REGGIE AND DELILAH’S YEAR OF FALLING By Elise Bryant

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling by Elise Bryant
Published by Balzer + Bray on 1/31/23
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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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?

Short and Sweet Review

Delilah is starting off the new year in a band as a favor to her friend. Delilah likes to go with the flow but she’s not sure about being on stage and being part of the center of attention. Reggie is into Dungeons and Dragons and is the dungeon master, he’s actually pretty popular online where he writes essays critiquing the game but he does it under a pseudonym. Reggie and Delilah first meet on New Years Eve and that’s just the beginning of their Holiday meet cutes. The more that these two bump into each other the more that they get to know each other but the problem is they’re starting to fall for a version of each other that isn’t really who they are in their real lives, Delilah isn’t the confident punk rocker you see on stage and Reggie isn’t the cool nerd who’s proud of his Dungeon and Dragons life.

I loved this book so much! I read this book in one sitting and honestly I would do it again! Reggie and Delilah were characters you could relate to. I love how all of their holiday meet ups were coincidence until they decided to take matters into their own hands and start hanging out without it being a holiday. We see Delilah in her band and she’s treated like a second class citizen, they’re using her because she’s bringing them more recognition. When Delilah realizes this she decides that she wants to take a page out of Reggies book and be proud of her own music and be her own person. Unfortunately that’s not who Reggie really is, his family doesn’t get his love for D&D and even his brother makes fun of him. It’s not until we get to the plot where Delilah realizes that Reggie isn’t who she thought he is, that Reggie realizes that he can be that person and finally stands up to everyone who made him feel like he was less than for his passion.

Again I loved this book for the characters, the meet cutes, and the character growth. This is a book that I will recommend to all of my friends, its a must read! You’ll love the characters and the plot!