Review of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

I read Before I Fall because of all the good reviews I was seeing about it and the recommendations I was getting. In hindsight, I can say that I'm glad I decided to read it.


Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined. - Goodreads.com


Before I Fall starts as Sam Kingston wakes up on Friday, February the 12th. Cupid day at school, in which popularity is measured tangibly by how many roses you've been sent by friends or admirers. Other than that, it's a fairly typical day for Sam. Her friends are waiting to pick her up for school. She flirts with her calculus teacher. She skips lunch period to go for yogurt with a friend. There's a party to be at later. Same same. Except she dies in a car crash after the party.


And then everything becomes strictly not usual. She wakes up, miraculously, the next morning, to find that it's once again February the 12th. She goes about the day uneasily, as though the day before were some lucid and horrible dream. But when she wakes up again on the 12th of February, she assumes she's stuck in some sort of purgatory. She starts living like there's no tomorrow, which for her, there really isn't.


Though, when Sam finds out the girl she and her friends have been bullying for years, Juliet Sykes, killed herself on the same night as her own death, it's a kind of turning point for Sam. She begins to think about the differences between each repeated day, and about how the small things she does without thinking effect the people around her dramatically. 


It's from then on that she tries to effect people for the better, though it takes until the seventh day - the last day - to actually achieve her main aim: to stop Juliet from killing herself.


The thing I really love about Before I Fall, aside from the captivating writing style, is the character development. After the first day, I was about ready to put down the book. I could only agree with Juliet: Sam is a bitch. But then, Sam implores "is what I did really so bad?" and "is it really so much different to what you do?"


And that made me realise: it isn't. It isn't any worse than any teenager, really. But no one wants to believe that they themselves aren't any better or different than the people they look down on. That Sam accepts and notes in hindsight that she is as bad as anyone else just perfectly shows the way her character develops. As the days go by, she grows to care about more than herself, more than about how many roses she gets. 


So, Before I Fall is, in summary, about a girl who dies before her time, but in doing so, learns how to really live. It's about a girl who falls in love for the first time just a little too late.


I rate Before I Fall 4 out of 5, and I anticipate the release of Lauren Oliver's second novel: Delirium, coming out on the 1st of February, next year. In the comments, tell me what you think about Before I Fall, if you've read it. If you haven't, tell me if you'd consider doing so after my review.

So, goodbye, and here's to hoping I never have to write February so many times in one piece of writing ever again (it's the one word that I will never spell right the first time).

Review of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.

Well would you CHECK OUT the cover on this baby!

Needless to say, THAT'S why I picked up this book.

That's not to say the plot didn't lure me in, just that I was at the check out before it even occurred to me to look at the blurb, which reads:

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice? - Goodreads.com



Nightshade is Andrea Cremer's first novel, and an impressive one at that.

The main character, Calla, is fated to become an alpha of a new Guardian (werewolf, essentially) pack, with Ren as the other alpha. She's content with this, with all of her instincts being to obey the Keepers, which she and her family have done for as long as they can remember.

On a routine scout of the sacred areas the Guardians protect for the Keepers, Calla finds Shay, injured and on the brink of death. This is where I think the first seed of doubt about the Keepers starts to grow in Calla's mind, as it's where she first defies them: by saving Shay.

Naturally, she runs into Shay again, and finds out that he's inexplicably favored by the Keepers, who ordinarily wouldn't spare a thought for a human. She's drawn to Shay, and likewise him to her, and slowly they begin to trust each other and explore the Keepers' intentions for Shay.

Though, what they find out about the Keepers, the Guardians' leaders for what feels like forever, throws off the entire world in which Calla lives.

What I loved, first and foremost, about Nightshade, were the characters. Namely Calla. She noticeably developed over the course of the novel. She was at first innocent in her blindly following the rules set by the Keepers, but as the trust she has in the Keepers' breaks and her feelings for Shay and desires to neglect the union to Ren grow, she becomes more independent and strong-willed in order to cope with the shifting world around her.

What else I loved about Nightshade was the love triangle. Though an overused dynamic in YA novels, Cremer managed to make it feel completely different to the clichéd norm.

Upon reaching the cliffhanger of an ending, I was pleased to find there would be a sequel to settle it. Wolfsbane will be released at an as-yet-undecided date next year.

I rate Nightshade 5 out of 5.

