I just finished reading Before I Fall, the debut book by author Lauren Oliver .

Buy it, read it.

I was not convinced that a teen rehash of Groundhog day could rock my world. But I make a point of reading interesting and notable first books by new authors. It’s all part of the Leslie Effort to Deconstruct the Excellent Novel. Where excellent is defined by: what people like to read based on the words alone – or as close to that as I can get.

I read Fallen by Lauren Kate and felt she missed. I think simply because there was just not enough tension in the pages. Not enough happening between the ears of the characters. Ever read a book where doing the dishes seemed more interesting?

I do not want to write that book.

This is not a problem in Before I Fall. Holy Moly, Oliver pegged the tension-o-meter at 11. This book had me reading every word, dragged me along each Groundhog day twist and at the end, which I knew was going to end in a Punxsutawney Phil kind of moment; I sniffled.

Why? Tension, baby. Tension.  Oliver packs it in every sentence, every paragraph and every moment.  There were damn few sentences that left me not wanting to read the next.

So, when I finished the book I checked her out on the web. Looked at her blog..yada yada…Guess who is her agent? Uh huh…from the Donald Maass Agency…Mr. Tension. Figures.  LOL.