Before I Die Review

Right, sorry. Time just flew away with me again and I forgot I need to write up this review. Just remembered so I'm back to do it. And, yes there will be spoilers...

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Inside blurb:

Everyone has to die. We all know it.

With only a few months of life left, sixteen-year-old Tessa knows it better than most.
She's made a list, though--ten things she wants to do before she dies. Number one is sex. Starting tonight.

Butting getting what you want isn't easy. And getting what you want doesn't always give you what you need. And sometimes the most unexpected things become important.

General Comments:
The book is amazing. It's first person present tense which really works for this particular story. How can it be in past tense after all when the teller dies at the end?

Plot:

I haven't read many stories about dying girls; this was my first. But it was amazing. Just the whole idea of the list.

Characters:
Tessa is the main character. I really empathize with her, even though I admit some of the things she does are a little out there. She really scares her parents when she runs off to do some of the things on her list.

Zoey is Tessa's best friend. She really helps her out with the list. But the list has some unexpected consequences for her. She gets pregnant as a result of the night that they spend with two guys doing the first thing on Tessa's list. After that, she becomes rather irritating. She doesn't spend a lot of time with Tessa and won't tell her what's wrong. It's quite far into the book that she finally admits to being pregnant.

Adam is Tessa's next door neighbor and helps Tessa out with #8: love. When she has her first time with a guy that she barely knows it's kind of "that's it?" And then she meets Adam. I love Adam. He's such a sweet guy. If there are any out there in reality like that, I'd like to meet one.

What I liked:
I liked the characters and the plot line best. Especially Adam. Everything was very well done. The emotion, the dialogue, the description.

What I didn't like:
The ending was a little confusing. With Adam, Zoey, and her family talking and Tessa's random thoughts. Plus, there are a couple of paragraphs that have no punctuation at all. Which I found a little odd.

Last Notes:
Yes there is sex. She can't do number one on her list if there wasn't. It's not graphic, but it was a little more detailed than a regular fade to black.

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