Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Samantha is not sure exactly what happened. She was at a party, something happened, there was an accident, and now she's repeating that last day over and over again. She sees new things, though, that make her question how she acted before. Is it too late to change things? Is there anything that she can do to save herself from whatever fate she met that night?

As I read this, I kept thinking, "What would you do if you knew today was your last day?" A question like that is often used as a justification or a call to live life with no regret, but really, if you knew today was all you had, how would you spend it? What choices would you make? Would you tie up loose ends? Could you make amends for past wrongs? And, running parallel to that question: "If you understood how your actions shape others, would you change how you act?" Taking these questions and putting them in high school is I think one of the reasons that Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall has been so successful.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Everafter by Amy Huntley
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin