Num8ers by Rachel Ward

First things first, this book is British. No biggie, right? Harry Potter is British. HUGE biggie. The characters in this book are abandoned, lower-class and uneducated. Because of all these things, they speak with a lot of slang (that you may not understand because its different from American slang) and A LOT of cussing. I tried to rationalize that they dropped "F" so often because it isn't as bad of a cuss word there, but even so...its pretty intense cussing. I don't really mind language as long as there is a reason for it. And, I guess the author was trying to show how uneducated and angry these characters were, but I still thought much of it was unnecessary. Similarly, there is a sex scene that is necessary for the story, but the characters are 15 and 17 years old. Sorry, but I am not ok with that, even if it is important for the story. So, saying all that, PROCEED WITH CAUTION if you read this book.

The story follows Jem, a 15 year old orphan whose mother died of a drug overdose when she was little. Since then, Jem has floated from foster home to foster home with everyone trying to "fix" her. However, she is not interested in being fixed because she refuses to get close to anyone. Considering her past it's completely understandable that she would be guarded, but there is much more to her story than that. When Jem looks into a person's eyes, she sees 8 numbers. These numbers are the day the person dies. Jem hates looking at children the most and seeing when they die.

So Jem lives her life in a very guarded way, until Spider, a boy she goes to school with, can't get the hint to leave her alone like everyone else does. Plus, she feels really bad for the guy, because he only has a few months left. Spider doesn't give up and eventually he and Jem form a strange sort of friendship. They end up both suspended from school and decide to go into London for the day. While they are in a very public place, Jem starts noticing that everyone around them has the same numbers in their eyes...today. She freaks out and tells Spider they have to leave right now! They take off running and when they are less than a mile away, a bomb goes off in the public area they just left.

Police begin to investigate and witnesses, as well as cameras, show Jem and Spider fleeing the scene of the crime. Jem and Spider are now wanted for "questioning".

I liked the book but, as mentioned earlier, I felt parts of it were unnecessary. Furthermore, the story wasn't really about the numbers but more about Jem and her complete inability to love. But, I don't feel like her inability to love was developed well enough. I don't know, if you're interested, you might like it. It was just really "Meh" for me. There is a sequel out, but I probably won't read it.
Grade: C
Rating: R

Before I Fall Book Review

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a truly fantastic book. The genre is iffy- it can fit anywhere from humor, inspirational, romance, to young adult. It offers insight on some of life's most unnoticed aspects, shows how modern teenagers can become so shallow, and offers a variety of things to think about.
In this book, the character that we follow is Samantha Kingston, one of the most popular girls in her school of Thomas Jefferson High. She has the "best" boyfriend anyone could ask for, the best parking spot in the school, she's rich, and has the most amazing of friends. But why is it that the night of one of the biggest parties, a person from the very school that Sam is Queen at gives her own life because of this Royal Pain.
Juliet Skyes is a soft- spoken girl that has a very hard family life and is tormented by Sam and her friends day by day. She's the "freak" of the school, the one that everyone avoids in the hallways. And this is all because Sam and her crew make her out to be this way. So Juliet thinks that the only way to get out of this is to kill herself.
Kent McFuller was Sam's best friend when they were young kids, when Sam was the biggest loser in school. Kent saved her, was her friend, helped her regain her life. And even though he was a loser, too, she didn't care. And because they got so close, he fell in love with her.
Kent throws a party at his house on Valentines Day and invites Sam and all her friends- pretty much everyone at the entire school, too. They make it to the party and start going their own ways. But to their surprise, Juliet Skyes shows up and confronts Sam. Everyone is astonished. But when Sam and her friends make fun of Juliet to show that they're still the top dogs, she runs out. But the girls shake it off. Except for Sam. She can't help but feel off.
Then the fateful night. Sam is in the car with the girls driving home (with a not-so-sober friend driving) and you guessed it: they get in an accident. But in this accident, Sam dies.
She wakes up the next morning, though. And not only does she wake up, she wakes up on Valentines Day. Again. She soon figures out that she keeps reliving the same day of her death until she can make it right. She has to sacrifice her own life to save another's to make up for her days of being so mean to all the wrong people.
She relives her last day seven times, and throughout it, she gains insight and a new perspective for the world. She sees people like she's never seen them before. Some of them, she realizes, are not all that they were made out to be while some were never given the credit they deserved. This book is the process of her changing from this stuck-up, shallow high school girl into a young woman who finds out more about true life in one day (replayed 7 times) than most people do in their entire life. And it's one of the best journeys I've been on in a book. The way she starts to think about life made me think, and it was really interesting, especially when I realized how much of the world I was missing out on, too. This book really helps you get back to true, pure life.
Overall, this was a truly fantastic book. I saw very, very few flaws, if any. This book was well written with clear themes, and themes that were hidden just enough to make you think and keep you interested. This book was a brilliant mixture of life lessons, humor, and even romance. It was a perfectly balanced book with a delicious after taste. This is one of those books that makes me remember the beauty of writing truly fantastic stories compared to a lot of the crap floating around now.
I would recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat. I know that everyone will enjoy it! It was a brilliant read. A++