Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman's If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others.

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam 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 ever imagined.

Named to numerous state reading lists, this novel was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, The Daily Beast, NPR, and Publishers Weekly. It has been optioned for film by Fox 2000 Pictures.

Supports the Common Core State Standards.

Samantha Kingston narrated this story “Before I Fall”.  It was a first person narration.  The narrator was a reliable source about her own feelings and thoughts but, not everybody else’s.   This book was set in a small town where Samantha goes to high school and she is a popular teen there.  The setting makes a difference as the book revolves around high school teenagers and their issues.  Including but not limited to bullying and suicide and drinking and drugs.   

I think what the book was trying to say was that sometimes thing you say and do have a bigger impact than you realise and sometimes it is like a domino effect.  There was a quote which showed this message “It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”   

The book was contemporary with a slight bit of romance.  However, it was more about death.  A lot of other books which I have read in this genre are similar.  There is a lot of hope in these books.  A lot of wondering what is going to happen next.  A lot of praying that somehow things are going to turn out alright.  Even though you know that is probably not going to happen and these type of books if they are written well always make me cry.

The author’s name is Lauren Oliver and I have not read any other books by her.   So I can’t really compare other books because I don’t know.

So, basically Samantha died while her best friend was drunk driving and they crashed.  However, instead of dying she had to relive her last day 7 times.  Each time Samantha started realising things about her life she hadn’t before and it shocked her and she tried to change it.  Sometimes there are only certain things you can change and yet you hold all the power.

I liked the book.  I was glad that Samantha realised what a bitch she was by the end of the book.  I think it was fitting that you cannot change death but, you can make as little changes as you can in other people’s lives.  I liked the idea of reliving her last day seven times.  I wonder what I would change if I relived my last day seven times.

I loved a quote in this book and I keep on going back to it.  “So many things become beautiful when you really look.”  which is so true.  You go to life just glancing at things.  Everyone does it so you can’t even deny it.  Sometimes you really need to observe.

One thing I did not like about the book was her relationship with Kent.  The relationship as a whole was sweet but,  ( now I guess this is personal opinion ) I thought what she did to him was unnecessary.  She knew she was going to die.  I thought it was mean to make him go through that.  But, then again he might have gone through it anyways and how do you stop self - realisation I guess.    Saying goodbye must have been so hard for Samantha.  

I would read other books by the author.  Completely.   Though some of her books are science fiction.  I really liked this book so the author deserves more books to be read which are by her.  

I would encourage other people to read this book because I want other people to realise what a big impact actions can make on people.  How they can make and break people’s lives.  Also because I loved the book :)

4/5 Umbrellas :)

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer ( Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1 ) - Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . . 

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer is a new series by the world famous Rick Riordan.  He is Annabeth Chase’s cousin.  If you have read Percy Jackson, you know who I am talking about.  If you haven’t go and read it! You are missing out ( then you will know who I am talking about and you would have fallen in love with her, just like I have ).

Anyways, we are not talking about Percy Jackson here.  We are talking about Magnus and he is pretty hilarious.  One thing I love about Rick Riordan is that his characters never act mature and like they know exactly what the world has in store for them.  They are sarcastic.  They mess up an amazing amount of times and they are real.  I love Rick Riordan’s characters ( which now include Magnus and Blitz and Hearth and Sam and all of the other secondary characters which had an impact in this book ).

This book was set in Boston and a million other places.  It was set in the present time but, in a world where norse gods and Egyptian gods and Greek gods all exist.   I will not be surprised if Rick Riordan comes up with a book with the Hindu gods and goddesses once.  ( I would so love to read that book ).  

I think due to being set in such a world, it makes mythology so much more interesting.  Something we would learn about in our history lesson which would be really boring is suddenly something we want to learn about.  

The overall theme of the book was Norse mythology which I talked about in the previous paragraph.  It was about Norse gods and the different norse gods like Frey and Freya and Idon.  

Another thing about this book that I loved were the titles.  They were hilarious and they made the book so much more entertaining.  Every time I entered a new chapter, I tried to guess what the chapter was about based on the title.

The ending was great.  The heroes got what they deserved.  In the middle of the book I had been complaining that Magnus was not a fighter but, in the end that was confirmed that no Magnus was not a fighter but, that does not mean he could not stop the villains in other ways and that is exactly what he did.  He used his powers of healing and nurture and growth and goodness in his heart to stop the villains which may not work practically but, this book is anything but practical.

