Hey all, Sam here.
You know, I’m starting to feel pretty good about this blog and the content we’re starting to put out on this blog. I like that we’re talking about a mix of things. Overall it feels like a better glimpse of our lives, of who we are. I mean, yes, I am someone who loves reading books and talking about books and creative writing. But I also enjoy tabletop gaming and board games, and there’s some video games I like and play, and it’s nice to be able to just talk about all of it, and to talk about our TTRPG accessories and adventures in 3D printing and cosplay crafting and photography and travel, and all these things that take up so much of our time.
I hope you all are enjoying the change in post variety as well. Depending on how things go, we might even see more bonus posts crop up. Because only posting two book reviews each week might just make my review backlog grow a bit more. I’m still trying to figure out the details on that. There’s a chance that I might not want to do full reviews on everything I read, so maybe the better option would be to have the occasional review bundle post that covers several books. I don’t know. I’m still thinking about it. What do you all think? More book reviews on the blog, which would mean occasionally having multiple posts on the same day, or the occasional longer post that reviews multiple books?
Okay, and now let’s just go ahead and jump into today’s book review.
Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow—which is how she ends up singing in her friends’ punk band as a favor, even though she’d prefer to hide at the merch table.
Reggie is a D&D Dungeon Master and self-declared Blerd. He spends his free time leading quests and writing essays critiquing the game under a pseudonym, keeping it all under wraps from his disapproving family.
These two, who have practically nothing in common, meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve. And then again on Valentine’s Day. And then again on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s almost like the universe is pushing them together for a reason.
Delilah wishes she were more like Reggie—open about what she likes and who she is, even if it’s not cool. Except . . . it’s all a front. Reggie is just role-playing someone confident. The kind of guy who could be with a girl like Delilah.
As their holiday meetings continue, the two begin to fall for each other. But what happens once they realize they’ve each fallen for a version of the other that doesn’t really exist?
My Thoughts
Rating: 4.5 stars
I really liked Happily Ever Afters by this same author, so I still had her on my radar for upcoming releases, and when I heard about this one I saw that one of the main characters is a Dungeon Master and a nerd…and honestly that was all that was needed to sell me on this book. But I also thought the concept of two people who keep meeting on holidays to be kind of fun and interesting.
I picked up this read a couple months ago, read a couple chapters, and liked it, and wanted to keep going, but then things got a bit crazy and I set the book aside, finally picking it back up a few days ago….and then I finished the book in only a couple hours.
It was good. I liked following Delilah and Reggie, both on their individual journeys, and every time they ran into each other. I feel like their relationship built up at a nice and realistic pace. There are so many romances where the couple goes from first meeting to declaring their love for each other in a few days, perhaps a week or two, and man, that feels very fast. Yes, sure, I know it can happen. I actually know couples who got together very quickly and are still together years and years later.
And man did I relate to Reggie. I have felt the need to role play as someone who is more confident and suave than I am a lot in my life. Of course I also definite relate to D&D taking up a big chunk of my life: playing it, thinking about it, reading about it, watching actual plays, watching videos on YouTube about different aspects of the game mechanics or role play. It was also so real to see Reggie’s family just not get it, and to try and get him to do other things instead.
Honestly both Delilah and Reggie felt so real and sincere to me. Okay, fine, I’m a 34 year old woman, so it’s been a number of years since I’ve been a teen, but I think feeling insecure with yourself and dealing with anxiety and familial misunderstandings and friend drama…those are things that are true at any age.
The reason I rated this book down a half-star is because at times it felt like it was dragging a bit, so even though I pretty much read the book in a couple hours, there were some scenes/chapters that seemed a bit slow. Still, overall it was a really good book, and I’m glad I read it.
This book is already out in the world, so you can pick it up for yourself and enjoy.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and I will be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 