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Touching Melody (2013)

by RaShelle Workman(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0985318864 (ISBN13: 9780985318864)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Polished Pen Press

series

Forever First

review 1: To write this review, I wrote a list of things I liked and things I disliked. Let me tell you that there is absolutely nothing on the like list. I tried to find something, I did, but I couldn't. In the least horrible way possible, I think this is the worst New Adult novel I have ever read - and I finished The Edge of Never the other week, so that is certainly saying something.Maddie and Kyle have been best friends for as long as they can remember - that is, until Kyle's father murders Maddie's parents. Sent to live with her aunt and uncle, the two lose touch, so imagine Maddie's surprise when she starts college and runs smack bang into him! The chemistry they had when they were kids is only stronger, and when they are put together for a piano duet, they can't keep themselv... morees from restarting their relationship. However, their past is not as far behind them as they would like - with a room-mate delving in dodgy waters and Evan's secret phone calls, everything the pair want to forget comes crashing back down on them.The characters were awful. I didn't like a single one at any given point of the story. Maddie was intolerable. She whined, she cried, she character-slid constantly, and Workman's attempt to make her seem 'innocent' made her seem like a kid. When she got aroused by Kyle, I swear at one point she was all like, I don't think sex is just about making babies. Um, DUH?! Even my little brother knows that, and he's twelve! TWELVE! Maddie was a bratty eight-year-old.Maddie's room-mate was just as bad, if not more. Workman tried to deal with a lot of different issues, including rape and drug-abuse, and she just seemed to load all of that on her. None of this made a point – none of it told a story. It was just there and useless.Kyle...as a reader, I was not attracted to him in the slightest. He was cliché and boring, and the chemistry he had with Maddie...well, there wasn't any! It was so dry, it gave the Sahara Desert a run for its money.Although the characters are bad, they have nothing on the plot. Similar to Maddie's room-mate's ridiculous plot line, the entire storyline was unrealistic and unnecessary. A spoiler here - there is a drug circle, which is why everyone is getting killed. The novel is basically contemporary romance slash music slash Mafia. Slash Mafia, I hear you exclaim, isn't that a bit of an oddball? Yes! Yes it is - it doesn't fit with the genre at all, and is an stupid plot twist.On top of all this, it was quite badly written, if you can't tell from the overuse of short sentences in the blurb - variety costs nothing! I'm still interested in reading one of Workman's other novels, Exiled, but if her writing in Touching Melody is anything to go by, then I'm not sure I'll enjoy it. I read the first forty percent of the novel thoroughly - the last sixty percent? Saying I skim-read is putting it nicely. I skipped huge chunks of it, sometimes only reading the dialogue which was enough to grasp what was going on.Overall, I really didn't like Touching Melody. The concept wasn't original, but I did have high hopes for it. If you're looking for a good New Adult read, I wouldn't recommend this. It just misses the mark completely.
review 2: Ro's Take on this Journey:Touching Melody is told in dual narration. It is told by both Melody Martin, the main character, and Kyle Hadley, her long lost best friend who she felt she had to leave behind. There was always the feeling that Melody thought that she was waiting for someday to be reunited somehow with Kyle, though the gruesomeness of the murders left him at arms length for her.After 7 long years of estrangement, (since the death's of her parents, and her homeschooling by her relatives) Melody runs into the guy she loved; her childhood boyfriend, Kyle, at the University of Bellum Springs, where she has received a full scholarship.) She is coerced into going to a frat party with her roommate, Gina, when she comes face to face with the boy she thinks she can never be with, (or without) but he acts like he doesn't know who she is. Gina is not exactly the kind of roommate you want for a deep friendship. She didn't have much character, and left me cold, but eventually she's there, at times, for Melody. The reader finds out why Gina is the way she is, then feels some compassion for her, though she does some very questionable things throughout the book. Kyle and Melody are thrown together to do a duet for the Winter Gala that is an annual event at the University. They are both accomplished at playing piano, and need to spend hours together. There was definitely romantic chemistry there, but something missing at times for me. Throughout the novel they are thrown together physically, but never quite takes off with the entire act.Melody found her parents murdered, laying in a pool of blood, and saw the chief of police, (Kyle's father leaving the scent with a gun in his hand) when she was young girl. She was convinced by her caregivers, (Uncle and Aunt who were throwbacks to the non-electronic era) that she must never reveal anything or have anything to do with Kyle after his father murdered her parents. She is led to believe it might run in the genes, though deep down inside she never stops loving him. Melody promised Kyle all her firsts, when she was a young girl, and is a very introverted, innocent, and naive girl, who kept her feelings to herself, and lacked communication skills on a deep level, but it was understandable. Every anniversary of her parents death, Melody needs to feel pain in order to get through the date, so she goes to the tattoo parlor, and adds ink to her body. These are significant to her, and the places she has them put are also strategic. This novel had a wide range of emotions, peaks and valleys, angst, mystery, drama, intrigue, and many, many, secrets, but left so much on the table that I wasn't sure if I thought it was believable enough. Maddy was a very complicated, confused character, with all she incurred, but some parts didn't ring true in the relationship between Melody and Kyle. I was left with questions, and wanted more from the characters. The story wasn't fully played out, and the end was thrown together haphazardly. I felt cheated. There is a mixture of intrigue, deceit, drug entanglements, and situations the reader won't see coming. Things come to light, and the reader realizes why there is so much anger on Kyle's part, and why he plays the a**h*** at the beginning of their reuniting. He actually really cared for Melody, and was just reacting from the hurt and misunderstandings. At the same time, Melody didn't understand the fact that Kyle hadn't tried to stay in her life. She thought they meant more to each other than that, but that truth comes to fruition also. There is an entanglement of the two families that comes to the forefront, and an important element that Melody keeps from Kyle for a long time about herself.This story had a wide range of elements that I liked, and some that just didn't hit the mark for me. I wish the ending would not have been thrown together. Overall, the characters were interesting, and I found the concepts well thought out, though some were over the top. This is definitely a novel meant for adults, and the subject matter is pushed at that sometimes. There are a wide range of emotions and aspects the reader will encounter, and some are very distasteful. It is not meant for the faint at heart.I give, Touching Melody, by RaShelle Workman, 3 Confusing, Misunderstood, Sad, Heartbreaking Stars! less

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