I've known Jeff Zentner was an amazing author for a while now. Serpent King and Goodbye Days ruined me. Seriously, I don't cry easily over book but both of those destroyed me and several boxes of tissues.. When I heard RAYNE AND DELILAH'S MIDNITE MATINEE was more a comedy, I had my doubts. Most authors don't do well switching between different styles and I couldn't imagine Zentner going from tearing my heart out to making me laugh. But he did.

I don't say this lightly- RAYNE AND DELILAH is Zentner's glow-up book. This is the book that took him (for me) from a "I might buy it" author to an "I'd pre-order his grocery list" author. I only have two of those authors. Adding a third seemed impossible. It's happened. I will buy anything he writes.

Zentner's southern voice in this novel is not only authentic, something we severely lack across all genres, but also self-aware. He has a way of making light of the way we speak in the deep south without actually making fun of it. Yes, we all know that county boy that ends everything he says with "Hell." And yes, we all know someone who speaks as if they've had a traumatic brain injury while eating cornbread and collard greens. But instead of making it seem overly ignorant, Zentner treats it as it is- local flavor and a part of life when you live down yonder.

I was also surprised at how both character AND plot driven this book is. Zentner's real gift is in characters- he can make you care about what they are doing regardless of what they are doing. In terms of plot, none of his books have felt very plot driven to me but this one had me rooting for the characters AND their end goals.

The friendship and the romance in this book is what sealed the deal for me. I'm a sucker on all levels for a strong, realistic friendships and the one between Josie and Delia is probably the most realistic one I've ever read in YA. Zentner also has a knack for young romances (something he seems to deny but the denial is unnecessary). I truly appreciated that the romance in the book was a) obviously young, b) didn't have sex (I couldn't read a book containing sex from a young girl's perspective written by a thirty-something year old man), and c) didn't fix anything in Josie or make like herself better or any of that other bs a lot of YA romance tries to sell. It was refreshing to see a male love interest recognize and understand that he doesn't have to step in in every situation... which allowed Josie to keep her agency and didn't change the independent character we met at the beginning of the story.

Speaking of characters, Zentner is the master of multi-dimensional characters. I enjoyed that not a single character had just one set of goals or dreams or hobbies, and even the minor characters in this book are completely memorable and fleshed out.

Jeff Zentner is the leading southern voice in YA and this book sealed that fact for me.

Please see my review on the Librarians Lit Books blog.

Before I extol on the virtues of Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, I need to vent. Y’know, sometimes technology is a bummer. Jeff Zentner is one of those authors whose lines you want to highlight and remember (I have a friend [I’m looking at you, Andrea Head] who had Zentner initial all of her highlights in The Serpent King, lol - great idea, BTW). I first read this book in January as I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advanced review eBook from Edelweiss (thanks, Edelweiss!). My reading flow was frequently broken because I kept stopping and virtually highlighting passages. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. Stupidly, when I finished reading, I did not write my review and note my highlighted passages. Then comes book release day, February 26. I bought the audiobook and happily reread the book via listening. As I did the first time, I bookmarked passages in the audiobook. Stupidly, when I finished listening, I did not write my review and note my bookmarked passages. You know where this is going. I sat down this morning to write my review and all of my highlights, in both the eBook and the eAudiobook, were gone. Heavy sigh. Oh, well. Guess I’ll have to read it again!! I bought the book so I’m ready to read and highlight those passages permanently. I don’t mind but I’m writing the review right now, without pages of quoted passages. You’re welcome?

