Before I Die

Title: Before I Die
Author: Jenny Downham
I.S.B.N.: 978-1-862-30487-1

I bought this book while I was doing work experience earlier this year and once I started reading it, I was so absorbed in the story that I didn’t stop reading until it was done, (okay, that’s a lie, approximately one bathroom break and whatever amount of time it takes to eat a sandwich). Then when I was back at school Monday, I loaned it out to all of my friends and in the end twelve of us had all read it and we all had the same thing to say about it, Whoa! This is no book for the light at heart. It should really come with a free packet of Kleenex or at least a warning not to read it in a public place or people will become concerned over your mental well being.

The book tells the story of Tessa a seventeen year old with terminal leukaemia. But don’t feel too sorry for the ticking time bomb inside Tessa because with the help of her best friend Zoey have compiled a list of things she wants to do before she dies. The things on the list range from saying yes to everything for a day, to having sex for the first time to trying drugs. One thing that wasn’t on her list though was falling in love.

This book is genuine and Tessa is one of the most realistic fictional characters I have ever come across. The ending is perfect if heart breaking. It’s a story that will stick with you long after you finish it.

Rating: 8/10

Let's Get Lost

Title: Let’s Get Lost

Author: Sarah Manning

I.S.B.N.: 0-340-87701-4

I got this book out of my local library about a month ago, (it has yet to be returned, expecting an angry letter in the post any day now demanding it’s immediate return!) and ended up really liking it much to my surprise. You see, I started reading it about two weeks ago and after I read the first chapter I threw it down and forgot all about it. You know sometimes you’re not in the mood for a certain kind of book and feel you have to switch to another one? Well, I moved onto Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress… but that’s going to be a whole other review. Yesterday I picked Let’s Get Lost up again and started reading it and this time I was hooked.

The narrator of this novel is Isabel, an English teenager who has recently lost her mother due to reasons unknown to the reader, well unknown at the start anyway. But don’t go feeling sorry for Isabel she knows how to take care of herself, she’s the most popular/evil girl in the school and she isn’t afraid to stomp on anyone to show them whose boss. Then she meets Smith, a guy three years older than her and drop dead gorgeous. Unfortunately he doesn’t know that she’s a sixteen year old school girl and would never even think about giving her the time of day if he did. On the outside Isabel seems fine but on the inside she’s seriously messed up, her Dad blames her for her mother’s death and she does too. All of Isabel’s lies soon begin to catch up with her and she has to suffer the consequences as her world caves in.

Thoroughly enjoyed it and I even cried towards the end.

Rating: 9/10