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A review by tigerproofrock
Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Overall, this is a saturated, heavy-handed YA romance novel. The romance plot definitely eclipses everything. Which is ideal for some readers. As to my own enjoyment of it, the back and forth churn of things looking up, things looking down for the first half of the book was too chaotic for me, but the book found it's rhythm eventually.
I have zero criticisms for the author. The following are just some observations on content, for those trying to decide if this book is a good fit for them.
One of the book's unique strength is in it's ability to be hold a ton of sexual energy with virtually no explicit language or imagery. This is a Sapphic, young adult story where hormones' are intense and sex is an aspect of the relationship, but the book doesn't cross into erotica.
The book also straddles a unique position on the role of sex in relationships. It shores up the concept of virginity repeatedly (while extending it to Sapphic sex, and rejecting the idea that it can be "taken"). But it also has a positive portrayal of casual sexual connections outside of romantic relationships. And on the third hand does one of the most lovely jobs I've seen of portraying the potential fallout of mismatched emotional expectations around sex while reminding readers that sex doesn't necessarily have to have big emotional or relationship meanings.
This book is decidedly centering women, featuring three sets of mothers and daughters. The book features one character who is outside of feminine norms, but otherwise there isn't any queering or deconstructing of gender in the story. Nonbinary / trans identities don't show up here. A brief gender-essentialist blurb happens, equating gender with genitals.
The protagonist identifies as bisexual and her love interest is described as having female and male partners.
This is also a world with no homophobia to navigate.
The book relies a lot on the tropes of monogamy and partners being "meant" for one another. And, as mentioned, reaffirms the basic ideas of virginity quite a bit.
Lastly, as a white reader, while this book had some diversity of ethnicity or cultural connections for some character names, it felt very "white" to me.
I have zero criticisms for the author. The following are just some observations on content, for those trying to decide if this book is a good fit for them.
One of the book's unique strength is in it's ability to be hold a ton of sexual energy with virtually no explicit language or imagery. This is a Sapphic, young adult story where hormones' are intense and sex is an aspect of the relationship, but the book doesn't cross into erotica.
The book also straddles a unique position on the role of sex in relationships. It shores up the concept of virginity repeatedly (while extending it to Sapphic sex, and rejecting the idea that it can be "taken"). But it also has a positive portrayal of casual sexual connections outside of romantic relationships. And on the third hand does one of the most lovely jobs I've seen of portraying the potential fallout of mismatched emotional expectations around sex while reminding readers that sex doesn't necessarily have to have big emotional or relationship meanings.
This book is decidedly centering women, featuring three sets of mothers and daughters. The book features one character who is outside of feminine norms, but otherwise there isn't any queering or deconstructing of gender in the story. Nonbinary / trans identities don't show up here. A brief gender-essentialist blurb happens, equating gender with genitals.
The protagonist identifies as bisexual and her love interest is described as having female and male partners.
This is also a world with no homophobia to navigate.
The book relies a lot on the tropes of monogamy and partners being "meant" for one another. And, as mentioned, reaffirms the basic ideas of virginity quite a bit.
Lastly, as a white reader, while this book had some diversity of ethnicity or cultural connections for some character names, it felt very "white" to me.