Delia, whose father left when she was young, knows that she's unlikely ever to roam far from Jackson, Tenn.--even with three jobs between the two of them, she and her mom make just enough to squeak by. Delia plans to go to community college and keep filming her cable access TV program, Midnite Matinee, with best friend Josie, who has dreamed of working in TV since she "was old enough to remember." Even though she doesn't love the terrible scary movies that Delia adores, Josie enjoys playing Rayne Ravenscroft to Delia's Delilah Darkwood on their Elvira-style show. But Josie has been offered an internship at the Food Network, which would do more for her career than performing for an audience "too high to operate Netflix." When the girls are invited to a horror convention, Delia becomes convinced that Jack Devine, the producer of a famous horror/comedy show, can be talked into producing Midnite Matinee. The girls set off on a road trip that could make or break the show--and their friendship, too.
Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee is a change for Zentner, whose The Serpent King and Goodbye Days featured teens in significantly more tragic situations. Josie and Delia are quirky, sometimes veering toward Manic Pixies, but since they and their internal lives are the focus, the trope is happily subverted. Throughout, Zentner keeps the spotlight firmly planted on his two female protagonists and their experiences growing up, creating a novel as funny as it is bittersweet. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness