My Review of Delivery by Diana Prusik

Delivery is a story that spans over the life of Olivia (Livi)and her family. Livi and her family own and work at Wilson's Florist, which serves as the main hub of activity for the book. Most of the characters work there or are customers of the store. I did not read the synopsis of the book before reading it and was, in fact, expecting it to be a love story and it is not. However, I did enjoy reading the book, regardless of this fact.
As a young girl, Livi loses her beloved brother in the war. Before he left for the war, she said things that she regretted and was not able to reconcile with him. She has a lot of guilt as well as anger about losing him. She feels like it was pointless for him to go to war in the first place and that there was no purpose served by his death.  She has never been able to deal with his loss and has turned to alcohol to numb her pain. She is struggling to not become an alcholic but feels dependent on it.
Life does not get any easier for Livi, her marriage is stagnant at best. We see her husband make an effort towards trying to improve there relationship, but the marriage is more of a minor passing point in the book and not a focal point. Livi's mother is fighting the battle with Alzheimer's. As she watches her mother slowly become a different person and the strain that is causes on her father and family, she deals with anger and bitterness. Her relationships with her sisters are strained because Livi does not want to deal with any issues that the family is facing and her sister feels like she bails out when her family needs her. Friends and family keep encouraging her to give up the alcohol and turn to God with her pain, but she is doubtful that a God who has allowed such painful circumstances to occur in her life would be interested in helping her sort out the mess she has made of her life. As the story unfolds and comes to an end, we see Livi come to peace with her life and with her relationship with God.
I felt like it took me a little bit to get into the story, but once I did, I was really pulling for Livi to make it and to be at peace. The passages involving the pain of Alzheimer's were especially well written and touching. I appreciated how the author depicted the relationships of the different community members and how their friendship was instrumental in helping not only Livi, but other people in the story as well.
I have to say that I didn't feel that the end of the book brought complete closure to the story. While we see Livi come to peace with herself and her relationship with God, I still felt like there were loose ends and unanswered questions that I would have like to have seen meet resolution.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for my review and was not obligated to post a positive opinion.