Delia and Josie are best friends with alter egos. These alter egos, Rayne and Delilah, host a late night creature feature on access TV. Their reasons for doing the show are very different. Delia does the show in an attempt to communicate with her dad. See, he left without a word and without a trace when she was little. She has fond memories of the bad monster movies they used to watch together. All she has left of him are memories and the VHS tapes of those movies. Josie does the show to gain TV experience. Since she was little, Josie has dreamed of working on TV in front of the camera. She has no passion for the campy movies they show but she loves Delia and the fun they have on their show and making fun of Arliss (the grumpy guy in charge at the TV station) and texting each other random nonsense and all the other things best friends do. For Josie, Midnite Matinee is temporary until she goes to college. For Delia, this is it. When they get invited to attend a Con in Orlando where they can meet the infamous Jack Devine and possibly get him to help them make the show bigger and better, Delia is thrilled. Not only because of what it could mean to the show but also because she’ll have the opportunity to meet her dad (she hired a PI who found him living in Boca Raton). Josie is less than thrilled about attending the Con but she’ll do anything for Delia. The only way she is able to convince her parents to allow her to go is if she promises to do an internship in Knoxville if things don’t work out with Jack Devine. Josie agrees but doesn’t tell Delia. What follows is Josie and Delia’s sweet and HILARIOUS journey of growing up despite the fear of growing apart.

I only mention it in the last sentence of my summary but I cannot stress enough how completely funny this book is. I laughed out loud reading it the first time and probably laughed, even more, listening to the audiobook. Josie and Delia are two very amusing gals that give absolutely zero craps. They’ll say anything to anyone and it makes this book so, so fun to read. I neglected to mention Lawson in my summary but he is a wonderful addition to the book. After making a guest appearance on the show, he and Josie become friends and eventually more and their relationship is as cute as can be (at first, Delia can’t help but see that relationship as anything more than another thing taking Josie away from her).


At its heart, this story is about friendship and how the nature of friendships may change but the bond can remain. Zentner ties this in beautifully with the central theme of dreaming big but accepting mediocrity and finding the beauty in that mediocrity. One of my highlighted passages did survive:
In my mind, I say, Remember, remember.
In my heart, I say Thank you over and over. Thank you, show, for giving me my best friend and my boyfriend. Thank you for being the first step on my path to realize my dreams. Thank you for being something I helped build with my own hands and heart and mind.
Gripping me inside too is the profound ache of nostalgia for something that’s not even a part of my past yet.
Sometimes small and unspectacular things can be a universe.

Jeff Zentner is not one of my favorite people, and I found it incredibly hard to separate the art from the artist. Even putting that aside, I wasn't feeling this book. It doesn't have the same heart that Zentner's past books had. I hope that this was just a fluke, but even so, I might not be picking up more by this author in the future.

If this book was a person, I picture an Italian grandmother scooping it up and calling it a cutie patootie and smooshing its cheeks. This was such a fun book and I really enjoyed my time with it - such a fun read and I only wish I'd been able to read it sooner so I could have shared on its pub date! Sorry Mr. Zentner :(

What a fantastic buddy novel featuring two strong females!! Such an excellent, realistic portrayal of a relationship between friends. Zentner has a gift for showing us teen relationships without over the top drama. His characters could be your neighbor, your kid, your student, your cousin.

It should come as no surprise to my followers that I love Jeff Zentner's two previous novels. So I was so excited to read his 2019 release. Josie and Delia aka Rayne and Delilah had such a great bond. I loved their friendship and humor so much. Their relationship reminded me a lot of me and my best friend so I felt really connected to both of them. I love that they are doing something so unique together with the horror hosting. I was so heartbroken for Delia and the situation with her dad. Nobody deserves their parent to abandon them like that. One thing I really love about Jeff Zenter's books are that, unlike most YA books, the parents of the main characters are involved in the story and not just vague background characters. Delia's mom was such a unique character and a great mom in her own way. I also fell in love with Arliss and his grumpy nature. I laughed (a lot) and I cried. So many times while I was reading I was either laughing out loud (or trying not to when I was on my lunch break at work), or I was trying not to cry. Jeff Zenter's books are the best at making me feel all of the emotions. I HIGHLY recommend this book. So good.

