REGGIE AND DELILAH’S YEAR OF FALLING by ELISE BRYANT
A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN
Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling by Elise Bryant is a refreshing YA contemporary romance about two teenagers falling in love…and finding themselves along the way. The book is told from two points of view: Reggie and Delilah’s. They meet one New Year’s Eve night at a concert and it’s love at first sight for Reggie. From then on, he’s determined to get closer to her, using various holidays throughout the year to meet up and get to know one another. While they eventually start dating for real, there are secrets that both Reggie AND Delilah are keeping from one another. Will their relationship survive? You need to read the book to find out!
Reggie and Delilah is a beautiful book about young love, yes, but it’s also about finding your true self. Both Reggie and Delilah are Black and find themselves alienated from their family and friends because neither of them fit into what notions of “Black” is supposed to be. Reggie loves Dungeons & Dragons. Delilah is the lead of an all-white punk band who o
nly seeks to use her Blackness to their advantage. Reggie’s family doesn’t respect him and Delilah’s friends don’t respect her. It’s a complicated narrative to spin and Bryant handles these themes with grace.
As for the characters themselves, I appreciated both points of view, though I think I like Reggie’s point of view a little more. I could relate to his anxiety about being proud of his nerdy interests. I also love that he’s dyslexic and has an IEP. While I’m not dyslexic (I’m dyscalculic), I had an IEP all throughout my schooling years and I love that this detail made it into the book. This isn’t to say Delilah is uninteresting–she is interesting and is deserving of the POV–but I liked Reggie’s just a smidge more.
The plot is pretty simple. It’s just about two teens falling in love. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, of course. I love quieter stories like this. Real life is a story, too. However, I found the book dragged a little towards the middle. It was about 50 pages longer than it needed to be and I found the third act breakup to be a little…silly, for lack of a better word. Despite these minor quibbles, I really enjoyed this book. It’s an adorable tale of Black joy and I can’t wait to read more of Bryant’s books.