Issue Two - Love

Each month, based on our theme, we’ll pick a book and the WRN? girlies will read it. In a chat room—sorry, not live—we’ll discuss the book and then post it to our web site for you to enjoy. Hopefully you’ll want to pick up the book and read it too. If you love it, feel free to post about it on our Facebook page. We love to hear your thoughts…ALWAYS!

This month we chatted about the book Before I Fall, a debut novelby Lauren Oliver. Readers get a front row seat in Samantha Kinston’s so-called-perfect life—a superior boyfriend, three totally popular BFF’s, and just about anything she wants at Thomas Jefferson High. Cupid Day shouldn’t be any different for her. But, when Samantha awakens the morning after a life-ending accident, she’s given a second chance. Actually, she’s given seven more chances to discover secrets and make things right. This novel is both heartwarming and heartbreaking all tangled up in a realistic world of a teenage girl.

Kerry: girlies...great read, no?
Jill: awesome! I couldn't put it down!
Michelle: one of my favs of all time
Kerry: yeah, me too!
Kerry: the MC was so believable.
Jill: and so realistic...I almost forgot it was fiction!
Michelle: loved the dialogue...felt real
Jill: yeah, it was completely high school. So dead on, right?
Kerry: completely
Michelle: friendships seemed totally real!
Kerry: one of my fav parts was when the author said
Kerry: it's like the idea of him is better than the him of him.
Kerry: haven't we all felt that at some time?
Jill: yeah, I think we've all had "that guy" in our life at some point
Michelle: yeah -- i get that!
Kerry: can even be more than a guy--life
Michelle: definitely jill
Jill: but Kent is so likeable, you're just rooting for him the whole way through
Michelle: whatcha mean kerry?
Kerry: mos def
Michelle: def rooting for kent
Jill: even though he's dorky, he's really not. I LOVED him!
Kerry: I mean, like even prom...the idea of prom can be better than the prom of prom, ya know?
Michelle: he's the cool one!
Michelle: oh definitely the idea of prom is better than prom
Michelle: lol
Jill: yeah, kerry. you can apply that to a lot of things in life. even your BFF.
Kerry: right... I've had a BFF that the idea was better :(
Jill: sometimes you want the popular girl to like you so much, but then when she does, you're like, "she's not that cool after all"
Michelle: awwww
Kerry: yeah, Jill
Jill: it's true though
Michelle: it is
Kerry: I think that was a very powerful statement
Michelle: yep
Kerry: but sadly one we only find out in retrospect
Jill: but more than anything, I just love the concept of the book. I love the idea of second chances to make things right
Kerry: me too!
Michelle: i like the idea of seven chances to make things right!!!
Kerry: making a wrong right again
Michelle: i might need even more than that!
Jill: Like a cat with nine lives!
Kerry: lol
Kerry: would we live carefully if we knew that we had more chances? ha ha
Michelle: nine lives?
Jill: And, I know the ending was left a little up in the air, but I really do think she xxxxx xxxxxxx. But does she xxxx xxxxxxx, too?
Kerry: well, she--the author--also says "Hope keeps you alive."
Jill: that's true
Jill: great line
Kerry: yep, I'll ink it out.
Michelle: which day were you waiting for?
Michelle: what i mean is....
Kerry: the one where she'd live. Lol
Michelle: we're there some days that you just knew what she would try or how she would act?
Jill: for me, yes there were!
Michelle: i knew she'd be confused on the first day
Jill: I was waiting for the day she became a soulful person
Michelle: but i kept waiting for certain emotions you know?
Kerry: I'm with Jill
Jill: to validate her person, her life
Michelle: but i thought she should skip the party!
Kerry: yeah, me too.
Michelle: but knew that wasn't the answer
Jill: definitely, I agree Michelle. but I also saw the day coming...the one where she just gives up on it all
Michelle: right!
Michelle: she was like whatev!
Kerry: what about her angry day?
Michelle: her worst point!!!
Jill: her angry day, I didn't see that coming, but I think it made perfect sense
Kerry: i wonder if the author used the 7 stages of grief to map out her days
