Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

You know when you walk into a bookstore or see a book online and you are immediately drawn to it because of it’s beautiful cover? Well, that’s how I felt when I first saw “Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee” by Jeff Zentner on the Penguin Random House Canada website a few months ago! After reading the synopsis, I was very intrigued and knew that I had to read it! Thanks to Penguin Teen Canada for providing me with an ARC!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

A contemporary novel about two best friends who must make tough decisions about their futures–and the TV show they host–in their senior year of high school.
Every Friday night, best friends Delia and Josie become Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, hosts of the campy creature feature show Midnite Matinee on the local cable station TV Six.
But with the end of senior year quickly approaching, the girls face tough decisions about their futures. Josie has been dreading graduation, as she tries to decide whether to leave for a big university and chase her dream career in mainstream TV. And Lawson, one of the show’s guest performers, a talented MMA fighter with weaknesses for pancakes, fantasy novels, and Josie, is making her tough decision even harder.
Scary movies are the last connection Delia has to her dad, who abandoned the family years ago. If Midnite Matinee becomes a hit, maybe he’ll see it and want to be a part of her life again. And maybe Josie will stay with the show instead of leaving her behind, too.
As the tug-of-war between growing up and growing apart tests the bonds of their friendship, Josie and Delia start to realize that an uncertain future can be both monstrous…and momentous.

I don’t remember the last time a book made me cry. Coincidently, I was thinking about all of the books that have made me literally cry (like visible tear streaks down my face) while I was watching the film adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars. TFIOS was the first book that I ever cried at while reading, and I quite honestly could not remember the last time I cried while reading a book… that is until yesterday when I finished “Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee”!

The ending of this book was among one of the most beautiful and well written conclusions I have ever read in any book within any genre. It was a wonderful way to tie in all of the different elements of the story. As someone who needs a good ending in order to feel like I really enjoyed a book, this one absolutely satisfied that need. I felt so much emotion for both Josie (Rayne) and Deliah (Delilah) during the last few chapters, and quite honestly I wasn’t expecting that.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the first two thirds of this book. I thought the beginning was great, but I wasn’t totally sold after the first 130 pages. The middle (more specifically the end of the middle) was probably my least favourite part of the book, since I thought that a lot of the details didn’t add much to the story. They didn’t feel necessary, and I think they could have been skipped completely. However, as I sad before, the ending was absolutely phenomenal.

Books that are about “behind-the-scenes” activities (specifically: directing shows, writing books, working in libraries, etc.), are some of my favourite books to read. Since this show was largely about filming and creating a TV show with a very specific niche was very cool to read about, and I really enjoyed reading every single scene that was set in their filming studio.

I’m not the type to DNF books, so even though I still wasn’t sold after the first 100 pages, I continued on, and mostly because of the great characters. My favourite part of this book was reading and learning about the characters in this novel. The past few books I have read have been full of a wide-variety of characters. However, this book only dealt with a few main characters, which I really enjoyed. I adored Josie, Rayne, Akill, and Lawson. They were all such great characters, but were all very different from one another. They connected in very unique ways, and were brought together because of they’re great hearts and personalities.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and gave it 4/5 stars. Thanks again to Penguin Teen Canada for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Good Night Book Owls!