This was a thoughtful and compelling read. A book about human connection which was very warm and poignant

There aren’t too many books which at the end I regret having read them, but this one fits that bill. I actually wanted to DNF it at about 30% of the way through, but I thought it might get better- I was wrong.
Delilah Ortiz moves into a cottage on Cape Cod and becomes fodder for the gossip of the townsfolk. Before she was Delilah, she was Delores, a girl being raised by her grandmother. After her Abuela’s death, Delores goes on to reinvent herself, never caring who she uses along the way.
I’m not really sure what Sara Merchant was hoping to do this with. It’s written in third person alternating chapters with every other chapter being Delilah in present day and Delores in the past- even after she’s renamed herself. This is also pretty much all narrative, which actually works since Ms. Merchant jumps around letting us see other characters viewpoints and inner thoughts. Because of that, though, I was expecting something big to happen, but instead I was left with scraps and loose ends.
According to the bio of Ms. Merchant this was actually a novella that she attempted to turn into a novel. Unfortunately, it turned into a piece of work that seems to be incomplete and left me wondering why I wasted a week on this. I should have gone with my instinct to put it down.

I absolutely loved this book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with the same reading genre taste as me.

I really found this book sweet and endearing. If you’re looking for a sweet read for the beach this is it. Definitely recommended.

*** 2.5 ⭐️ ***

Delores had a tumultuous upbringing and was essentially raised by her grandmother. She excelled in manual labor and was taught how to take care of herself, never needing to rely on a man for anything.

As she got older and became "Delilah," this strong and independent character morphed into a conniving con woman, who took advantage of older men to quench the thirst of loneliness in herself as time went on. This new woman, the one who played on men's emotions and knew exactly how much she could get from them, was a complete turnoff in reading this book.

In addition, the author's pacing was convoluted; for example, describing someone's garden in present time, then back peddling a memory to explain why the garden was relevant, and back and forth the story went.

This book was disorienting to read, disturbing to follow all the men left in Delilah's wake, and the ending was just not sufficient to sum up the story of who Delilah actually turned out to be.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I really found this book sweet and endearing. Definitely recommend for a sweet summertime read. Delilah was very empowering for women also.

I was not sure what to expect from this book but within a few pages I was hooked and needed to know more I absolutely loved it.

There's a lot of potential and I liked the plot but it was quite slow and didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I got this ebook on NetGalley, for which I would like to thank everyone involved. All opinions are my own.

Dolores’ mother was killed by Dolores’ father in a domestic violence incident that went unnoticed as he was part of the law enforcement. As a result, Dolores was raised by her Abuela to become an independent woman, knowing what men expected of her, being a beautiful woman, and expecting nothing of them. Dolores will later become Delilah and this is, supposedly, her story.

From the synopsis I got the sense that this would be a character driven story and I quiet enjoyed the two timelines, with young Dolores and young adult Delilah. However, I felt the narration was not the best, as sometimes I felt I was reading isolated episodes of Delilah’s life, hence having a hard time figuring out where the story was headed. Additionally, I didn’t sense any growth in Delilah’s character, who, I felt to be pretty plain. The secondary characters didn’t have much depth as well and, despite the fact this is a relatively small book, I felt it went on and on in circles and the same story could have been delivered in less pages. Abuela was, for sure, the main character and I’m sad she was already absent from the narrative as I would have liked to see more of her.

Overall, the idea behind the book is great, and for that I will give the 3 stars, but the execution could have been better achieved, perhaps with a linear timeline where we would see Dolores evolve through time.

This review will also be available on my Goodreads and Instagram accounts - @cat.literary.world

This was an unusual little title, telling the story of Delilah, who started off life as Dolores. She was brought up be her grandmother after her law enforcement (you assume) father murdered her mother then disappeared. She was brought up with a deep distrust of men, but learns to use them for her own purposes after her grandmother dies. The story swings back on forth between Dolores growing up and Delilah in the present day - hence Becoming Delilah. It has an unusual feel to it, the narrative switching between different characters. The style feels a little similar to Joanne Harris in places - the outsider main character, who has a moral code that is all her own, although Delilah is good at getting men on her side and ensuring they want to please her. It does feel a little short - it felt that the length didn’t give the story enough time to properly develop - but I did enjoy what I read.

2.5 Stars

I had a really hard time getting into this book. We get Delilah's story in two timelines. The current timeline is the 1970s but we also get Delilah's backstory when she was a child. When she was five years old Delilah's father murdered her mother, so she was raised by her abuela. I really enjoyed these chapters and wish the book was more focused on that. I adored Delilah's grandmother.

In the current timeline, Delilah is a kept woman having an affair with a married man, trying to live up to his expectations and being gossiped about in the community. These chapters weren't nearly as enjoyable or charming as the childhood ones and really dragged in parts. What I did like was learning about her garden and flowers and how her relationship with the local police officer and some of her other neighbours flourished. I liked that Delilah started to grow and bloom just her flowers.

I can't finish this review without mentioning how much I love the cover of this book and how it perfectly fits the story inside as Delilah loves to garden and there is a lot of mentioning of flora.

"Becoming Delilah" is a lush, descriptive novel set on an island off Cape Cod. Delilah is the newcomer and an amusement to her neighbors. The reader comes alongside her as she navigates love, loss, and identity through her relationships with men. Recommended for those who enjoy escapist reads and women's fiction. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

In this book we meet Delilah and get immersed into her world. You really do feel that you get to know Delilah really well and the things that she is and has been going through in her life. ' it is a story about love, trauma, and redemption. It shines a light on what is expected of women in the world, the unfair expectations we are meant to have and the things we have to do to survive in a man's world. Where survival is bending the rules, setting your own happiness and really not worrying about following the expectations the world sets out for us women.