Michelle: hmmm....never thought of that
Jill: you know, I thought about that, too!
Michelle: i bet
Jill: it kind of seemed like she did, anger, bargaining...
Kerry: denial, guilt, depression, reconstruction, acceptance...
Jill: yup
Kerry: can't remember them all
Michelle: def
Kerry: the day of acceptance was well...
Jill: a couple of her "days" shocked me, though
Kerry: IT
Michelle: yep...probably angry day, for me
Michelle: what's IT
Michelle: ?
Kerry: the acceptance day—the last day—was IT
Kerry: she knew
Michelle: right!
Jill: yeah, she knew at that point
Michelle: well...i thought she improved in increments
Kerry: for sure
Jill: yeah, but it took her a long time to figure it out, I thought
Kerry: I have one more quote that stuck with me...
Kerry: a good friend keeps your secrets for you. A best friend helps you keep your own secrets.
Kerry: what do ya think she meant by that?
Jill: oh! I totally forgot about that one! that is such a good line!
Michelle: i think a best friend helps you get past your secrets
Kerry: so like they help her be someone she's not?
Jill: I think she means that, even if a best friend doesn't agree with the secrets you're keeping, she supports you anyway
Michelle: ah...
Jill: and helps you to keep them
Kerry: oooooooo
Kerry: I took it the wrong way
Jill: oh, I don't know if I'm right...just how I took it
Kerry: I like your way better!!!!!
Michelle: so you think she meant that Lindsey helped Samantha become someone else
Kerry: the secret that she used to be a geek and was picked on
Kerry: now they disregard that
Jill: yeah, that's part of it
Kerry: she's cool now, but at what expense?
Michelle: both of them, right?
Michelle: right
Kerry: she's not true to herself
Kerry: until the end!
Jill: no, none of them really are
Michelle: she's keeping a secret from herself
Michelle: Samantha and Lindsey -- both of them
Kerry: I think she always feels she's living a lie
Kerry: right?
Jill: Even Elody, with her family history. None of them really talk about it with her.
Kerry: right
Kerry: is it superficial or real? the friendship I mean.
Michelle: much more AFTER a couple days...not so much at the beginning!
Kerry: that's why the end is powerful
Jill: right
Michelle: it is powerful....I cried like crazy!
Jill: but let's not spoil the end! The end is so good!
Kerry: she's able to see the good in each of them despite their shallowness
Jill: exactly. she loves them for who they are, not who she wants them to be
Kerry: the end is crazy-good
Michelle: used tons of tissues!!
Kerry: this book will get people talking for sure
Jill: I know, it has the kind of ending that sticks in your head for days after you're done reading
Kerry: i hope every teenager reads it and discusses it
Kerry: on a fun note, what about the greatest hits?
Michelle: I'd recommend it for a little older teen...maybe 14 or 15...you?
Jill: greatest hits?
Kerry: yeah, older!
Jill: for me, about 15, 16
Kerry: she sees her greatest hits before the accident
Kerry: what moments would you see?
Jill: oh, yeah! I love how she calls them that! so cool!
Michelle: having a child
Jill: I don't know...I have to think about that one
Jill: maybe my greatest hits are still to come
Kerry: awwww
Jill: but child, for sure
Michelle: and there was one day that was just so perfect...nothing special...but perfect you know?
Kerry: I totally know!
Kerry: I can't explain mine. they aren't so much events as feelings I had at certain times
Jill: I know, the first time I knew, like really KNEW I was in love. I know where I was, what I was doing. yep, that was a good day.
Michelle: YAY Jill
Jill: yay love! oh, I'm such a dork.
Michelle: :-D!!!!!
Kerry: dork...say what?
Kerry: never!
Jill: but, I'm glad Sam REALLY thinks about love by, like, her fifth life here...that was a shining moment for me in the book
Kerry: maybe we should all sign off thinking about our greatest hits
Kerry: WRN'ers...if you have some to share, be sure to post them on our FB page.
Michelle: sounds good....perfect day thoughts and sweet dreams girlies!
Jill: yeah, Greatest Hits...what a nice idea.
Jill: to you too! great chatting about this fab book!
Kerry: until next month...