Best friends Josie and Delia transform into Rayne and Delilah every weekend on their horror/comedy, public access show Midnite Matinee. They goof around, do skits, and show a terrible horror movie. The show is what made them friends, but now they find themselves on the verge of graduation and possibly going in different directions.

Delia feels like she is constantly being left behind. Her dad left her and her mom years before and that one terrible event has hung like a dark cloud over every aspect of her life. Delia is not ambitious, except for when it comes to their show. But Josie has dreamed of being on TV since she was a kid. Midnite Matinee is just the beginning for her and her parents have set up an internship for her in Knoxville, which is 5 hours away.

Delia is trying to keep Josie from leaving her behind and Josie is trying to do everything she can for her best friend. When they hear a well known figure in the horror hosting community is going to be at a convention, the two decide to try to meet up with him, hoping he can take their show and make it bigger. Everything is riding on this one meeting -- but things don't go as planned.

Zentner writes teen girl friendships very well. Josie and Delia are realistic and full-fledged characters. They have their inside jokes and specific way of talking with each other, which felt very real. They have fights, but they aren't screaming matches. They say what they both are feeling and at times that causes tension between them, but they always make up. This really stood out to me. Normally when two girl friends fight it involves name calling, yelling, and hysterical behavior. Josie and Delia aren't like that and I really enjoyed seeing a relationship that reminded me of myself and my best friend.

While there is a very sweet romantic subplot, the main story here is Josie and Delia. Their friendship is the main plot, but Zentner also explores what two very different teen girls are thinking and feeling during that time when you've graduated high school and have to make a decision about your future.

**I received an eARC from Netgalley**

I don't want to give too much away about Jeff Zentner's newest book. I will say the following however: Rayne & Delilah's Midnight Matinee checked off a lot of boxes for me. First and foremost, I found these characters to be legitimately funny and more importantly really good friends to one another. It's also about creative endeavors and the hopes and dreams that goes into those efforts! The story also features a basset hound and an MMA fighter. Zentner brings to this story a different feel from his last two novels, but it's as distinguished as anything else he's created in my book.

Friendships change. They grow and evolve and sometimes they become something wholly different from what they were when they began. I really enjoyed this book and it's look at how the choices you make affect the people around you and vice versa. I'm looking forward to reading more by Zentner in the future.

This was a book of world building for some, and it took a while to get started.
Once established, the milieu was fun and engaging, with angst built in amongst the zaniness.
A fun read with a heart tugging ending.

Big fan of Jeff Zentner's other books, so I was pretty excited for this. This book is a lot lighter than his others, but it is still pretty good. Characters are pretty likeable although they are a bit relentlessly mean in a few interactions with those they deem beneath them. I would consider this a cute read with some personal growth, while Zentner's previous books were moving must reads.

“We may not have forever together, but we have right now.”

** Trigger warning for mental health issues. **

“I don’t know who watches Midnite Matinee or why. I mean, I have some idea from letters we get. Here’s my guess: it’s lonely people. People who don’t have a lot going on in their lives, because they have time to sit at home on a Saturday night (that’s when we air in most markets, including our home market) and flip through channels. People who aren’t rich, because if they were, they’d have more entertainment options. People who aren’t hip, because if they were, they’d seek out higher quality entertainment options. People who don’t truly love to be frightened, because if they did, they’d find actual scary movies. People who prefer their awful movies straight, with no commentary, because otherwise they’d watch old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. People who still write letters. It’s a very niche crowd. Most of all, I think it’s people who love to be reminded that sometimes you do your best and you come up short, but there’s still a place in the world for people like that. People like them.” – Delia

“You don’t always know at the time when you’re experiencing one of those random memories you’ll carry all your life. When nothing momentous happened other than driving a little too fast in the direction of Florida, at dusk, with your best friend by your side and, at your back, a guy who’s really good at kissing you. Still, you remember it until the day you die. But this time I know.” – Josie

