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I'm kind of torn. I know I promised to blog about THE RECKONING ages ago, and then I kind of forgot, so really I should talk about that one first. But I finished this other amazing book today (BEFORE I FALL) and I kind of really want to talk about that one too. I want to talk about both of them, but I suspect that would take up a lot of room and I'd hate to go on for so long that I get boring and fail to interest you in these awesome books.

So I propose the following solution: A COMPROMISE! I'll try to be brief, if you'll keep reading and trust me that these books are worth it. Kay? Kay.

First up, THE RECKONING by Kelley Armstrong. I should start off by telling you that it's the third book in a trilogy, so please please please don't just go out and pick up this book from the shelves of your library or Barnes & Noble unless you've already read THE SUMMONING and THE AWAKENING.

The premise of the series is that Chloe Saunders sees dead people. She gets put into a group home for troubled children. But Lyle House turns out to be a home for supernaturals - kids with magical powers. Supernatural powers are hereditary in this world that Armstrong has created, but Chloe, Simon, Derek, Liz, Tori, and Rae (among others) are special. And the Edison Group made them that way through genetic experimentation. The kids' superpowers scare them - and so they want them gone.

I'm really not sure how much more I can say without providing way more spoilers than I am remotely willing to give, but you'll just have to trust me that the fast-moving storyline and incredibly well-developed characters make these novels compelling and interesting and lots of fun to read. I absolutely recommend them. But please read them in order. Also definitely check out Kelley Armstrong's website and the Darkest Powers trilogy website.

Now I'm worried that I didn't do a good enough job pitching them. They're awesome, guys. Readreadread.

And now I get to talk about BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver. Oh my gosh, you guys. It was amazing.

So, I have to confess, for the first quarter, maybe the first third of the book, I didn't like it at all. I was reading it because my dad (who read it for a YA lit class that he teaches) asked me what I thought of it (IknowIknow - reading chick lit because my dad told me to? Weird, right?), and what I thought of it was "typical trash novel. Sex, alcohol, pot, the popular crowd. Yuck."

I was wrong. Yes, at the beginning of the novel, Samantha ("Sam") Kingston and her friends, Lindsay, Ally, and Elody, are - there's no other word for it - bitchy. They're mean to everyone, they're bullies just because they can be, they can get away with anything and do whatever they want. They talk about sex a lot, and they drink a lot just because they can, and they smoke and cut class and all that other stuff that gives teenagers a bad reputation.

But then Sam dies. And after her nightmarish last day, she wakes up again the same morning. She relives her last day seven times over. During this miraculous final week, she changes. Sam starts to understand things about the world around her, and about herself. The question is, will one day be enough to change everything?

By the end of the novel, I didn't hate Sam or her friends. I will confess that there were a couple of parts near the end that almost made me cry. I sat down and read the entire second half of the novel this afternoon, even though I had(/still have) a DBQ to do for APUSH. It was fantastic. Lauren Oliver has some kind of magic with storytelling, to be able to create a character so real and to change the reader's attitude toward her so completely. It is absolutely worth suffering through the first couple of long chapters (although the prologue may be compelling enough on its own; very well set up) to get to the rest of the story. READ IT. Please.

You can find out more about the author and the book on Lauren Oliver's website. You guys, I cannot get this story out of my head. Read it. It's fantastic.

Love,
Bex