I have read a lot of books by Rick Riordan.  The famous Percy Jackson series.  Heroes of Olympus.  The Red Pyramid series.  This may not be as great as those books but, it certainly was up to that level.  So, I would obviously read more books by this author and I will recommend it to other people to read if they have not read it already.

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Wow! Now that's a book to read! What I liked about this book was that it was ingenious. It was a different idea from most other books I have read and it was not generic.
I have never heard of a girl having an allergy to everything outside before and being trapped inside a house because it is impossible for her to go outside but, apparently it is a rare disease which actually exists which scares me. Imagine a life like that. I thought Madeleine was extremely smart for a girl who did not know all the obvious things most children would grow up with. Not knowing what it was like to be outdoors, hang out with friends, go out for movies or parties or shopping. I mean, there is so much out there which we just take for granted and Maddy is extremely strong willed not to miss any of that. But, then again how do you miss something when you never had it in the first place? But, wouldn't she want to know what was out there. Who was out there other than her mother and Carla, her nurse.
I loved her nurse, Carla. I thought she really believed in Maddy and I thought she was like the mother even though the mother was right there. She was always allowing Maddy to live and telling her that its ok to get the bad feelings as well as the good.
Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, I want a love interest like that. Just that amazing and caring and considerate and even though he knows everything about her, there is to be known and knowing how impossible being together is, still wanting to try, not running away at the first sign of trouble.
Her mother was interesting. I had nothing against her in the beginning of the book. I just thought that she was like a child. Like she wanted to be taken care of more than Maddy did. It was all about her mother. She gets lonely when Maddy does not spend time with her, even though she can still go outside and work and see the world when Maddy can't.
The book was well written. I loved the illustrations and the small chapters in the middle with the diaries and the dictionaries and all the other stuff. I just loved this book!! Everyone should read it!

☂☂☂☂☂

Fixer ( Fixer #1 ) - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This thriller YA is Scandal meets Veronica Mars.

Sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’ problems.

And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.

Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Heist Society, readers will be clamoring for this compelling teen drama with a political twist.

From the moment I started this book to the moment I ended it, I do not think I got time to breathe. If people are looking for suspense in ya, this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked that there were no pretences, there was no holding back. The main character Tess was strong and confident and knew who she was where she lived. However, when she was sent to live with her sister Ivy, everything she knew was thrown for a loop. Ivy was a fixer, a problem solver in politics who made problems and messes go away or come out. She was powerful in the world of politics and Tess found herself being swooped up in that world.
In Hardwicke, a private school which she had been enrolled in, Tess started solving problems and becoming like her sister Ivy but, that was not always a good thing. The problems took her into secrets she should not have known and made her have a huge target on her back. With her friends she had made during private school who all had powerful parents who had something to do with what was going on, Tess found herself in a huge scandal which was a danger to everyone around her as well as herself.
Every secret uncovered was a breath I had to hold. Every mystery discovered made me grip the handles of my chair. I was scared 99% of the book and that was a good thing because it got emotion out of me.
In previous books I reviewed I always complained about there being no anticipation build up. No waiting for something to happen. Everything being told and therefore no excitement coming out of the books.
This book about made up for all those books that ran dry around double times.
I loved this book. I am not going into detail about the characters but let me tell you this. All of them, Tess, Vivvie, Asher, Henry, Ivy, Adam, Bodie and all those other politicians that made life hell for these people as well as the secondary characters were well developed. They all made an impact on the story in their own way. They all were smart, even the villains. The plot was great, the characters were great. I just want to read the next book!!! 