Delia Wilkes and Josie Howard are best friends, soon-to-be-graduates, and local Jackson, Tennessee celebrities (okay, so I use that term loosely). Delilah Darkwood and Rayne Ravenscroft – as they are otherwise known – host Midnite Matinee, a campy public access show that screens terrible B-rated horror films culled from the depths of obscurity (and the ’80s, or so one would assume), performing cheesy skits before, after, and during. Though it’s what brought them together, the show means very different things to each young woman: for Josie, it’s a doorway into a career in tv; for Delia, it’s a way of reaching out to her absentee father, who abandoned Delia more than a decade before, leaving her family in ruin. The tapes she diligently combs through every week? Belonged to her dad, the man formerly known as Dylan Wilkes.

With the end of high school barreling down on them, Delia and Josie have plenty of tough decisions to make – not the least of which involves the future of Midnite Matinee. Josie’s parents are leaning on her hard to enroll in Knoxville, so she can take that Food Network internship her mom lined up for her. But moving away from Jackson will mean leaving Delilah Darkwood and Rayne Ravenscroft – and Delia herself – behind. And then there’s Lawson, the handsome MMA fighter who’s slowly but surely worming his way into Josie’s heart.

The girls hatch a plan to ‘take Midnite Matinee to the next level,’ involving a road trip to Orlando, a horror con, and an eccentric Hollyweird type name Jack Devine. Spoiler alert: things go sideways, as they tend to do.

So Jeff Zentner based Delia and Josie (or, perhaps more accurately, Delilah and Rayne) on two very real people: Marlena Midnite and Robyn Graves, the hosts of Midnite Mausoleum. He also volunteers at Tennessee Teens Rock Camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp, working with aspiring musicians. These facts are relevant because Zentner does a pretty rad job portraying female friendships (and cheesy late night horror shows), probably based in no small part on his own real life experiences.

I really love Delia and Josie together; their banter is fun and authentic, and Bufie makes a pawsome sidekick. (The twins I could do without, though the commentary on Basset hounds and beagles and what constitutes a valid opinion is entertaining and relevant as heck.) There are a lot of really great one-liners in here; to wit: “The leather cuff is the fedora of the wrist.”

Typically Zentner writes pathos with a little bit of humor sprinkled in; RAYNE & DELILAH’S MIDNITE MATINEE is the inverse. While I think he’s at his strongest in the former (and the heavy scenes are indeed my favorite bits here), the latter is still entertaining too.

Josie and Delia’s looming graduation really took me back to my own senior year in high school (and then college), and not always in a comfortable way. I empathize with both girls, in different ways: I both identified with Delia’s “sad sack” outlook on life (depression knows depression) and felt the push-pull conflict tearing Josie to pieces in my very marrow. (Like I said, PATHOS is Zentner’s JAM.) The bit about Buford in the last few pieces simply destroyed me. (Shadow, I miss you so much, my sweet babygirl.)

And now if you’ll excuse me, I have a season of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 to binge watch. I need some laughs, okay.

I am notoriously picky about books of a lighter nature. But since The Serpent King is one of my all-time favorites, and I really loved Goodbye Days , I was obviously going to give Rayne & Delilah a go. And I am so glad that I did, for it was fabulous. This book is completely laugh-out-loud funny. Nay, it's laugh-at-inappropriate-times funny.

But beyond just being phenomenally funny, it had so, so much heart. Delia and Josie are both incredible characters who I loved from basically the start. I related far more to Delia, but I still really enjoyed Josie. They're both facing a lot of changes as they finish their high school years, and effectively, their childhoods. They are of course also going through major personal changes, as a result of all of the upheaval but also just as a result of growing up.

Their friendship is at the center of the story, and it's so well done. It feels incredibly authentic, and I swear I have had some of these same ups and downs with my own friends (you know, minus the horror movie cable access show, sadly). But it isn't just their relationship that has a focus, there are so many other highlighted relationships! All the side characters are incredibly well fleshed out, and I grew to care about them just as much as Delia and Josie. And, family was a huge focus too.

