2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

I've had this one on my kindle for some time now because the premise intrigued me, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I plan to read it for week 15.

I've decided to read Before I Fall this week as well! It has been on my to read list for awhile now and when I saw that it was the authors first book it just made sense! I am about 40 pages in and I can't say that I like Samantha very much. She's kinda a spoiled brat, lol. I'm hoping as the story goes on she will mature.

I finished this book today and I really liked everything about it except for the ending. I guess I'm just a sucker for a happy ending which this book does not have. I really enjoyed Sam and Kent's relationship and wish there would have been more of it. I loved how Sam changed and matured, I just wish there had been more to the ending as well. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I did like the authors writing style. She kept the story interesting and I will probably read more of her books.

Great to hear your thoughts, Keri! I am about halfway through the book now (made a lot of progress today while getting my car's oil changed). I was mostly annoyed with Sam at first, but she seems to be coming around slowly and learning how her actions affect others. The only thing that's annoying me about the book really is it feels like a "done before" kind of thing. Waking up and reliving the same day over and over has been done many times... so far I haven't seen anything to make this book stand out as unique or different in this category of stories.

Finished this last week, but just now getting aroudn to updating. Here's my final review:

*****

This book has been sitting around on my Kindle for quite some time now, waiting to be read. I can't remember why I bought it initially, but it just wasn't capturing my "read it now" instincts. Then for a challenge I had to read an author's first book, and this one fit the bill as well as gave me an excuse to cross an already-owned book off my list.

The plot wasn't particularly creative. The main character relives a day in her life over and over again, which has been seen in numerous storylines before. I've seen many reviews of this book calling it a "Mean Girls/Groundhog Day" crossover. Sounds about right.

Samantha is definitely a "mean girl" type of girl. She's attractive, in the popular crowd, and not afraid to put herself and her friends in front of others. After finishing the first chapter of this story, I was kind of appalled and figured this would end up with a two star rating for me, because the attitudes of Samantha and her friends were just ... ugh. Reminded me far too much of those girls in high school who made my life miserable. But I hung in there for the sake of the challenge, and for the hope that Samantha would become more likable over the course of the novel.

And while I didn't really like her a lot more by the end, she did change a fair amount and learn a lot about how her actions have an affect on those around her, much like dominoes.

But here's the thing. None of that ends up mattering.

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER HERE:
(view spoiler)[At least in my interpretation of the ending, Samantha dies while saving Juliet. Which, you know, great selfless act and all, the culmination of seven days of learning. But ... since she dies, she doesn't go out in the world for the rest of her life acting on her new lessons. She doesn't teach her bitchy friends how to be better people. In fact, since her friends have no memory of these repeated days, they haven't learned a damn thing, except to be completely confused as to why Samantha suddenly becomes obsessed with risking her life to save this "loser". Even the explanation given to Lindsay is on a different version of the day, so who knows if Lindsay makes the connection between herself and Juliet's decision, let alone Samantha's.

So while Samantha has saved Juliet's life (for now... who's to say Juliet won't just try again? Especially if Lindsay et. al. continue to treat her like shit)

... her family and little sister are probably devastated (especially since, as far as they are concerned, she only that morning started to appear to appreciate them)

... Kent is heartbroken (especially since, as far as he is concerned, she suddenly began paying attention to him after he has suffered years of relationship angst).

... her friends are upset to lose one of their group (especially since she has offered no explanation of why she chose to jump in front of a vehicle to save Juliet).

Is this really better? Is Juliet going to go on and cure cancer or something?!

I mean, throughout most of the book I was very pro-Juliet, relating far more to her than I did to Samantha who reminded me a lot of the girls who made my life miserable as a tween/teen. But ... I dunno. Something about this is just horribly unsatisfying. Better if she manages to save Juliet and live herself to continue treating people better for the rest of her life as a result of this daily repetition. (hide spoiler)]

Ok right. But things I liked. I think the author did a great job of capturing the ins and outs of high school, both the good and the bad. I think the relationship between Samantha and Kent was really well done, and I wish there had been even more days to see if she could get it "just right". I loved how we got to see how all of the actions and events were intertwined, and that many of them didn't become obvious until multiple repeated days had gone by... it wouldn't have been as powerful if she'd figured it all out quickly. I also loved that she wasn't able to fix everything -- some things just have too much history to be magically solved in a day, and other things just don't work out despite your best intentions (the parking spot!).

I think the author did a great job. I just don't like that it was all ... pointless.

I COMPLETELY agree Deana!!! I was really hoping for a better ending.

This sounds interesting! I've heard a lot about Lauren Oliver's Delirium series.