ARC Review: Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner

Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by Jeff Zentner’s words? Yeah, us too. I have great news for you – You have another opportunity to turn into a puddle and buy stock in Kleenex and it’s RAYNE & DELILAH’S MIDNITE MATINEE, which enters the world today. I read a physical ARC of this book (thanks to Jeff for sending it to a group of us for an ARC tour!), which should tell you something (I read exactly two physical books last year and this is one of them). Check out my thoughts below and add this beauty to your shelves tomorrow!

Review:

Alright, Jeff Zentner. You promised me this book would come without tears but that is a lie! 

Rayne and Delilah are the alternative late-night access channel personalities of Josie and Delia, two best friends who are high school seniors on the cusp of their whole lives changing. Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee is their story and it will grab your heart in a way you can’t even expect.

Whew.

Any YA fan alive in the last two years has probably heard of Jeff Zentner or maybe seen one of his selfies. If you’ve met Kelly or I, you’ve likely had The Serpent King thrust into your hands without remorse. Jeff creates characters you can’t forget and stories so tangible that you’ll wonder if you’re living in the Matrix and that’s the real world over there. 

Rayne and Delilah is no different. While you’re probably wondering how this man takes access channel TV and a road trip and leaves you with tears and joy, I can promise you their journey is completely worth it.

Without spoiling the story, Jeff tackles:

1. The ever-changing landscape of a friendship as youth grow more into themselves and hold onto the pieces of their youth so important to them.
2. Parental abandonment and the complexity of the feelings that go with it.
3. Young love that comes slowly and yet hits you all at once.
4. The uncertainty of that small part of our lives between senior year and whatever comes next. 
5. Meeting your idols, celebrity and otherwise.

Oh, and there will be tears. But not the tears of his previous two books yet Jeff tears all the same.