In the comments, tell me, if you've read Nightshade, whether you're on Team Ren or Team Shay (I'm traditionally on the same team as the main character, so, Team Shay for me). If you haven't read Nightshade, tell me if you'd consider it after this review. And if you're not, tell me what you'd like to see me review next.

Review of Tangled by Carolyn Mackler

I borrowed Tangled from my local library (after requesting they stock it) a month or so ago, and then promptly put it on my to-review list. One of the reasons I read Tangled was because it was featured on www.yareads.com a few months ago, and they're one of my favorite review sites. The other reason I read Tangled is because it featured a 'heartbreakingly beautiful' actress with my name, and it really should be criminal to put down a book that features your namesake with a description like that.

So Tangled is from the first person perspective from five teenagers united by their mutual holiday in Paradise (the Caribbean resort). The book is split into four parts over four months, one for each character. Tangled is ultimately about how the lives of four people with the thinnest of connections can intertwine and how seemingly inconsequential interactions can affect the lives of those around you.

The book opens from the perspective of Jenna, who goes to Paradise with her mother's friend's family. She's an avid collector of quotes, and reads about lives much cooler than her own. In Paradise, she tries to live the exciting life she only finds in her books. There, instead, she has her first brush with romance, and consequently, her first brush with heartbreak.

The next section is from Dakota's perspective, who came to Paradise with his family. His on-and-off girlfriend recently died in a car crash with the boy she was seeing on the side. He hoped to forget his past in Paradise, but instead it led him to the conclusion that despite the past that haunts him, he doesn't have to be the same Dakota from that past.

Skye comes to Paradise on holiday with her mother (Jenna's mother's friend). She's an out-of-work teenage actress with an inexplicably depressive demeanor. In Paradise she finds out the truth about her father, who, contrary to what her mother told her, killed himself due to his bipolar disorder. Skye, now with comprehension of where her suicidal thoughts come from, seeks help.

The final installment of the book comes from the perspective of Owen, Dakota's younger brother. Owen's a computer-obsessed, anti-social, and generally anxious teen. His mother sends him to a program for fellow computer-obsessors. Prior to this 'camp' of sorts, he picks up contact with Jenna, who saw him blogging in Paradise.

The ending of Tangled really sums up the moral of the book: how lives intertwine and tangle as a result of forgranted actions. Owen breaks out of the camp (with the reformed, nicer Dakota's help) and his comfort zone to meet Jenna in person, in the apartment that Skye gave Jenna access to as a thank you for urging her into help.

After reading Tangled, a Prinz honor book (I said in an early review how much I love Prinz award-winning novels), I'm interested in reading Carolyn Mackler's other novels, which I hear great things about. I give Tangled a 5 out of 5.

Review of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Again I'm ignoring my promised books to review. Instead, I'm reviewing Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, because of the Wesley Scroggins incident that has authors and readers 'speaking loudly'.

I read Speak roughly a month ago, due to great reviews of it from friends and on the internet. Also because it was a Printz Award honor book, and I always find myself fond of Printz Award winners.

The blurb of Speak reads:
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth.

So Speak begins as Melinda starts the school year friendless, alone, and depressed. She has a highly disfunctional family, literally no friends, and thus no one to talk to. She rarely even speaks.

Throughout the narration of Melinda's bleak days at school and home, she lets on in flashbacks the events that lead up to her current state of friendlessness. She broke up a party the year before when she called the cops. The people who despise her for doing so have no idea that she was, in fact, raped at that party.

Melinda initially refuses to speak up about her abuse, and suffers through seeing the rapist at school day after day, being constantly reminded of it. Eventually, she speaks up.

Speak is a story that many girls could relate to. Every two minutes, someone in the USA is sexually assaulted. Forty-four percent of those people are women under the age of 18. It's common for rape victims to not speak up about their ordeal. Speak is an inspiring story for anyone; but specifically for those women, it encourages them to speak out.

Scroggins' opinion piece calls for censorship of this book, calling it "soft pornography" because of the two rape scenes it features. That label alone is both invalid and horrible. Pornography is designed to incite sexual excitement - to imply that rape is at all exciting for the victim is just plain sick.

Other authors targetted by Scroggins - such as Sarah Ockler, author of Twenty Boy Summer - and readers are Speaking Loudly against Scroggins' piece and against censorship. Both Saundra Mitchell and CJ Redwine, favorite authors of mine, have Spoken Loudly on their blogs, in brilliant fashion (Mitchell's post here, and Redwine's here).

Speak is a book everyone should be able to read. Censorship stands in the way of that - it decides for you what you can and cannot read. I give Speak a 5/5.

Review of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I have this inclination to buy any book that I've heard of before that my library doesn't stock whenever I see it in a store. That's what happened to make me read Thirteen Reasons Why. I'd heard of it from a friend, couldn't find it at my local library, but then bought it on impulse when I saw it.





The blurb reads:

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

The premise of this book is quite intriguing. Asher said in a interview printed in the back of the paperback of the book that he likes books with unusual formats. His debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, had that unusual format. It had two simultaneous narratives running: one told first-person from Clay's perspective, and the other told by the late Hannah Baker through her suicide tapes.

Though the premise was interesting, and the prose was well written, Hannah's character really irked me. In her tapes, she comes off as melodramatic and overly sarcastic for someone so supposedly depressed. The events leading up to her suicide don't seem serious enough to make her take her own life. For instance, (mild spoiler warning), the first tape details her first kiss with Justin Foley, and the subsequent rumors that more than kissing was done. I can understand some melancholy about that situation - but sending the tapes onto him, making him feel unneccessarily guilty?

Though, after the tapes are finished, and Clay sends the tapes on, the book does improve. In between listening to the tapes, Clay narrates his trek around town, following all the places Hannah talks about. More than once, he sees a girl from school named Skye (this is the first time I've ever read of a character with my name)(also, another spoiler warning). He describes her as once popular and bubbly, but now more reserved and sad. She portrayed all the characteristics that Hannah did preceding her suicide. During the tapes, Clay expresses guilt at not trying harder to help Hannah, and for not noticing her downfall. The book ends with Clay calling after Skye in the hallway, doing for her what he failed to do for Hannah.

I found out after reading this that someone had actually made Hannah's tapes, and they can be found at http://hannahsreasons.blogspot.com/.

My final verdict is that I'd be interested in future releases from Jay Asher, and I give his debut a 3 out of 5.

Review of Paper Towns by John Green

I read Paper Towns simply because I'm a die hard nerdfighter (click here to see what I'm on about) and John Green is one of my favorite authors.

The cover to the hardcover Paper Towns is interesting in itself (what you see picture left is the paperback cover, which I own). There are actually two covers, one picturing Margo happy, and the other picturing Margo sad. This will be explained later in the review.





So, Paper Towns opens with a prologue about a young Quentin (the main character, known as Q to his friends) and a young Margo (his neighbour) finding a body in the park. The book isn't a murder mystery, as you would expect from that opening. In fact, the body has little to no significance later in the novel except as something Q reflects on. But, what I love about this plot element is how Margo comments, while considering that the man committed suicide, "maybe all the strings inside of him broke." That, in my opinion, is a beautiful way to describe an ugly thing.

Back to the present, Quentin is eighteen and his graduation is just around the corner. One night, seemingly out of nowhere, Margo coerces him to join in her in midnight mayhem. These days, Margo is popular, and Q's a nerd, and so, they aren't friends, per se. But Q has always loved her. The day after this, Margo goes missing.

Q finds from Margo's parents that this isn't exactly uncommon, and they decide not to even try to find her this time. Q decides to follow the tenuous clues she left him: a poster in her window facing his, a Walt Whitman poem, and whatever he recalls from their conversation the night before about living in a 'paper town'. Thanks to a certain Nerdfighter tumblr, I can give you the actual quote:

"Look at all those cul-de-sacs, the streets that turn in on themselves all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people in their paper houses burning the furniture to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking the beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail."

In John Green's own words, "Paper Towns is about love and loss and a Walt Whitman poem". He also says that "Paper Towns is about what we do and do not see when we imagine each other".

A recurring idea through the book is how people see each other, thus the hardcover covers. Everyone Margo knew imagined her differently, none wrong or right. She could be interpreted as Happy Margo, by the people who knew her as popular in school. Sad Margo, by people like Q who got a glimpse of how she was behind the facade she wore at school. Though Q originally thinks of Margo as his miracle, he begins to realise that she's just a girl.

Paper Towns is a perfect mix of humor and heartbreak, a winner of the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery, and studied as part of English curriculum in schools. I give it a 5 out of 5.