A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tori's Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver


Hardcover
- 480 pages
Price:
$17.99
ISBN 10:
006172680X 
ISBN 13: 978-0061726804
Released:
March 2, 2010

Lauren's Website
Buy it via the Publisher
Buy it via Amazon

Obtained: Borrowed from Karen (For What It's Worth)
Genre: Young Adult
Series: 
1. Before I Fall








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—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.


My Rating:
This book has received The Faerie of Honor rating. (What is this?)

My Opinion:
If someone asked me what I thought of BEFORE I FALL, here's what I would say: Amazing. Spectacular. Breathtaking. I would be gushing about this book so much that the poor person wouldn't be able to understand half of what I was saying due to my excitement and inability to properly express how I felt about it. Then I would squeal and insist they read this novel pronto.

It's rare to find a book that affects you so profoundly that it makes you think, laugh, tear up, grow angry, and impossibly sad all throughout the span of a couple hundred pages. And yet, when it happens, when I stumble upon such a book, I'm blown away and am so incredibly thankful and thrilled that I was granted the privilege to read a book like that.

I thought I was going to hate Sam and this story. The beginning had me iffy, just because of how prissy Sam was in the first place. I could not relate with her character simply because I was never in her position in high school. But the character development throughout the entire story... oh my gosh, I went from loathing Sam to absolutely adoring the girl. I didn't think it was possible. Lauren's characters are 3D and I swear I thought they would walk out of the pages and strike up a conversation with me at any given moment.

It's not just the characterization either. The dialogue, the creativity with the scenes, the faintest hint of a bittersweet romance (that almost brought me to tears at the end due to the ending).... this book is a masterpiece.

BEFORE I FALL is the embodiment of what I wish YA books were like. There's no impossibly annoying love triangle that is so typical in the debut YAs nowadays. Sam's perception of love was written in a way that made me instantaneously relate with and value her as a character. She truly thought she was in love, despite the niggling snippets of doubt -- doubt that I also had as a teenager when I thought I was in love. In fact, during those particular moments, I swear I thought Lauren took an instance from my life and rewrote it.

Everything in this book rang true and genuine. Which is funny, because in most YAs, I want to scream and slap the heroine for bouncing back and forth between wondering if she loves one guy or the other in such a stupidly, immature fashion. It never comes off as genuine in those books, and it annoys me. It seems like it's added just so that there's more tension for the story/plot, instead of it being about the heroine's inner struggle.

BEFORE I FALL has easily squirmed its way into one of my top favorite books, not only in 2010, but also... ever. Lauren Oliver is pure genius, and I must say that she has now become an auto-buy for me. I borrowed a copy of BIF from a friend, but will definitely buy the hardcover ASAP... and I suggest you do the same :)

11 comments:

  1. I have this book on my shelf and I have yet to read it! Shame on me, huh?

    Awesome review<3

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  2. i read this book after all the praise I've heard about it but honestly,I couldn't see it.It was good,but not that good.In my opinion, that is!I think her friends' behaviour put me off at first but then I realised that was not it.What put me off,was that Sam,even though she had all these opportunities to change and make things right, she still justifies her friends' behaviour as "natural".I just can't accept that.

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  3. I've heard a lot about Before I Fall. I must read it. It's sounds great. I agree with you about so many YA books having the love triangle. Seems like that is a must in the YA genre nowadays, but it shouldn't be.

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  4. Yay! Great review Tori, you're spot on!

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  5. I absolutely LOVED delirium by lauren oliver and am definitely picking this one soon.

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  6. Sandy, yessss! You should read it very soon, it's one of those books that just. wow. No words. Amazing.


    Aten, it's okay. There are plenty of books out there right now people go rabid over. When I read them, I'm like WTF how could anyone be that obsessed with it?!? It happens ;)

    Which behavior are you talking about? Sam adjusts certain events so that that kind of behavior is avoided.


    Lou, there's something wrong with a genre if all its authors/books heavily focus on a love triangle to keep the story going/interesting. This one is a nice escape from the triangles :)


    Thanks Eleni! :)


    S, I hope you enjoy it! I'll be reading Delirium very, very soon hehe...

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  7. @Tori Basically her friends acting a bit snobby and bitchy(sorry for the term, I know it's taboo nowadays!)to other not so popular kids.
    And she is like "well, what can you do?Things were always like that and they will always be like that"
    Well, no!That's why you have an opportunity to change them!

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  8. So you liked it....you really liked it! LOL
    I'm so glad I loaned you a book that helped you with your reading slump. Hope it works for me too!

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  9. Ohh yeah. To be honest, I think this was a book about changing Sam. Plus, don't you think her friends will be affected by Sam's death? If the girl went out of her way to save someone's life, and think her friends will realize that to at least some degree.

    Plus, it's important to remember that the only person you can change is yourself. Trying to change other people is not only disrespectful, but I think it's impossible lol.


    Karen, YES I DID LOL. Who would have guessed? The book just kept staring at me on my desk until I finally said to hell with it and read it. Staying up til 3am reading 3/4ths of the damn thing. I hope you enjoy it too :)

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  10. Glad you loved it too! It was truly a great book :)

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  11. I have this book from the library right now, but I wasn't going to read it until I read your review. I think I probably will now. Thanks, adn great review!


    check out my blog at
    http://realreviews-yaf.blogspot.com/

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