Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan
CW: Money Problems, Mention of Past Underage Sex, Pre-Book Divorce/End of Alimony, Manipulation, Lying, Vandalism, Theft, Miscommunication Plot, Toxic Relationship, Toxic Friendship, Swearing, Alcohol, Unsafe Driving, Vomit, Animal Death, Minimally Described Panic Attacks
3/5
As I've mentioned in other blog posts, I am in my Jennifer Dugan revival era. To wrap this up, I read her 2022 novel, Melt With You. The book was average with some high and low points. It left me with some mixed feelings and the desire to skip reviewing it altogether. Of course, I've only done that when I couldn't bring myself to recommend a book at all. I don't feel a sense of loyalty to Dugan but Melt With You still deserves some love.
The night before Chloe went off to college, she and Fallon hooked up. When the aftermath didn't turn out how either of them expected, the two stopped talking for nearly a year. Now it's the next summer and they're back in the same town. What's more awkward is that their mothers need them to help out with the joint-family business. Their mothers are needed at an investor meeting that happens to be at the same time as a major food truck festival, where the "Love At First Bite" ice cream truck is needed. Can they get along long enough to get their mothers' truck to the event or will they ice each other out?
Melt With You just wasn't a strong book. The tropes and cliches, even my favorites felt forced or too predictable. But there was one at the end that had me laughing in a public place. Not that I will spoil that for you! I found myself wishing that Chloe and Fallon would repair their friendship, but not their romance. They're young and immature, but quirky enough for me to root for each of them. Their people are still somewhere out there, but I'm glad Fallon and Chloe were our main characters. I've found that I don't always have to agree with the choices made in a book for it to be worth the read.
If you're looking for a novel to audiobook, this is not the one for you. I was often left confused about who was talking. I had no quotations to follow and the reader didn't have distinct voices for the two characters. It was also an objective of the story that they were both upset about similar things. As clever as having them be different personality types but having missed the same clues from each other, it makes it hard to know what's going on. I also wish that Fallon had ignored that audience in her narrative because she was not consistent about what she expected us to know or feel. She was not a great mind reader.
The bisexual rep is something you can count on from Dugan, and Melt With You is no exception! Chloe and Fallon are both bisexual. The story mostly exists in a world where queer people aren't oppressed and everyone who is queer is out. The exception being Fallon's small moment of anxiety in Texas about showing affection to Chloe. We are also told by Fallon that she mostly prefers girls to guys. Unfortunately, we don't get Chloe's perspective, making the story fall a little flat and the relationship feel unbalanced. I think I could have loved this book if we got into Chloe's head too.
If you like road trip novels, sweet treats, and queer characters, why not give Melt With You a try? If you're a Jennifer Dugan fan, there's no reason to skip this one. Open the book and see if it melts your heart!
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