Thursday, April 20, 2017

Review: Get it Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

Get it Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough
Series: Standalone
Published: April 4th, 2017
Publisher: Chronicle Books
336 pages (eARC)
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult/LGBTQ
Acquired this book: Via Edelweiss in exchange for honest consideration
Warning: May contain spoilers
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A story about falling in love, literally.

Seventeen-year-old Delilah Green wouldn’t have chosen to do her last year of school this way, but she figures it’s working fine. Her dad is on a trip to fix his broken heart after her mom left him for another man, so Del’s managing the family café in his absence. Easy, she thinks. But what about:
- homework and the nasty posse of mean girls making her life hell
- or how one of Del’s best friends won’t stop guilt-tripping her
- and her other best friend is so in love with his tutor he might go to jail for her if Del doesn’t do something

But who cares about any of that really, because above all else, she can’t stop thinking about beautiful Rosa who dances every night across the street until one day Rosa comes in the café door . . .

And if Rosa starts thinking about Del, too, then how in the name of caramel milkshakes will Del get the rest of it together?


 

 

Get it Together, Delilah! was absolutely delightful. It was different from a lot of the YA I’ve read over the past few years. It tackled a lot of big things in an honest way, which I loved.

Delilah was a fantastic character. She had a great voice, and I connected with her easily. She was flawed, she made mistakes, she had moments where I alternately wanted to smack her upside the head and hug her tight. Her emotions rang so true to me. It was largely because of her flaws that she felt like such a real character. She was a teenage girl and she had teenage girl reactions and emotions - anger, confusion, lust. It made her easy to root for and I wanted to see her succeed because she tried so damn hard, no matter what crap life threw at her - homophobic jerks, absent parents, struggles at school, issues with friends. While Delilah was well fleshed-out and had a great character arc, and we got to know other characters, particularly Charlie, more in depth, I wish we’d seen more of Rosa and gotten to know more about her other than the fact she was smart, beautiful, could dance, wanted to save the library, and Del was in love with her. I appreciated the struggles they faced and the fact the story dealt with one character who was openly gay and another who wasn’t, but I would have loved to see more of them together and learn more about Rosa as a person.

I wish there were more books like Get it Together, Delilah. While I’d love f/f that focuses more on the romance, I’m still grateful for books like this, with a normal teenager doing normal teen things, having a life, dealing with real problems, and also falling in love. It's cute and sweet and mostly uncomplicated, and leaves you feeling good. I understand there’s a need for coming out books and for honest discussions about homophobia, but I’m always happy to read a book where a gay teen is already out and they accept who they are. Delilah definitely had to deal with homophobic jerks, but the story was about so much more than that. 

There are other things I’d like to talk about, but I feel like I’d be getting into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say this: if you enjoy contemporary YA with realistic characters and real-life struggles, read Get it Together, Delilah! This book is charming, funny, sweet, and memorable. I look forward to more books from Erin Gough in the future.



Have you read Get it Together, Delilah? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Do you have a favourite f/f YA book?
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1 comment:

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