Add to it a road trip to a fan convention, and you have me drowning in flails. You'll laugh (a lot), cry, and just feel like your heart is fuller after reading Josie and Delia's story.

Bottom Line: Full of hilarious hijinks, heartbreaking, life-defining moments, and a friendship that frankly cannot be beat. To say you want to read this is a severe understatement.

For fans of late night horror films, the cheesier the better, Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee reaches out to embrace you. Two best friends who highlight a different oldie-but-"goodie" horror film each Saturday night on public access television, Josie (Rayne) and Delia (Delilah) bond over these films and the friendship that blossomed because of them. However, now with graduation approaching, family problems growing larger by the minute, and personal relationships becoming something of a quagmire, will their Televison Six show be enough to hold them together or is the future too tenuous?

I wasn't really aware that horror hosting was a thing before Rayne & Delilah. Sure I'd heard of Elvira, but beyond that not so much. So the concept was super interesting, adding to the fact that I love horror movies and I don't get to indulge in them as much as I'd like because I don't have anyone in my immediate real life to share them with. 

I wasn't thrilled with the execution of the story, though.

It may have had something to do with so much of the opening having to do with Josie & Delia filming an episode of their show Midnite Matinee, but even once the action moved  past the filming it still felt kinda flat. The voices of the main characters were very similar, like if they were changed Delia and Josie's voices would be indistinct. There was even a point where, in a Josie chapter, this was highlighted by a p.o.v. signifier being wrong with no notice being given. I don't think it happened more than once in the rest of the book, but it strengthened my problem with Josie & Delia's voices being too alike.

Once they were apart and talking to others, it was easier to see Delia and Josie opening up into their own persons. As a reader it became a better experience and there was more opportunity to enjoy their interactions, conversations, and internal thoughts. 

Some of the other issues that I had, even with these improvements, included the distinct lack of communication between Josie and Delia. Their friendship felt a bit unbalanced because of this, especially when thinking about Josie's dream of being on television (as unrelated to horror hosting) or Delia's attachment to Midnite Matinee and staying in their town.

Delia was complicated, messy, interesting. She had a lot going on, such as searching for the father that abandoned her and her mother ten years prior to the start of the book; her mental health (depression) as well as that of her mother (also depression); the stability and possibility of Midnite Matinee, the only sort-of link she has to her father. There were difficult times, what Delia referred to as dark days, whether for her or her mother. On some level I was able to see why why Delia didn't want Josie to go to Knoxville for college, for the internship. Her sick mother & abandonment issues, her best friend & the Midnite Matinee are vital parts of her identity. Without them, who is Delia? That's the question she struggles with throughout Rayne & Delilah, even as she's asking questions like what's wrong with her or why don't people stay with her if nothing is actually wrong?

Josie was something else. After much of the book, I found myself really wondering: who was she? Reading the book, we know she wants to be on t.v., wants her own show, but other than that and Midnite Matinee, who is she? What does she like? There are some Netflix titles dropped that she watches away from Delia, but her individuality seems almost non-existent until Lawson showed up.

Lawson, who is ostensibly a side character, had more dimensions than she did. He was a MMA fighter, he enjoys reading fantasy novels, he even gets into a bit of horror hosting because of Josie. It felt like there was more thought put into his dream track of being a professional MMA fighter than Josie's television industry person. As much as I liked Lawson, this feels like a failing of Josie, one of the main (titular!) characters. It would have been nice to get a better idea of her personality, heck, even more depth of her t.v. aspirations.

This wasn't a terribly written book, but there was an overwhelmingly feeling of "meh" when I was finished and looking for a word to describe how I felt about Midnite Matinee. It could be enjoyable, but I think it's just under the border of character driven enjoyable and not really near any kind of mark as far as plot driven. Some humor in the form of extreme cringe alleviates the third act, but it's not enough to raise my estimation of the overall work.

