By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
Author: Julie Anne Peters
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pub Date: Jan 2010
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: No
Convince us to read the book (or not, lol): When I first picked up Julie Anne Peter's By The Time You Read This, I'll be Dead, I was the ideal audience. Sick to my stomach, unable to leave the restroom, and with no other books.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: By The Time You Read This, I'll be Dead centers on the justifiably bitter Daelyn, who was teased about her weight growing up to the point where she attempts suicide. I understand why anyone in that situation would be angry, bitter, and have a few bones to pick with humanity, and I don't want to appear cold-hearted, but I stopped caring right around page 5. Daelyn is the whiniest person on the whole freakin' planet, and I say this after having recently watched a half-hour of The View (Zing! Take that, television!). Needless to say, the most compelling aspect of the book was not the book itself, but a bizarre bile fascination/random strain of sadomasochism.
Did you finish: No
Were you disappointed with the book at all: Okay, okay, I'm being a little hard on the book. The concept is interesting, and the book itself was not bad, it was just hard to focus on the actual story when you're fantasizing about punching the main character and telling her what you REALLY think of her name. I think the book itself would have worked much better if told in third-person, so that way we could focus on the story, and less on the constant stream of complaints.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: I am not a fan of this cover. It's not a terrible cover, it just doesn't motivate me to read the book.
Age Range: 12-13, 14-15
Quality: 2Q Needs more work
Popularity: 2P Only for special interest