Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

T​itle: Fixing Delilah

Author: Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Little, Brown

Summary: Things in Delilah Hannaford's life have a tendency to fall apart.

She used to be a good student, but she can't seem to keep it together anymore. Her "boyfriend" isn't much of a boyfriend. And her mother refuses to discuss the fight that divided their family eight years ago. Falling apart, it seems, is a Hannaford tradition.

Over a summer of new friendships, unexpected romance, and moments that test the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, Delilah must face her family's painful past. Can even her most shattered relationships be pieced together again?

Rich with emotion, Sarah Ockler delivers a powerful story of family, love, and self-discovery.
​

My Thoughts: I absolutely adored Sarah Ockler's previous novel, Twenty Boy Summer, and I was eagerly looking forward to Fixing Delilah so when I picked up a copy at ALA, I was ecstatic.

Fixing Delilah captivated me from the first page. It picks up at a spot where it's impossible to not wonder what's happening and that alone keeps you flipping the pages. Each chapter presents you with new questions and unncertainities. What really happened? Why does no one speak of her grandma? I was so into finding out what the answers were, that I barely put the book down.

One of the many things that makes Ockler an amazing author is her ability to effectively write complicated and realistic relationships. The relationships between Delilah and her mom, her mom and her aunt, Delilah and her not-boyfriend, Delilah and her friends, her mom and her grandma and everyone else are each so well-written and the core of the entire book. Each of the characters themselves are like real people - there's no perfect boy or good-two-shoes girl in Fixing Delilah. The story honestly and accurately tells the story of a broken family and does it very, very well.

Fixing Delilah did not disappoint and Miss Ockler is certainly earning her place as an author to look out for.