What if you Lived Your Last Day...Again...and Again...and Again...

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Review: At first, watching Sam was painful—she’s spoiled, bratty, and mean to her classmates. Everything you wanted to forget about being a teenager—cliques, shallowness, the insular world, senseless cruelty, the obsession with popularity--it is all there and too accurate to want to revisit, for me. The dialogue and characters’ thoughts are dead-on.

I kept reading because I wanted to see Sam redeem herself soooo bad. What really attracts us, draws us in to this book… we all hope we’ll have one second chance after another in life, especially when we need it the most.

Song to Read By: “Got You Where I Want You” by The Flys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM_OWaItNJM

Note: Before I Fall is a book for older teens, because it had a lot of older teen concerns and content, including drinking/debauchery, sex, and language.

To Love or Not to Love? That is the Question!

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Review: This book ensnares you and won’t let go. The premise is intriguing (what if love were considered a disease and you must be ‘Cured’), but the book has a great balance of action and deliberation. There were plenty of beautiful descriptions of Portland and the ocean, sky, homes, and the Wild. The setting was realistic enough, which contributed to the believability of the plot. The plot twists just kept coming. I didn’t predict what would happen. I truly cared about the main character and wanted to hear more about Alex’s past and the Lena’s mother.

Favorite quote: “Poetry isn’t like any writing I’ve ever heard before. I don’t understand all of it, just bits and images, sentences that appear half-finished, all fluttering together like brightly colored ribbons in the wind” (p.295).

Update: I just found out Delirium is the beginning of a trilogy—the next book is called Pandemonium.

Song to Read by: "Fireflies" by Owl City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4