Before I Fall written by Lauren Oliver is a perfect balance of an escape from reality and a review of today’s important and significant issues for teens. Before I Fall follows the life of a popular high school girl that gets to relive her life seven times on the same day. Oliver has created a powerful novel that takes you away from the boring teen life and makes every day teen issues a matter of life and death. This escape from everyday life gives the reader the ability to fully consume themselves in a novel about suicide, sex, love, drinking, and drugs. This powerful novel can take the reader into a different realm and dismiss the world around them. But, be aware there are no goblins, demons, or angels. This book is simply everyday issues transformed into a magical perception of common teen problems charmed into a book lacking the always present boundaries of life and death. Oliver respectfully addresses the common problems teens face every day and addresses them in a creative and intriguing way. She gives the main character, Sam Kingston the ability to find exactly where she went wrong in her life. By giving Sam that ability Oliver opens up the reader’s imagination to reflect on their lives and where they can improve. This book addresses the issues of a weakening family dynamic, the troubles of teacher infatuations, and the consequences of underage drinking, sex, and drugs. Before I Fall was a page turning cliff hanger that helps the reader reflect on the important issues they could possibly be facing at school, work, home, and at parties. But, the characters are shallow and some lack the understanding of real problems and it seems at times Oliver disregards the problems of bullying and manipulation and treats them as issues that cannot be treated. This book his received an extremely high recommendation from me and I advise any girl, specifically, a girl would enjoy this book that touches on all the aspects of a likeable teen fiction. I do not recommend this book for the male audience for I feel they will not enjoy it nearly as much as the females. My final warning is be prepared to stay on the edge of your seat and turn pages non-stop. Do not be surprised if the ending leaves the reader in the same position they were comfortably in the entire book. The reader will finish this book asking the same questions of what, why, and how that they asked themselves the entire book and also develop some after they read the jaw-dropping finale of Sam’s epic and powerful journey to turn back time.