Every Saturday night, best friends Delia and Josie transform into their alter egos, Rayne and Delilah, to host a horror movie feature show on their local cable access station. For Josie, the show is just fun, a chance to put on a costume and practice her TV skills in case she decides to be a "real" TV star someday. Or course, this would probably require her to leave town...and Delia. For Delia, the show is her last connection to her Dad, the man who passed down his love of campy horror movies before he left her and her mom. If the show becomes popular enough to reach more markets, maybe he'll see her on TV, carrying on his traditions, and realize how much he misses her. Will the Josie and Delia's friendship be strong enough to keep them together as their lives are heading in different directions?
Why It's Worth Reading:
This is my second book by Jeff Zentner (my first was Goodbye Days) and I have decided that anything he writes is going to be worth reading. In Rayne and Delilah, he captures hard, heartbreaking moments in a novel that is mostly hilarious. That's talent. Because life is never 100% hilarious or hard. Even at the darkest moments, something funny can happen. Even the moments of greatest joy can be tinged with sadness. There were so many lines in this book that were so thoughtful or poignant or beautiful that I had to pause in my reading. Toward the end of this book, in a moment of excruciating sadness, Delia thinks about how there are not enough good places to scream in the world. That's so true. And funny. And really sad. All in one sentence. That's why you should read this book. You'll love Josie and Delia, and you'll love every little bit of how their story is told.