Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler Review

(Photo: goodreads.com)

 

          Finding a good contemporary young adult book in a sea of novels about mythical creatures and dystopian societies is like finding a needle in a haystack. However, after searching high and low, I have discovered an author that seems to get it right every time—Sarah Ockler. With four books under her belt, Ockler is proving to be one of the best young-adult authors on the shelves today. With that being said, Fixing Delilah is a book that needs to hit your summer reading list and would be a perfect introduction to her work.

            Fixing Delilah follows seventeen-year-old Delilah Hannaford, a girl with a bad reputation for sneaking out with her “non-boyfriend” and stealing from Blush Cosmetics. With her father dead and a workaholic mother, Delilah spends most nights by herself at home. That is, until she is told that her grandmother is dead and she and her mother must go back to her grandmother’s house in Vermont for the entire summer to attend the funeral and sell the house.

            There, Delilah attempts to uncover the mysteries that tear her family apart, like what happened to her mother’s dead younger sister and the fight between her mother and grandmother that ended all communication between them eight years before. With her old summer best friend (and love interest) Patrick, new friend Emily, and aunt, Delilah learns that even the most broken relationships are worth mending.

            Like other Ockler’s other novels Twenty Boy Summer and Bittersweet, Ockler crafts a heart breaking story with real characters and relatable problems. Unlike other summer novels, Fixing Delilah is not light and fluffy. As always, you may want to grab a box of tissues before sitting down with this bad boy. You’ll most likely end up in tears through the majority of the novel.

            The characters in Fixing Delilah are simply perfection. Delilah is an extremely relatable protagonist. Her evolution from an angsty teen to a more understanding one is a pleasure to read. Any teenager will be able to relate to her rocky relationship with her family and the experience of falling in love. Although her mother at first comes across as the stereotypical workaholic mother, as the story develops, she becomes a character with many layers. However, the best part of the characters is that they all have flaws. No character is “perfect” like many other characters in young adult novels. They’re real, which is refreshing in a genre overcrowded with perfect boyfriends and other similar stereotypes.

            In addition, Ockler perfectly captures a teenage voice. Some other authors struggle to write in a way that makes protagonists sound like teenagers. However, Ockler is not one of them. Delilah sounds like the average teenager, and this is not accomplished with overused slang like many other authors try to do (I mean, just because you say LOL doesn’t mean you sound like a teenage girl). It sounds like your listening to your best friend, which personally made me feel a stronger connection to the story. 

            The plot is beautifully written. Ockler has a way of taking a simple idea and making it complicated, heartbreaking, and captivating. I literally could not put the book down, which caused me family members to question my sanity once or twice on Christmas day when I received and promptly started reading the book. Seriously, not one part of the book falls flat and Ockler has a way with words.

            Besides an interesting plot and great characters, Ockler tackles tough topics wonderfully. In the novel, Ockler addresses suicide, death, depression, and a broken family. She does not do this in a clichéd way and the characters’ reactions to each situation is believable. Although this may seem like a wide range of topics to discuss in one novel, Ockler pulls it off perfectly and each topic is addressed completely.

            Fans of Ockler’s other novels and Sarah Dessen will love Fixing Delilah. Ockler’s latest novel, The Book of Broken Hearts, hit shelves this May.

Disclaimer: I receieved Fixing Delilah as a Christmas present. I am not being compensated for this review in any way! All thoughts and opinions are my own.