Girls*Heart* Books: Review: By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie 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?

National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.

All right, people. Let's just all go out, buy ourselves a pint (or 2...or 200) of H åagen Daz and have a good, long cry, okay?

Oh, you haven't read it yet, have you? That's wrong, on a plethora of levels, but oh well. Perhaps this review will get you grabbing your wallet and picking it up; I can only hope.

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters is a story about Daelyn Rice, a girl who has had several failed suicide attempted by the time the story starts. She doesn't speak anymore, she just goes to school, sits, and waits on the bench for her mother to come pick her up, never speaking a word.

Seeing how she always sits there, it's not hard to believe someone noticed the habit. Santana was a curious boy who decided to sit with her and attempt to pry words from a throat that hadn't worked since her last botched attempt.

Throughout the entire story I was rooting for Daelyn to talk to him, to reach out for help to someone other than these anonymous people on through-the-light.com, for someone to save her from herself. Since you don't find out if she lives or dies until the very end, I won't tell you all. You just have to go pick it up and read it yourself.

Though, without giving away the ending, I was a little confused by it. It seemed like it needed a sequel, something to tie it all together and give it a gorgeous bow that it deserved, but given the entire story, I do think I understand. That's my only fault, though. The rest is hauntingly beautiful, and it still burns my heart today.

My rating: