REVIEW: Dead is So Last Year by Marlene Perez

Something very strange starts happening in Nightshade the summer that the eldest Giordano sister, Rose, gets a job working at Dr. Franken’s research laboratory. People are starting to see double. Doppelgängers of Nightshade residents are popping up all over town. Daisy, Rose and Poppy think it’s a coincidence, until the rumors start that their father, who disappeared several years ago, has been spotted in town. Meanwhile, Daisy’s beau, Ryan is spending all of his time training for football, and like the other guys on the team, he’s grown enormous almost overnight. Samantha Devereux’s boyfriend’s neck has doubled in size since school ended. Could the football players be resorting to extreme measures to win? Between summer jobs, sugar rushes, and beach parties, the Giordano girls get to the bottom of these mysteries and more.

MARLENE PEREZ is the author of many books, including the  Dead Is series, The Comeback, Love in the Corner Pocket, and Unexpected Development, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. She lives in Orange County, California.
www.marleneperez.com

I can’t tell you how many people I have recommended this series to, especially those with 11-12 year old girls who are not into the Twilight series. Everyone seems to agree, no matter how old they are, think that this series is just wonderful. The characters of Daisy, Poppy and Rose provide good role models since they all have college plans, hold jobs and value family. The mystery of each book is enough to keep everyone turning the pages. 

There are nice little word plays in the book like naming the evil scientist, Dr. Franken, which could be short for Dr. Frankenstein. A young werewolf named Wolfgang and the term “hairballs” as slang for the drug of werewolf blood and steroids are also very clever. This is the only drug reference in the book which is put across in a way to open discuss of such things. There are some romantic situations, but nothing that anyone would be uncomfortable with. 

At the end of the third in the series, I was a little sad and thought “OH NO, this can’t be the end!” Without giving away the ending, I realized that there is another mystery to be solved and therefore another book. I look forward to the next one and I just hope it doesn’t take a year before it comes out.