Definitely a Contemporary Romance fan's dream book.

This book had total Sarah Dessen-vibes. Delilah felt so much like a Dessen main girl-- strained parental relationship (check!), slightly rebellious behavior (check!), touristy location setting (check!), super swoony/patient to a fault boy (check!). And I mean all of that as a compliment because Sarah Dessen creates stories that you can just sink into and become completely immersed, and this book was very much like that.

Drawbacks: I didn't LOVE Delilah. She had a tendency to be self-centered and make everything about her. It was like Patrick (the boy) and Emily (the friend) weren't allowed to have lives and problems because she was GOING THROUGH SOMETHING. There was also a lot of that kind of drama where if the characters just said 5 words, the misunderstandings wouldn't have happened-- and I tire of that. TALK PEOPLE, TALK!! USE YOUR WORDS!

In the end, I'm glad I read this, and I had a nice feeling reading it. It was like going home after I've been away for a while because books like these are my roots. I will always want to come back to stories that suck me in and aren't super plot driven. I will always want to read books that combine family and growing up. And you should too!!

OVERALL: It was so nice to read a Sarah Ockler book after so long!! This was one I had been meaning to read for years, and I'm glad I finally got to it. It had major Sarah Dessen-vibes radiating, but that's not a bad thing!! I liked getting immersed in the setting and characters, but I wished I liked Delilah just a tad more.

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The story had plenty of potential, estranged family members, mother and daughter tension, a summer romance, and a couple really dramatic secrets. There was just something in the execution, maybe in part because so much of the plot revolved around events in the past, many of them events the heroine didn’t experience firsthand, that left this novel often feeling flat and like little was happening.

Even the romance was a little too rooted in what happened prior to the start of this novel, relying on Delilah and Patrick’s childhood bond, making their re-connection after eight years apart instantaneous rather than taking the time to have them get to know each other all over again, to let the chemistry gradually develop for the reader. I just never really felt all that engaged with their relationship.

As for the rest of the story beyond the romance, maybe it would have helped to have the grandmother alive in this book so Delilah could have been more of a participant in that conflict as opposed to just having that information relayed to her, or maybe the events of this book (how few there were) could have been condensed into the first three chapters and then send Delilah off to seek out a certain person who I can’t name for fear of spoilers, I’ll just say the lack of interest this book had in exploring that particular character and that relationship to any degree, not even having Delilah ask many questions about that person, certainly added to the overall unsatisfying feeling of this reading experience. This just seemed in desperate need of a more pro-active way for the heroine to truly be in it and give the narrative a more compelling and propulsive drive. ( )

Well.
There is romance here, but that's not what it's all about.

It's about family, bonds broken and reforged. Blood and tears and demons in the closet. Dark dirty secrets buried and unearthed, generations later to cause strife and redefine what stands for 'family'.

It's strange and twisted and unsettling. Grief and sorrow and heartbreak. Family torn apart by illness and death,

Family is a strange changeable creature. Sometimes we have to redefine its shape to rediscover who we are. Sometimes it;s even worth it.

FINAL VERDICT: READ, SPREAD THE WORD ( )

Delilah Hannaford comes from her own version of a broken family. Her mother is always at work, her father has been dead her whole life, and her non-boyfriend Finn is there to help her forget. Basically Delilah is learning how to grow up all alone. In what her mom sees as a cry for help, Delilah begins to slip at school and at life in general. Of course she blames it on her lack of a mom, and her mom blames it on her lack of responsibility. Cue a life changing summer.

What I loved most about this book was the family relationships that are explored in it. Delilah and her mother are miles apart, and all Delilah wants is to go back to the days when they understood one another. Isn't that how all mothers and daughters feel at some point? It's hard to keep up with the change. Watching the two of them each grow in their own right, and dive into the past that has haunted them, was amazing. I think I cried mostly because I'm so proud that my mom and I got past this point in our lives too. Readers will likely find a lot to connect with as they read.

The romantic aspect in this book was also so well written. Watching Delilah explore a relationship for "convenience" that allowed her to escape from her life made me go back to that time in my life. Then when she meets Patrick and the sparks fly, I was so smitten! Through one another they learn how to let go of the past, and how to embrace the future. Despite the problems they go through, the two of them fit together so perfectly that it's like pairing a brownie with a glass of milk. So wonderful together.

Reading this book is like a refreshing drink of cool lemonade on a hot day. It's the type of book that allows you to just sit back, watch some family mending going on, and day dream about those past summers. Sure, it has moments of angst. Yes, Delilah is a wreck. However the characters in this book are so lovable, so sweet, and so real, that you'll find yourself becoming a part of their family without even trying. This book made me smile and cry, both in equal parts, and I love it so much more for that.

I know I've rambled, and I apologize, but I cannot recommend this book enough! I loved it so much that you can be sure that I will be buying a copy and spreading the love. Thank you Sarah Ockler for such a sweet, refreshing, and all around honest read. I need more of these in my life. ( )

Won through the GoodReads First Reads giveaway program.

So glad I won this at the FirstReads giveaway! Could not put this book down for long today...A charming, wrenching story about Delilah Hannaford and what it means to be family.

First, a note about the name: I couldn't stop thinking of the Hannaford grocery store chain. That is all.

I love that this story is unembellished. It creates so much room for the reader to fill in the blanks about the small town in Vermont where Delilah's mother and aunt grew up and the people who populate it. There's just enough detail to flesh out the story and characters, but there's so much room for each reader to come in and complete the picture. Just enough room for us all to step in to Delilah's shoes and say, Ahh, I know this.

Much has been made in reviews about this book's similarities, passing or otherwise, to the works of Ockler's fellow YA author Saran Dessen. I see the comparisons, really I do, but Ockler's style is less detail-dependent and, shall we say, picky than Dessen's. Dessen's books and female leads make me feel like nothing has been overlooked in the creation of the story, which makes for a vibrant picture but leaves very little elbow room for me to identify with the character if I haven't been smack in the girl's shoes myself. There's lots of real detail, but sometimes there's so much that it permanently separates me from the girl in the story I'm supposed to be feeling for. I've never been in Delilah's shoes totally, but I empathize with her wholly for those fleeting bits and pieces we share. And the ending of Delilah's summer, and Fixing Delilah itself, is so open-ended but hopeful and full of positive energy and also closure. It is a true portrait of a teenage girl's summer, not a starting and an ending all tied up in one neat little package, but a fluid thing filled with before and after and here and there and now and then. You have a sense that the characters started out well before the book did and will keep going along well after it ends, without feeling set up for a sequel. (Note: Please let there be no sequel. I love these characters right where they ended up, each and every one of them.)

Now I want chocolate hazelnut lattes. Lots of 'em. ( )