Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the NAACP Image Award–nominated author of Happily Ever Afters comes a dual POV rom-com about Reggie and Delilah, who fall in love through missed connections and chance meetings on holidays over the course of a year. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jenny Han, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.
Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow—which is how she ends up singing in her friends’ punk band as a favor, even though she’d prefer to hide at the merch table.
Reggie is a D&D Dungeon Master and self-declared Blerd. He spends his free time leading quests and writing essays critiquing the game under a pseudonym, keeping it all under wraps from his disapproving family.
These two, who have practically nothing in common, meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve. And then again on Valentine’s Day. And then again on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s almost like the universe is pushing them together for a reason.
Delilah wishes she were more like Reggie—open about what she likes and who she is, even if it’s not cool. Except . . . it’s all a front. Reggie is just role-playing someone confident. The kind of guy who could be with a girl like Delilah.
As their holiday meetings continue, the two begin to fall for each other. But what happens once they realize they’ve each fallen for a version of the other that doesn’t really exist?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This young-adult romance reminds us of the good that can come from an open mind. When Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast Reggie first lays eyes on punk singer Delilah during her New Year’s Eve set, sparks fly. But that first encounter eventually blossoms into a deep friendship when they keep running into each other on holidays like Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day during the following months. Elise Bryant captures the intensity of teenage longing as Reggie and Delilah navigate school, race, identity, and the hobbies that make them feel most alive. Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling is a feel-good read about being at the right place at the right time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After biracial (Black and white) 16-year-old Delilah Cole joins her friend's punk rock band, Fun Gi, as the lead singer, she finds that being onstage offers a blissful respite from her self-doubt and chronic migraines. Despite the freedom she feels while performing, though, she worries about being singled out because she's Black ("Am I just... a novelty to them?" she says of the band). Meanwhile, Black 16-year-old Reggie Hubbard has always felt different because of his interest in D&D, which garners his parents' silent disapproval, and his dyslexia. Reggie and Delilah's lives intertwine after he watches her in a Fun Gi performance and, over the course of a year, they meet up serendipitously on various holidays, such as Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. Through these chance encounters, their relationship unfolds, initially as a kinship among their largely white peers, before blossoming into earnest courtship. Together, they learn to embrace the parts of themselves they feel they must hide from others, including Delilah's desire to make Taylor Swift–inspired music and Reggie's determination to continue critiquing racism in the D&D community. Via inspirational self-discovery arcs with fated romance vibes, Bryant (One True Loves) pens a tender tale prioritizing conversations on disability and tokenism. Ages 13–up.
