Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

My rating: 4/5 Stars

“Here’s another thing to remember: hope keeps you alive. Even when you’re dead, it’s the only thing that keeps you alive.“

When I initially started reading this book, I didn’t think I was going to finish it. Not because it was nearly 500 pages in length but because the first 90 or so pages weren’t particularly exciting and didn’t help that the main character ‘Sam’ isn’t the most like-able person in the world.

She’s pretty much your stereotypical mean girl, but of course not as mean as Lindsay, the leader of the squad. She’s the one mean girl in the group who still has a little bit of conscience left and mostly goes along with being mean to fit in..yadayada you get the drift.

However, things do pick up once the accident occurs and you realize that Sam is stuck in a constant loop, reliving the day she died over and over and over again.

I think what really gets you hooked with this one is that you (the reader) are just as confused and frustrated as Sam. What does she have to do to make this constant loop stop? Is it ever even going to stop? Did she do enough? If she saves herself does that mean someone else dies? Is all this just a dream? Aghhh!

I still can’t decide if I liked or hated the ending. Probably the latter seeing as I threw my book across the room and screamed “WHY???” . (Not dramatic at all).

I’m waiting for the movie to be out online so I can watch it. I hope it’s half as good as the book.

Update: The movie was not half as good as the book.

 

Batgirl Volume 3: Death of The Family by Gail Simone and Daniel Sampere

My rating: 4/5 Stars

Out of Volumes 1-3, this was the one I enjoyed the most. Great story. & I loved seeing the rest of the Bat Family.

Side note: I can come across Robin’s death a million times and it still wouldn’t hurt any less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick 

My rating: 3.5/5 Stars

“And then one day you will look for yourself in the mirror and you’ll no longer be able to identify yourself – you’ll only see everyone else. You’ll know that you did what they wanted you to do. You will have assimilated. And you will hate yourself for it, because it will be too late”.

Despite my average rating, I do believe this is a really important book. It is simple, honest , beautiful and thought-provoking. It is a book about self-discovery and the difficulty of growing up.

“And I wondered if that was the problem with literature — it made sense only in theoretical situations and didn’t often help in real life, where it took a hell of a lot more courage to live than to turn pages all alone, hidden away from the world in a corner or a bed or under a tree.”

Reading this book feels like having all your innermost thoughts being laid flat out on paper. In the moment, I 100% enjoyed reading this book. However, I could also tell the characters wouldn’t be memorable to me. To be honest, I’ve already forgotten all their names…hence the 3.5 rating.