Fallon would love to never see her ex (and ex-best friend) Chloe again after a fateful night before Chloe went off to college. But when Fallon’s mom has to drop out of their festival road trip to get investors to keep the ice cream truck business afloat, Fallon is reluctantly forced to go on a long road trip with none other than Chloe herself, her mother’s business partner’s daughter. As the girls spend time together and old feelings (and resentment resurfaces) resurface and shenanigans ensue, it’s up to them to find their way back to each other before their last chance to reunite melts away.
As a heads-up: this book wasn’t really for me. Much of Melt with You relies on miscommunication which is one of my absolute pet peeves in novels so please take the comments about that with a grain of salt. But let’s talk about the great things first.
The setting of Melt with You is impeccable. I’m not talking about the ice cream truck per se, but just the descriptions of delicious treats as well as the road trip totally had me enjoying my time reading Melt with You. I mean, two girls, forced proximity and a road trip to help save their parents’ business, who wouldn’t want to read that?
I also really enjoyed Fallon’s friends. They were such fleshed-out characters and I wish we had gotten to see them even more! And while Fallon’s breaking of the fourth wall was unexpected, I think it drew in the reader especially when things were confusing in the beginning as we try to piece together what really happened with Chloe and Fallon all those months ago.
Also, can we talk about Fallon and Chloe’s mom conceptualising and running an ice cream truck business together? I loved the little glimpses we got into this rather unusual (for YA) profession and thought it was so cool to see people in nonconventional jobs be successful—and roping in their children because we’ve all been there.
Now, for the relationship between Fallon and Chloe. Again, this is one of my pet peeves in fiction so you might really enjoy the back and forth between Fallon and Chloe but I was just aggravated at times. Without spoiling too much, after a steamy night together, Fallon and Chloe have a fall out and now that they have to work together, they basically dance around the issue for said falling out—there are wires crossed, things misunderstood and Fallon is determined not to talk about it. What starts as pretty understandable turns frustrating soon as the two of them never really talk things out—there are snide remarks, side-eyes etc. but while Fallon pretends she doesn’t want to know the reasons for Chloe disappearing without a word, Chloe is confused why Fallon is angry at her in the first place. It’s a lot of trouble that could be solved with one conversation but that never really happens. Even once they find their way back to each other, it’s less of a reconciliation and more of a “sweep the past under the rug and that’s that” which just didn’t fly for me.
All that being said, I did enjoy the dramatics surrounding it all. Dugan definitely knows how to write flawed characters that are conflicted and scared of being hurt again. I felt for Fallon because she just wants to protect herself from more heartbreak but I could also relate to Chloe who comes back to a mess she didn’t expect and has to deal with the consequences. There’s also absolute trope galore as we get friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity and the beloved “there’s only one bed” trope! So if you can look past the at times maddening miscommunication and take this story for what it is—a romcom involving a road trip, two girls and a great premise—then this might end up being your favourite read this summer!
With a healthy dollop of beloved tropes such a second chance romance and forced proximity, Melt with You is a summery queer romcom about two girls on a road trip in an ice cream truck. Fans of Ciara Smyth and Dahlia Adler will lap this up like ice cream on a hot summer day!
Melt With You is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 17th 2022.
Will you be picking up Melt With You? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
From the author of Hot Dog Girl comes a sweet and salty queer YA rom-com about two girls on a summer road trip in an ice cream truck.
Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends, but last summer they hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings they are now not speaking to one another. A year later, Chloe’s back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her–which is especially difficult because their moms own a business together, a gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work.
When their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texas–something that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to boot–it’s up to Fallon to work a series of food truck festivals across the country. But she can’t do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. As tensions heat up again between the two, will Fallon be able to keep her cool?
We liked this book too! Check out our review on our podcast Your Rainbow Reads, in the Rainbow Beach Reads episode. http://www.yourrainbowreads.com