Book Review-By Time Time You Read This I'll Be Dead

BY TIME TIME YOU READ THIS I'LL BE DEAD
By Julie Anne Peters
2010
200 Pages

From Inside Cover:
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 Web site for "completer"-www.through-the-light.com.
On the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, revealing a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she's not on the Web, Daelyn's at her private girls' 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 for her parents to pick her up. Even though she made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won't give up. It's too late for Daelyn to be letting people in her life....isn't it?
My Thoughts:
The cover and the title are what grabbed my attention and made me want to read Daelyn's story.
This book made me want to scream out loud in anger and frustration. This is what bullying does! It tears someone down piece by piece and destroys who they are on the inside and out. My heart ached as Daelyn recounts tale after tale the acts of bullying that start when she first starts school and continues to present day. Daelyn is a girl who is desperately trying to disconnect from everyone and everything so her feelings and emotions can no longer hurt her.
By the Time You Read This I'll be Dead is an honest book that pulls no punches as Daelyn searches for ways to end her life and tells of previous failed attempts. There were times I felt sick to my stomach-the facts are brutal.
I loved the character of Santana. He brings a ray of hope into the story as he reaches out to Daelyn. He has his own troubled history but longs to connect to another person.
As I read Daelyn's story I found myself hoping and praying that she wouldn't give up and find just one reason to not give up and keep on living.
Would I recommend this book to a friend?
Yes. But I would caution them of the graphic details of suicide. Libraries should have this book. The bullying situations that happen to Daelyn are not unique or unusual. They happen and we need to talk about it with our youth. Their actions good or bad can affect the life of someone in a positive or negative way.
Where did I get this book?
I bought it used on Amazon.com and plan to donate it as a prize for the Freedom Hop Giveaway.