quest to find a way out. Before I fall is a beautiful poignant read... a must read novel. It’s strange because this novel about dying really isn’t about death at all. It’s about living, and not living in the sense that you have to check everything off of your bucket list but trying to be the best part of you that there is. Sam’s struggle isn’t to be better than she is, it’s simply to allow the best of her to come through, something she hans’t done in a long time. This book deals with so many teen issues and I definitely think if you have a teenager in your life that you should pick this book up for them because they need to be reading it. Sex, alcohol, drinking, dating, friendship, bullying, family, love, jealousy, death... LIFE . I really don’t know how Lauren Oliver packed all this into a book so seamlessly but she did. She truly did capture the essence of teenage life in such a well illustrated way. Surprisingly, I found nothing inappropriate for the age group. Sometimes, reading Young Adult genre I feel a little inappropriateness in the content. But not in this book, Oliver did a wonderful job of responsibly and realistically depicting Sam’s life. Death. Dying. Life. Death is a difficult subject and this book drew me into contemplating the value of my own life. I could not put this book down. I seriously wanted to hunt Lauren Oliver down at 3 a.m. so I could slap her because I could not tear myself away from these pages SlapSlapSlap ARE YOU KIDDING ME LAUREN OLIVER?!?!? How is this book so freakin’ good? I am just so mesmerized and blown away by this novel it’s hard to find words that do it justice. Not only is the content amazing, the characters are just blow-your mind great from Sam to all of her friends. And that is sort of a shocking thing because it must have been really difficult to Oliver to have such believable character development when the people are only existing in the same day repeatedly. Oh, the writing style! Wow, the voice in this novel was insane I loved it so much. LOVE IT Everything, was written with such eloquence and the voice was so believable. Not once was I drawn out of the world Oliver created to think, well now I didn’t like that or hmmm, that’s awkward. Surprising too, because Sam is talking directly to the reader the whole time and I think that is a difficult narration to accomplish well. But Bravo to Lauren Oliver, because she did it. ClapClapClap The writing was just too crazy delicious to put this book down. There were definitely some notable quotes in this book. And there was FUNNY parts too, genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments. I laughed and I cried and I read until I was exhausted and my eyes were red and glossy because this book was one to be devoured. “The moment of death is full of heat and sound and pain bigger than anything, a funnel of burning heat splitting me in two, something searing and scorching and tearing, and if screams were a feeling it would be this.”“...but every time he touches my boobs, he kind of just massages them hard in a circle, My gyno does the same thing when I go in for an exam, so one of them has to be doing in wrong . And to be honest, I don’t think it’s my gyno.” “...he makes me feel like music” “I’m not scared, if that’s what you’re wondering. The moment of death is full of sound and warmth and light, so much light it fills me, absorbs me: a tunnel of light shooting away, arcing up and up and up, and if singing were a feeling it would be this, this light, this lifting, like laughing....” If you liked Delirium , if you like the Young Adult genre then you have to pick this book up today because you won’t like it ...you’ll LOVE it. It’s that simple, because it will blow your mind in comparison to some of the other books that are out there. I think this book is PERFECT for teenagers, something that they must read.