I love books set in the rural South with spirited characters, so I enjoyed this book very much. Twin sisters Della and Darby are socially awkward due to their alcoholic mother's history and bullying from those in their small town. One is painfully shy and the other has a hard time fitting in no matter how hard she tries, so they don't have it easy when their grandmother decides to throw them a birthday bash. This book is published by a Christian fiction publisher and has a good message about loving those who are hard to love, forgiveness, and not being defined by one's past. I think a mainstream reader would love this message as well.

What a fun book! I love anything Susannah writes & this book didn’t disappoint.

I could “hear” her voice as I read the pages! Her southern humor and funny sayings made this book even more enjoyable! This book had great character development- I loved every character presented! The twins were annoying at the start, but they grew on you & you loved them & we’re rooting for them by the end.

This book is a book about family, forgiveness, starting over and believing in yourself. I think it’s even appropriate for high-school aged- there was no cursing, sex or anything inappropriate. It had a fantastic story line that we all could probably leads from.

Thank you Thomas Nelson, Susannah B. Lewis & NetGally for this book! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

This book was initially very different to what I was expecting from the cover and blurb, I loved the Southern dialect and felt that it really added to the feel of the characters.

I do wish the main characters were slightly more likeable, they began to grate on me a bit and I felt like they were both quite immature for their age.

Overall, a nice story with some good romance elements.

This book have 3 Pov. From the twins Della and Darby also their grandmother Birdie. Their family struggle with judgemntal people in town, make the twins hard to get socialize without reminder what their mother was.

Della had sucsess live outside the town but she comeback because of Birdie stroke. All her life, she tried to impress and get acceptance, sometime she lies too but still people keep her outsider. Darby is introvert and quite. She enjoy it, alone dosnt matter to her. When Cliff try to be friend with her she confused how to respond it. Birdie the grandma want the twins get out more, socialize more.

It a long journey for the twins. Della to release her need to be acceptance and be what she wanna be without need anyone approve. Darby to open up and accept friendship with love from Cliff, se learn how to communicate and share her though with him.

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#DellaandDarby #SusannahBLewis #ThomasNelsonFiction #NetGalley #ARC

This author does a great job of infusing humor throughout her stories along with a touch of Southern charm. I always enjoy anything written by this author


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

This was a quick, easy read, and one I enjoyed more than I had anticipated! I don’t believe I’ve read anything by this author before. Her writing was appropriate and well-done for the genre.

I received this book from the publisher via net galley in exchange for an honest review. Four stars!

This is my first book by this author so I didn't know what to expect. The main characters, Della and Darby, of course, are twin sisters who couldn't be more different. The story leads up to their thirtieth birthday. I was surprised by their juvenile behavior with each other and would consider this book to be for a younger crowd. With that said, it was a good read but not life changing. Would recommend if you want a light family relationship read.

Not exactly your typical story! A very disfunctional family, but they learn a lot of lessons about how to live. Even though there are some sad parts, the ending is a good one! Good character descriptions. Sweet love story in the middle of it all.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of this book! All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I had a hard time getting into it, it had potential but it did not intrigue me like the cover and the description warrented. It was a slow moving book about the two sisters and a small Mississippi town. The storyline was good but wasn't what I was expecting.

Identical twins Della and Darby Redd confound everyone with their differences instead of their likeness. Della, college-educated and vibrant, makes purple her signature color and, at 29, still works hard at fitting in. Even though the people of Clay Station, Mississippi, can’t seem to overlook the sins of her mother and delight in exacting revenge on Della and Darby.

Darby keeps her head down and seems content living in her own small world—working at a pill bottle factory and hanging out in her bedroom at home. As an introvert, she doesn’t see the need to expand her horizons or worry much about what others think. She wishes Della would return to Chattanooga and her circle of friends instead of settling for a dead-end job as a receptionist at a doctor’s office.

Both girls live with Birdie, their maternal grandmother, and the woman who raised them after their mother’s tragic death. Most people in town would consider their mother’s death a blessing and the circumstances a tragedy for the rest of the town. Birdie can’t forgive herself for her mistakes as a parent and wants nothing more than for Della and Darby to find happiness. But it looks like a losing battle.

When Della and Birdie decide to throw a 30th birthday bash for the sisters, Darby has her doubts. Della fantasizes about showing up with her suddenly-in-love-with-her boss and finding redemption in the town’s eyes after 25 years of ridicule and bullying.

When a new employee at the factory starts pestering Darby with unwanted friendship, Darby struggles to know how to react. Even worse, her unasked-for friend, Cliff, tells her about a sting operation involving Della’s boss. When Darby shares the information with Della, she fears she may have pushed her sister out of her life for good.

What I Loved About this Book

While the subtitle proclaims Della and Darby is a novel about sisters, it could just as easily be subtitled ‘a novel about regrets.’ We all have them, and we often forget how we deal with them has a ripple effect that touches other people’s lives.

Another possible subtitle, ‘a novel of blindness,’ works, too. We all have a blind side to our characters where we buy into false narratives—victim, introvert, failure as a parent, or extrovert. Della, Darby, and Birdie show us how false narratives can take over our lives and trap us in places we never want to go.

Told from multiple points of view (Della’s, Darby’s, and Birdie’s), I found it sometimes painful to enter Della’s point of view. Her desperation to fit in made me ache physically. Birdie’s point of view made me examine my parenting failures and how I grieve and move on (or don’t).

But most of all, Della and Darby helped me understand and have compassion for those on the margins. We each have beautiful, painful, intriguing, and heart-rending stories which shape us. The world would be better if we took the time to explore, listen more, and judge less.

The characters were hard to connect with in this story. I was hoping I would enjoy the story, but didn't care for Della's commentary and need for acceptance from the people who had bullied her.

I think it'll be fairly obvious what I thought of this story when I say that pretty much the same minute I finished it, I sought out Susanna B. Lewis's previous novel and bought it on Amazon. I love her writing voice! Both this book and that one (Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton) gave me Lauren K. Denton vibes . . . the southern setting and feel, women on deep journeys of growth amidst all that's happening around them, dashes of romance on the side . . .

I was thoroughly engrossed in this novel all the way through, and I'm looking forward to reading more by Susannah B. Lewis!

Susannah B. Lewis has done it again! She has written another book that I was not able to put down. The characters were lovable and interesting, The storyline moved along well and it was a fast and enjoyable read.

Della and Darby are twin sisters months shy of their thirtieth birthday. They both are living with their grandmother, Birdie. The girls were raised by their grandmother primarily because their mother was an alcoholic and later died in a car accident due to her addiction.

Della seems to be stuck in a time warp, and a color warp (everything purple) intent on being part of the in-crowd when it’s obvious that they just aren’t not going to let her in.

Darby is a well-worn introvert who is happy to spend time alone and write poems. She has the wisdom that no one (well her sister, Della) listens to, but Darby doesn’t care and intends to stay in her shell, until Cliff a work colleague keeps talking to her, giving her Christmas gifts, and just tries to be her friend until she relents and allows him into her life, and she begins to blossom as a person.

I liked Della and Darby but it was the ending that I enjoyed the most. This was mostly a ho-hum for most of the read, but I felt this was a realistic portrayal of what a lot of people do, they’re afraid of what they really are capable of. Della and Darby, I felt accurately showed what can happen when anyone is willing to make those hard choices instead of always, in the case, of Della always doing what doesn’t work like being friends with people who aren’t nice to her, or dating men not good for her. I really hope she wears something other than purple now.

So while this story did drag for me, I did like the changes in both Della and Darby and for me, that’s worthy of a three-star rating.

My gratitude to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson. All opinions expressed are honest and mine.

I enjoyed this easygoing, fun book. It's written in a light hearted style but deals with difficult topics (alcoholism, death, ageing, loneliness) in a way that doesn't trivialise them.