☂☂☂☂

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Well, this is interesting. I am not going to write much in this review because sometimes even if you liked a book, there is not much you can say which will not spoil the fun of the book for somebody else and  because there is not much I can say except that I loved this book. I loved this book with all my heart. I loved how it changed my outlook of life from existing to living. From just taking it a day at a time to taking it in a giant leap. I loved how it changed my outlook on taking one's life.
Lou was just looking for a job. She had a steady boyfriend, a loving family, she was just looking to make ends meet. Fate landed her with Will. A quadriplegic who lived in a wheelchair after a horrific accident. What makes it worse was that Will was extremely active before the accident and now he was helpless which made him bitter.
However, Lou made him see the light and she brightened up her day but, sometimes even being faced with pure love is not enough and Lou loved him and he loved her. They found love in the most unlikely of circumstances. Patrick had no time for her and she was spending day and night with Will. There were going to be some feelings emerging. Thats exactly what happened.  
I think this book was inspiring even though it had a sucky ending. I think we all expected it not to work out though because honestly who would want to live the way Will was living. I don't blame him. I honestly hope that Lou gets her happy ending because she deserves it after all the heartbreak she is going through and honestly Lou as well as we should thank Will, because Will taught Lou to live to her heart's content and in the end, thats all that matters.

☂☂☂☂

I'll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

I must say I was not very eager to read this book when I first started reading it. It took me some time to get used to the overload of thoughts and emotions that were overwhelming this book. However, I loved how the story was told in two parts by the different twins. It gives a sense of suspense and anticipation as well as mystery of what happened before to make it happen this way. It is interesting to see how these twins had split so far apart and yet were never far from each other. Never in the sense of position could they bear being away from their twin sibling. Whether it was protecting them through another person. Whether it was sneaking around, stealing stuff that was in their twin's possession, they never stopped loving each other and looking out for each which I found really sweet.
Jude and Noah couldn't be more of a different set of twins. They were complete opposites in every way. But, in a year when everything changed, they grew apart. They became acquaintances and their personalities changed completely making the other twin wanting their old personalities back and making them completely lost in who they were trying to be.
After all that they had been through, they deserved a happy ending and I am so glad they got one. I am so glad everything worked out for the better and they realising who they were and were confident in themselves. Being with them through the journey was amazing and so enlightening. This book tackled issues like gay rights, bullying, art, drugs and drinking, sex. All in one book and not even by tackling the issues specifically, just by bringing it up and making us understand how important and life altering these issues are.
All the secondary characters, Brian and the Italian sculptor and Oscar and how everything was interconnected was unbelievable. This book was all about thoughts and therefore you knew everything through Jude and Noah's eyes and that made everything so much.

☂☂☂☂☂

Court - Cat Patrick

Court was a book written in four point of views.  This got me a bit confused as I kept on jumping back and forth.  I liked all four characters to a point.  I started sympathising with Haakon in the middle of the book and hated him by the end.  I liked the way Cat ( the author ) developed the characters.   There were no black and white characters in this book.  They were all shades of grey.   There was no definite villain and you did not trust anybody in the beginning of the book.  Everyone was suspicious and kept up the suspense.   The book certainly kept up the suspense.   However, I think the book ended on an incomplete note, I think it was too open ended and we still want to know what happens next? Some people might like an open ended book but, I personally don't.  Thats my opinion.
The plot was basically about this country which was a monarchy in the middle of modern United States.   I found this a bit too unbelievable.  How could no one have found out about this different country.  Wouldn't someone have got suspicious?  I just don't think this is realistic.  Its not like a fantasy fiction where non - believable things are encouraged.  This is a dystopian fiction that is set in the modern world about a country which is hidden in one of the most developed countries in the world.

The Characters
Haakon - Haakon was an interesting character.  He vowed not to be like his dad when he becomes king and he changed the most from the beginning to end.   He was a bit of a player and he let drinks and drugs cloud his judgement as well as grief.  He was brainwashed very easily by people who did not want the best for the monarchy.
Alexander - Haakon's best friend who struggled going against the beliefs and the orthodox ways of the people in the monarchy.   He hated what his best friend had become and stood up against him.  I think Alexander needs to be developed further.  I wanted to know more about him.
Mary - A commoner in the monarchy whose mom left to go to United States leaving her and her father to fend for themselves.  I loved Mary's character.  I loved her bravery, her dealing with grief and her courage to stand out no matter what other people thought.  I commended her throughout the book for having a strong head on her shoulders and not believing everything that was thrown at her.
Gwendolyn - I was a little confused about Gwendolyn's character.  She had a bit of a insta love and I found her to be very chic - lit type, running away from her parents and her arranged marriage with Haakon.  I thought her friends in the democracy were her true friends and that got turned around.  In the end she suddenly got courage.  I don't think Gwendolyn's character was developed well.

All in All it was an ok book

I gave it three umbrellas

☂☂☂