By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters

Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pub. Date: January 5th 2008
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 224
Format: ARC
Source Of Copy: from author - Julie Ann 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?


This is an excellent book on one of the very heavy subjects: suicide. Portrayed in a very dark, scary and straightforward way, Daelyn Rice's story will have a great impacts on whoever is concerned in such an issue.

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead the first book by Julie Ann Peters that I read and I'm pretty impressed. Her writing is bold, fearless to the point that you cannot imagine things like that happen in real life but on the other hand, you know they do, somewhere out of your sight. Story about a girl's progress of ending her life is something you may find in other books, but the thing that makes this oneadmirable is that the everything feels very raw to the core. Also there's a kind of blankness that I feel from the main character.

Needless to state, the mood of this book is dark and kind of desperate. What amazes me is the the author's idea to create the website Daelyn goes to to prepare everything for her death. It's plain creepy how they analyze ways to commit suicide, how badly they users are treated and how determined they are to leave it all behind. So if you have a delicate soul, this book may not be good for you since it won't let your mind at rest any minute.

Daelyn is a character some can relate to and some cannot, in my opinion. I feel scared for her most of the time and I'm so mad at people who hurt her too. As a protagonist, she's a great success since she captures our full attention. However, the person you'll love the most from the story is Santana. He might not be the most outstanding male character out there but he can put a smile into your face and makes you feel hopeful about life again. Because he proves that there are still ones who come to us with warm hearts and open arms yet expect nothing in return at all.

The story ends with a strong message: death is not the ultimate answer to life miseries. If you just open yourself a little bit more, may you find more meaningful things or great people that make you want to enjoy every minute of life.

Rating: 4/5