Melt With You
by Jennifer Dugan
narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker
This was a listen that I stumbled across while mindlessly browsing through the LGBTQ+ Romance tag in the Libby app. I liked the cover, and I was in a hurry to find something to start so I went for it. I hesitated a bit when I realized it was a YA novel—not because I have anything against YA fiction—I don’t—but because I wasn’t sure if I was in the mood for anything quite as wholesome as YA can be at times.
Frankly, I would have LOVED reading this when I was a teen. I am so glad it exists for today’s queer kids. I love how sexuality is never really a focus of the storyline—it just is what it is and there aren’t any explanations, excuses, or apologies. There’s no grand “coming out” drama, nor is queerness an obstacle of any sort. If I had a library for teens, this book would be in it.
As an adult reader, this book pushed my limit on accepting poor communication as a major plot line. That sort of thing drives me batshit crazy when there’s too much of it. How do I decide whether there’s too much of it? My personal litmus test is as follows: If character A were to just tell character B how she feels, would there still be a story? If the answer is no, it’s overkill. HOWEVER, this is YA fiction and that’s a good lesson for YAs to learn so that they don’t repeat this BS as Old Adults. (What? Is that not the opposite of YA?)
Melt with You was a sweet story with a solid narrator. I will happily recommend it to queer YA readers. As an OA, I’m probably a bit too cynical to believe that these two will last beyond college, but what do I know? If I had a time machine, I’d give it to my immensely naive 16 year old self around the time she was busy falling for her best friend.