Dead is Not an Option by Marlene Perez

Perez, Marlene Dead is Not an Option, 252 p. Houghton, MAY 2011.  $7.99.  Content: G (5+ swears, 0 ‘f’).  Daisy is looking forward to college acceptance letters and life in college with her boyfriend, Ryan – but her mailbox has been strangely empty for way too long.  Her father is still having problems adjusting to freedom after having been kidnapped and imprisoned by the Scourge; a stranger in town seems to be causing trouble; Daisy’s former mentor, celebrity chef Circe, is back in town ready to cause trouble and Daisy still hasn’t figured out how to release her jukebox-imprisoned friend Lil and her pig-shaped fiancée Balthazar.  There are plenty of misdeeds in Nightshade to make Daisy’s senior year one to remember – or maybe to forget!  I love these books! Perez’s voice is wry and witty – lots of fun to read.  MS, HS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher