Book Review | Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Delicates, the second novel in the Sheets duology, tackles issues that may require a more delicate approach than it's predecessor.

Delicates is the second novel in the Sheets trilogy by Brenna Thummler. You can read my review of Sheets here.

About Delicates

Marjorie Glatt, a fresh eighth-grader, has been accepted into the clique with the popular kids. Fearing that her new friends will find her weird for having a ghost friend, she keeps her friendship with Wendell a secret from the rest of the world. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell locked inside the laundromat, Wendell feels more invisible now more than ever.

Eliza Duncan feels invisible too. She’s an avid photographer, but her obsession with finding and photographing ghosts gets her outcast from the other kids in school.

Marjorie is caught in the middle. She must come to terms with the price she has to pay to be accepted by the popular kids, and if that’s worth losing her only true friend.

Delicates Review

Unlike Sheets, Delicates is told from two different points of view—Marjorie’s and Eliza’s.

Contrary to the first book, the characters in Delicate were unlikeable. I found the protagonist, Marjorie, to lack compassion, something that was her main trait in Sheets and what made me adore her in the first place. The other characters, Tessi and Colton, were supposed to be the antagonists of the story but they felt underdeveloped and two-dimensional. They were spoiled kids who picked on the “less popular” students, a trope which I found cliché. On the other hand, the author wanted me to feel bad for Eliza who was being bullied but all I felt for her was irritation. She interrupted people’s conversations, was pushy when she tried to make friends, and invaded people’s privacy by taking photos of them in their homes.

There were fewer anecdotes about the ghosts in Delicates compared to Sheets, which is definitely a bummer since those were the chapters that I especially enjoyed.

Also, something that I surprisingly missed were the laundry scenes. There were not as many scenes of the laundromat as Marjorie was in school or hanging out with her friends.

The author tried to tackle an important subject in Delicates but I felt that it was not done efficiently, as I had not noticed what was supposed to happen until the very end. It felt like a haphazard afterthought that was added to the book.

However, there was a bigger emphasis placed on the grief that Marjorie goes through after losing her mother. It was reassuring to see her find closure in her mother’s death and make her peace together with her other family members. Seeing the Glatts united was a refreshing sight, especially when they could not get along with each other in Sheets.

Delicates Recommendation

★★★☆☆ (3/5)

This is a quick graphic novel to get through and I loved seeing the wonderful drawings. However, storyline-wise I did not enjoy it as much as its predecessor.

If you love photography, ghosts or paranormal activity, Delicates would be a fun read for you. Delicates is the second book in the Sheets trilogy so I’d highly recommend reading that first before going into this one.

About the Author

Brenna Thummler has always known her life is haunted. Much like Marjorie Glatt, she grew up in a small Pennsylvania town, where piano practice and ghost stories were part of her daily routine. It wasn't until she attended Ringling College of Art and Design, however, that she realised her passion for storytelling (as well as her hatred for laundry). Now back in her hometown, she spends her days drawing, writing, and suspicious of her sheets.