Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling Book Review

Hey!! As you already know if you've been following along, I read all romance books in February, so now I'm going to do a full review on my favorite one. As I've also mentioned, I'm not a big fan of romance books. I can do it as a subplot, but I don't really like it as the full focus. I guess compared to my fantasies, where they save kingdoms and entire realms, a boy being a character's biggest problem seems a bit over-dramatic to me. But, something uplifting and fun is definitely good every once and a while!

Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling is by Elise Bryant, whose other books I have already read and really enjoyed, so I kind of already guessed that I would probably like this book. Unlike the feeling I get with other romance books, nothing about the character's conflicts seem silly or that they could easily be avoided if they just communicated their true feelings for the other guy that mysteriously appears from their past (oddly specific, but yeah). All of Reggie and Delilah's struggles, internally and within their relationship, seemed super human and realistic, not theatrical if that makes. They both struggled a lot with confidence and idolized false versions of each other, which I feel like is relatable in a society where we are constantly putting up some kind of front, either in our daily interactions or on social media. I also really liked that this was emphasized by the dual povs because you could really see what Reggie and Delilah admired in each other, and then compare that to how the complete opposite was true with their internal dialogue.

I think the main reason I rated this book 4 stars is because of how much I related to Delilah. In the beginning of the book, she joins a punk rock band as the lead singer, but she's never really sung with her full ability in front of anyone, so she felt a lot like an imposter. Throughout the book, you follow her musical journey and how she feels more validated in her passion, even if she didn't have the most experience or discovered her love for it a little later in life. I feel this way a lot with my creative writing, especially since that's what I'm majoring in at college. I also feel like I have imposter syndrome on like a daily basis, but Delilah made me feel like as long as I continued to take steps towards improvement, I'll eventually learn that I am enough too. I even related to Reggie on some levels as well. Although I don't play Dungeons and Dragons, I can relate to how he feels like he belongs in fantasy worlds more than reality, like I do with my fantasy novels. He also gets made fun of a lot for it, which I also experience a bit too. Anyways, a book is about ten times better if you can see yourself in the characters, and I definitely could in this book!

The cutest and most fun thing about this book is that each section / time jump is a different holiday. The joke is that the first few times Reggie and Delilah run into each other, it happens to be on a holiday. Once they start purposely hanging out, there are even some non-traditional and unofficial ones, like National Comic Book Day. The book starts and ends on New Years Eve, making it their "year of falling." Also, for all the Swifties out there, there are lots of Taylor Swift references and dance parties. One of my fav quotes from the book was "Are you gonna tell me what happened, or are you just gonna keep lying there cosplaying Taylor in the 'Teardrops of my Guitar' music video?" I also loved how Delilah was putting on this persona of being a cool punk rock girl, but she secretly loves Taylor and eventually owns up to it and draws inspiration from her as well as rock artists to create her own music, which I thought that betrayal of Taylor and her music was really powerful.

Overall, Elise Bryant and her books are always so joyful and she never disappoints in giving me an entertaining, captivating, and emotional romance novel. Even the cover art on her books are adorable! I would definitely recommend this book and her others to anyone who doesn't read romance as their main genre. Or even if you do, this is another great one to add to your TBR!