REVIEW for By the Time you Read This, I'll be Dead

A big, big thank you goes out to author Julie Anne Peters for so kindly sending me a copy of her book!

TITLE: By the Time you Read This, I'll Be dead

AUTHOR: Julie Anne Peters

GENRE: YA

RATING: 4 Stars





By the Time you Read This I'll Be Dead has got to be one of the hardest books I have ever had to read - and believe me, I read a lot of addiction stuff - so I am use to raw stories. However, this one touched me on so many different levels, which is something I was not expecting.

Firstly, the catalyst - a young girl who has a weight problem. As soon as I read that - I was fully invested in this character. Secondly, bullying - which has become such a topical subject unfortunately.

When I was in school, there were some harsh words and some mean people, but never like this. What the heck has happened to our youth in the last 20 years to turn so many of them into monsters? and finally, Daelyn finally, through the Net, finds her perfect ally in a website that will forever change her life (what there is left of it).

This book is so incredibly well written. It is touching and shocking and extremely shocking. The author did a wonderful job of writing about bullying without glory or pride. It is way too easy, these days, to take this type of subject and to elevate it somehow -like so many storylines using eating disorders at their core. These issues ARE not glamorous and they should NEVER be portrayed as such and the author fully understood this. It is a fine line between incorporating a sensitive issue into your storyline without exploiting it for the sake of advancing the novel. I loved, loved this book. I found myself rooting for Daelyn, all the while wanting to smack her - telling her to "wake up" and to "stand up for herself". But, of course, that was the whole point in the first place.

Get this book read it and then pass it along to every YA you know.