I read my first book by Susannah B. Lewis earlier this year, and I loved it. Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton was one of my all time favorite books I read this entire year, so to put it mildly, I was highly anticipating getting to read her follow up novel, Della and Darby.

I want to preface this review by saying that I did overall enjoy this one, it unfortunately just wasn't what I was expecting, and it felt like the story had too many plots holes and missing components to feel like it was complete.

Della and Darby is more of a character driven story than a plot driven story, and while I do often enjoy this type of storytelling, it unfortunately fell flat for me in this title. I didn't personally connect to either of the characters enough to be invested in their stories. It didn't feel like either Della or Darby were compelling enough as main characters to carry the story, and since the plot was more slow moving and unengaging, it was a story that was hard to get interested in.

There's a lot of build up throughout the story over the the twin sisters' past, and the way they've been treated because of it, and it felt like there should have been more to the resolution of this entire situation than there ended up being. To me personally, the conflict and resolution fell flat, and I was left feeling like the ending didn't have the finality I was expecting or was prepared for, and I was honestly quite surprised when I came to the final page that was all there was to it.

However, even with all the issues I had with this one, I still read almost the entire thing in one sitting, which speaks to the masterfulness of Susannah B. Lewis as a storyteller. Even though I wasn't that engaged with either the plot or the characters, the writing still kept me coming back for more, and I applaud her for that.

Overall, I don't think this will ever be a reread for me, but if you're looking for a cleanish contemporary to pick up this coming winter, it might just be the book you're looking for. I would personally, however, recommend Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton over this one, if you're just looking to give one of Susannah B. Lewis' books a try.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book ventured out of my usual genre, there was no one scheming and plotting, nobody was getting stalked or trapped, instead, I found myself reading a slow, sweet and charming story about two twin sisters and their grandma. Della and Darby were twins bounded together tightly by their grandma, and the lack of social life.. Their dark childhood past split their personalities into two opposite extremes, and the book was about how they each choose to deal with the sour lemons life threw at them. The twins were extremely well- developed, and felt like real people I would meet. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story.

After I started reading this book, I hopped on Goodreads to read some reviews of other readers. It was a mixed bag of opinions. Some gushed about how wonderful the book was and others about how slow the plot moved, how the characters were bland, etc. I found points of agreement with several of the reviewers.

This is the second book I have read by Susannah B Lewis, and I have a mixed bag of emotions about the book myself. I did feel the plot was too slow, the characters were caricatures, exaggerated beyond believability, but there were parts I could relate to all too well.

Della and Darby are twins raised by their grandmother after their alcoholic mother killed herself drinking and driving. After that episode, they were bullied all the way through school. Della wanted nothing more than to fit in, while Darby just crawled into herself and hid there. Their thirtieth birthday is coming up and their Grandma Birdie wants to throw them a party. At first they resist, but Della comes on board and wants to show the town they aren't the no-accounts they've always been presumed to be.

Della works with the doctor in town and believes herself to be in love with him. The fly in her ointment is that the two nurses who work with her take on the role of "mean girls" in her life. She wants so much to befriend them and knows she's quirky (at best), but they seem to get their jollies by tormenting her.

Darby works at the local prescription bottle factory and stays to herself as much as she can. Cliff tries to talk to her every single day, in spite of her rebuffs.

It's not until the birthday party that everything seems to fall into place for Della and Darby, and it's not until the birthday party that I gained a real interest in the book. It just wasn't my favorite. Three Stars.

This was my first book to read by this author but won't be my last! The story and its characters will stick with you long after you finish the story. Highly recommend!

I absolutely loved Della and Darby--especially since being from the South-- all of Birdie' s words of wisdom were things I have heard and said all my life long as she apparently had. The bullying and degrading that the twins suffer is devastating but is still unfortunately felt by many in society today. This novel alarmingly reminds us of our prejudices and unfair judgements that we make daily.