Short Reviews #1

I am way behind in reviews, so I thought I'd do a few quick ones on some recent reads:

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Jule Anne Peters

Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she’s determined to get her death right.  She starts visiting a website for “completers”— www.through-the-light .com. 

While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten.  When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.

Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up.  Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up.  And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life…isn’t it? (from Amazon)

My Thoughts: It's an intense read, but disturbing. Daelyn can't talk due to a botched suicide attempt, and despite the short time it took to read this book, I felt mute too. I think it's a good book to read to help understand the nature of depression but it's not a book you want to read late at night! For those of you with younger teens, you might want to read this first as methods of suicide (including rating systems) are included throughout the book.  BtTYRT,IBD gets a Midnight Book Rating of 11:00 pm.  Best to read with loads of mood-elevating chocolate on hand. 



 Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything. When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting. What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-inlaw, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them. If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind… (from Amazon)

 My Thoughts: Why haven't I read more books by Jennifer Crusie?  I remember reading a few of her books back in my chick lit reading days, but I'd forgotten how fun and sexy her books can be!  Andie and North are perfect in their imperfections.  And there's ghosts, freaky kids and a creepy housekeeper, who can ask for anything more?  MTT gets a Midnight Book Rating of 11:30 pm.


Jennifer's Body by Audrey Nixon, Diablo Cody

Someone needed to put a stop payment on Jennifer Check.
The sign says Welcome to Devil's Kettle, Pop. 7,036. Come See What's Cookin'! No, seriously . . . that's what it says.
Some people find it hard to believe that a babe like Jennifer Check would associate with a dork like me, Needy Lesnicki. But we had history. We'd been the Wonder Twins since we were preverbal, and sandbox love never dies. Or at least that's what I thought.
But after that night in the woods, Jennifer was different. She looked different. And then the killings began. . . .
A lot of people ask me if I'm sorry I did it. I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner.(from Amazon)

My Thoughts:  The book is based on the screenplay.  I usually really like that, because sometimes you get extras that weren't including in the movie, or more back story.  Sadly, while as snarky as the movie, there is actually less here than in the movie.  It's only told from Needy's pov, so Jennifer's boy snacking activities are sorely lacking.  It's not a bad book, but if you've seen the movie you're not missing much.  JB gets a Midnight Book Rating of 8:30 pm.  I prefer watching the movie because I secretly crush on the actor that plays the Goth kid, which is okay because he's over 18 in real life... right?

I looked it up, he's 24!   Bullet successfully dodged!