When You Read This by Mary Adkins

The main cast of characters:

• Smith Simonyi - Owner of a PR firm. Gambling addict with significant mother issues.
• Iris Massey - Late administrative assistant to Smith. Brink-of-death blogger who died of cancer at age thirty-three.
• Jade Massey - Chef and sister to Iris. Full of attitude. Having a hard time processing her sister's death.
• Carl Van Snyder - Smith's intern. Full of sass and questionable branding ideas.

Iris Massey passed away, leaving behind her grieving sister, Jade, and a blog that she wants published posthumously. Her boss, Smith, still writes her emails even though she's no longer around. He gets in touch with Jade in order to get permission to publish Iris' blog and is initially met with hostility. 

Jade's all over the place, trying to take care of her elderly mother who lives in another state, while sorting out her career as a chef and trying her best to fulfill what she believes were Iris' final wishes.

Smith is also trying to find his footing. He's also processing his feelings about Iris' death, while trying to save his flailing business and come up with the money required for his quadriplegic mother's care. This involves a lot of asking his former roommate, Rich, for money, while trying to suppress an online gambling addiction.

Carl is Smith's young intern, a.k.a. the source of comic relief. While trying his best to help and be proactive, his time with the firm is an endless series of screwups and misunderstandings, though his heart is in the right place. Carl rocks.

This epistolary novel is creatively told through blog posts, diagrams, emails, and text messages. It's format is imaginative and what could be a very sad tale is sprinkled with so much humor, the funny far outweighs the dark. It was a quick, entertaining read that, while oftentimes was a little predictable, allowed for enough insight and laughs that it didn't ultimately matter. A lighthearted read about a young woman's death by cancer? Sure, why not. Sometimes it's funner to laugh than cry when life as you know it is turned on its head.

Judge the cover: 2.5/5