“Sometimes small and unspectacular things can be a universe.”

A new Jeff Zentner book?! YESSSS! I am so stoked that I was approved for Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. Jeff always writes books that make me ugly cry and end up loving to pieces. Rayne & Delilah was no exception! I felt all the feels and let me tell you, there are so many! This book was so fun to read….and so easy to cry over.

I loved Josie and Delia’s friendship so much. They were funny and connected so well together. They had a strong bond and connection and it was perfection. They had me laughing almost non-stop and then there were the moments where they had me crying almost non-stop! Throw in new friend Lawson and it was a riot! There were a lot of family aspects to the story that were really sad, but I loved Delia and her mom’s relationship so much. I loved the horror movie aspect of it and all the movie references. I even caught a some Serpent King references in the story, which was fun! I’m sure there were Goodbye Days references that I missed, but it was fun that there were some little connections to Zentner’s other books. :P

Overall, I loved Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Mantinee so so much! It was everything I hoped it would be. I laughed, I cried, and had so much fun reading it. The characters were great, the story was great, so much friendship and love in one story. It made me so sad and so happy at the same time. I highly recommend reading it. Now I must go find some low quality old horror films to watch. :P

“Maybe life isn’t about avoiding pain at all costs. Maybe it’s about having one or two people who have signed up for the messy job of being your salvation, who make your life bigger.”

When I thought I couldn't love Jeff Zentner's book any more than I do, he goes and puts this amazing story out in the world. Tell me, tell me, how do you do it, sir?

Josie and Delia are our two point-of-view characters. It took me a little to catch on to their individual voices and thought patterns, but once I did, I had no trouble distinguishing the two. They are both as different as two people can be except they have one thing in common - they put on a weekly Saturday public access television program that's quirky, cheesy, nerdy, and a wonderful mess. Their alter egos are Rayne Ravenscroft (Josie) and Delilah Darkwood (Delia). The public access show is the star of this story as things are revealed that directly connects the dots to the character arcs.

I also thought that both personalities acted as a foil for one another, as Delia is going through a more significant and dramatic time in her life, trying to fill a void left by the dad that abandoned her. On the other hand, Josie is going through a more mellow, but no less important, time as she's trying to decide what she wants to do post high school. But both perspectives absolutely are true to the raw angst we experience when we're 17-18 years old. It's been a while since I've related to a contemporary YA containing the exact same emotions and thoughts that floated my young mind my senior year of high school.

This book does some amazing things. It presents an honest female friendship, it gives us a swoon-worthy romance, and we are blessed with a set of secondary characters that not easily forgettable. (One of my favorites was Arliss.) The story eventually leads to this ridiculous scene that involves the Russian mafia and such an outlandish scenario that I couldn't help but love it all.

This book made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions (which is difficult to do), it also made me cry, and ultimately, it made me feel so many emotions that amped up my nostalgia. I sped through this one pretty fast but stopped a couple of times to mark quotes I loved.

I hope you all have a chance to pick this one up because I promise, you will not be disappointed. It has something for every reader.

As always, happy reading!

This book didn't grab me or pull me in at all. I didn't like the MC's at all and this felt very much like the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I honestly couldn't even make myself trudge through the whole thing. I was very disturbed by his last book in which the MC and his friend mimed suicide and joked about it numerous times. I wanted to give him a chance again and I'm sad to say I won't be purchasing or reviewing any more of his books.

5 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy quirky YA, that is packed full of every adult feel.

