FEMINISM: Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

The Theory:

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment.
The French philosopher, Charles Fourier, is credited with having originated the word "feminism" in 1837. The words "feminism" and "feminist" first appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 1894 as the year of the first appearance of "feminist" and 1895 for "feminism". Today the Oxford English Dictionary defines afeminist as "an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women”.

(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism)


The Story:

courtesy of: http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/0874-1/%7B11BF0A7D-4240-460B-BCF7-65D0D474D242%7DImg100.jpg

The small town of Nightshade is known for its odd occurrences dating back several hundred years. So you may understand that it came to no surprise to Daisy when her ex best friend Samantha Devereaux showed up at school dressed completely in black, paler then normal, and dragging a coffin around as her latest accessory.
Samantha is the head cheerleader at Nightshade High School and the most popular, even though the girls are only juniors. Whether dragging around a coffin was the latest cool thing to do, or Samantha was now a walking dead person, Daisy does not know. Either way, Samantha seems different and needs to be watched extra carefully.
Daisy comes from a family of psychics but she is a norm with no powers to speak of. While her sisters can read minds and use telekinesis, her mother uses her powers to help the police solve crimes. The latest case involves a dead teenage girl. Daisy enlists her best friend Ryan Mendez to help her solve the mystery. But when, one by one, teenagers are having seizures and wind up in the hospital with mysterious illnesses, Daisy realizes they must work quickly before another person dies.
Will Daisy and Ryan solve the case or will they end up the latest victims to this supernatural person? Who is the culprit and how come the police haven’t caught them by now? Will investigating this case reunite Samantha and Daisy as friends? 

(courtesy of: http://www.armchairinterviews.com/reviews/dead-is-the-new-black)


The Criticism:

“Dead is the New Black” tells the story through the eyes of Daisy, a girl who comes from a psychic family but has no powers herself. She struggles to gain powers of her own, all the while solving a supernatural mystery involving her ex-best friend Samantha, and falling for a boy named Ryan. The story is a thrilling ride with the main character as she struggles with both personal and social problems as well. Through her eyes, we see the things that trouble the average teenage girl. We see, through her eyes, the struggle of women for a place in the society, metaphorically retold with the overwhelming elements of fantasy and a dash of the supernatural thrown in as well. We see, through her eyes, the hardships she endured and doubts she set aside in order to repair the broken friendship with her ex-best friend Samantha Devereaux. We see, through her eyes, the naturalistic behavior of the average teenage girl as she gets attracted and, ultimately, falls in love with her best friend Ryan Mendez. We see, through her eyes, her struggle to gain powers of her own just so she can be fully accepted by her family who may not be totally treating her as an outcast but certainly feel indifferent about her lack of psychic abilities. And finally, we see, through her eyes, her struggle to juggle all those things at once while trying to solve a supernatural mystery which could put her own safety into jeopardy, all for the sake of everyone else’s safety.