Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Before I Fall

The start of this book is kind of slow and irritating because Sam is not the greatest person but that’s the point. As she relives this day over and over she obviously starts changing. This book did make me cry. I also liked the ending even though I did cry because it’s not what you expect.

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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I couldn’t decide what to read. It was between two books and I can’t quite remember the other one. So I decided to do what any normal person would do in this situation and that was to let my dog pick what book I should read. I held up the two books and said pick one. She picked this one by putting her nose on the book and boy, does Shelby have good taste because this was an amazing book. I devoured it in just a few sittings. I didn’t want it to end, if I’m being honest.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like the type of book anyone, let alone me, would enjoy. The MC, Sam, is your typical mean girl with your typical mean girl best friends. Like who wants to read a book about that? I know that I don’t. I can’t stand the mean girl trope even if there ends up being some sort of redeeming quality at the end. Like the mean girl learns her lesson and is a better person. I just can’t stand that.

But this book is so much more! I very much regret judging this book so harshly. I need to stop that and let the book just speak for itself. It’s about Sam coming to grips with her past actions and behaviors, unlearning those toxic traits and trying to right those people she wronged in her life. I know I know, I said I didn’t like that kind of trope in the paragraph above. But this book, it did it so differently. There were a lot of ups and downs and I was just sucked in.

While I absolutely loved this book, all I felt was pain. It reminded me of the Song of Achilles. I knew I was going to be terribly hurt but I couldn’t stop myself from devouring the book. I had this pain in my heart that wouldn’t go away. Because I had a feeling that things weren’t going to end the way I wanted them too. I wanted and hoped for so much.

From now on, I’m letting Shelby pick all my books because she did an amazing job. Someone remind me to give her treats for this when I see her next month in November. But for real, I highly recommend this book. Don’t let the trope of the mean girl get to you. It’s so much more than that.

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