Josie and Delia are two high school seniors who run a late-night cable access show featuring zany old horror movies. Delia has always loved horror movies, as she grew up watching them with her dad before he left her and her mom. Josie has always wanted to be on main-stream television. The two find that this show brings the two of them and their interests together. Josie's parents are pressuring her to move to Knoxville next year and take an internship with Food Network, Delia is trying everything in her power to get Josie to stay. When they find out that famous TV horror host will be at ShiverCon in Orlando, FL, and Delia finds out that her dad is living near there... they take the chance to make their dreams come true and confront the past. This is a quirky and incredibly emotional coming of age story.

I requested this one because it sounded so quirky and fun. I loved the premise: two teenage girls who have a late-night cable access show about really bad, old, horror movies. So much fun. I adored all of the quirky details related to their show and their characters, all of their funny teenage girl conversations, and the other characters in the book. You can tell based on the timing that the book will end up being fairly emotional and deep, however, I didn't expect how much it would effect me. This book deals with loneliness, divorce, coming of age, first loves, moving away, best friends, not knowing what you want to do with your life, and disappointment. Mid-way through the book there was kind of a strange patch when the girls go to Orlando, I thought that it might be going downhill, however, the ending of the book hit me so hard that it all felt perfect. Rarely am I emotionally effected by a book that is not outright tragic, than I was with this book. I won't spoil it for you, but I think if you like heartfelt YA, that isn't all about the fluff, you will enjoy this one. I'm giving this one five stars (my first of the year) because it was incredibly well written, quirky, real, and mostly because of how it made me feel.

Nothing lasts forever. This is the theme of Jeff Zentner’s new novel, Rayne & Deliah’s Midnite Matinee, a coming of age story about two best friends who host an old-school horror film show on public access television.

It’s hard to believe that a pair of high school seniors could pull it off, but Josie and Delia host a weekend creature feature TV show that is broadcast in several states. While the viewership leaves something to be desired and the girls doubt that anyone would recognize them in public, “Midnite Matinee” gives them an outlet to work toward their future goals and come to terms with their past and future.

Delia, AKA Delilah Darkwood, is the one who is really passionate about low-rent horror flicks. She and her dad used to watch VHS tapes of the films before he abandoned their family when Delia was just a young child. Josie, AKA Rayne Ravenscroft, doesn’t care about scary movies the way that Delia does. She is hoping to make a name for herself in television someday, and Midnite Matinee is helping her get closer to her dream.

However, as senior year comes to a close and the girls start contemplating their futures, they find they are being pulled in different directions. Delia can’t stop thinking about her father and how she never got closure after he walked out on their family all those years ago. With every broadcast of Midnite Matinee, she hopes that her dad is out there, somewhere, watching and that he is proud. Josie’s parents are pushing her to accept an internship at Food Network, which would put her in college far away from Delia and the guy who has recently caught her eye, Lawson. Torn between the world she loves and the world she dreams, Josie feels that with whatever decision she makes, she will be letting someone down. In this last fateful summer before their adult lives begin, Delia and Josie hang on desperately to their pasts while making way for their futures.

Rayne & Deliah’s Midnite Matinee is heartfelt, introspective, and thought-provoking. Jeff Zentner captures perfectly how it feels to be on the cusp of something great, but afraid to leave everything you have ever loved behind. This story is even amusing, with the production of Midnite Matinee bringing on lots of laughs. Zentner takes two issues that many young people face - coming to terms with family struggles and making major life decisions - and presents them in a way that is relatable and engaging.

While the majority of this novel is very good and readable, the story takes an odd turn when Delia and Josie attend ShiverCon, a horror convention. Here the story becomes outlandish, the tone not gelling well with the rest of the book. Had it not been so over the top, my overall impression of the book would have been much higher.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel didn't knock my socks off, but it was definitely a fun read! A+ for character complexity and development. Delia and Josie were both really deep characters that had me invested in their stories from beginning to end.

I will admit that the book could be slow at times, particularly in the first half of it, but I understand that that sort of pacing was necessary in order for readers to see Delia and Josie grow as characters (as mentioned above).

Overall, I really enjoyed Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee! Thanks so much to NetGalley for the arc!