Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling is a sweet novel that takes an in-depth look at a high school romance that starts on one New Year’s Eve and ends on another. Teenagers are bound to love and have fun sinking into it, especially if they have a fondness for online Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying streams.

They meet on New Year’s Eve. Reggie Hubbard has dedicated himself to the art of dungeon mastering for his own D&D game, which he plays with friends, Yobani and Leela. But he’s got plenty of criticisms about dungeon mastering, which has led him to write critical articles under the name Keepin’ It d100, often pressing back against outright racism. His family, however, hopes it’s a hobby he’ll outgrow – and his brother Frankie outright teases him about it.

Delilah Tyler is a growing singer for the punk band Fun Gi with her friends Asher and Charlie. Delilah prefers to keep a cool, remote point of view. She’s not one to let anyone in, let alone someone who’s as nerdy but extroverted as Reggie.
Holiday by holiday and moment by moment, success by success and setback by setback, Reggie and Delilah begin to open up to one another. But will viral fame mean they might not be together at the turn of the next new year?

This story is so charming but, most importantly, it rings true to the teenage experience. Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling feels like the sort of romance any kid might go through as they try to figure out who the heck they are. Each of them is at an odd place in their lives; not grown, but not children. Delilah’s faith in romance has been broken by her parents’ divorce; Reggie has to face prejudice in his hobby and a family in which he doesn’t always fit. They’re both stuck in majority-white spaces and have to deal with the slings and arrows of racists who will not give them a chance. Reggie is shy, and kind of sees Delilah as a punk goddess at first – she manages to prove to him that she’s just as vulnerable as he is in her own way.

The book is great at landing its landmarks – getting the number, showing up at the Juneteenth family barbecue and having to deal with the extended family scene, the I-Love-Yous, the first fight. All of this is beautifully balanced and wonderfully handled and Reggie and Delilah are great kids who are easy to relate to. Their different family and friendship groups help set the stage as well, though their friends are a bit underdeveloped.

Overall, Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling is a sweet and romantic story that pleases one’s inner romantic and inner nerd at all once.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop

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