30807954Not another romance story!? Surely, you say, why do I make myself read romances when I often take a machete to them? Because I have hope that somewhere, someone has written or will write a romance story that is worth the read. For me… Melody’s Key was like living through my puppy-love all over again.

And let me make a statement… I need to differentiate in between romance and erotica. It’s my fault I paint both with the same brush. Sure, romance has sex as well and when there’s a darned good build up it’s either give me a bloody sex scene or send me a toy, right? However, not all romances have to include steamy scenes. And I think this is why I fell in love with Melody’s Key. It was old-school romance in the modern day. Young love. And none of it would have been enjoyable if the writing wouldn’t have been so good, so full of beautiful words and … well, downright romantic notions.

Yes, it may have been a bit cliche. OK, quite a lot. We have the eye-game. Yep, the eye-game of where he has the piercing green eyes that reveal every millisecond of emotions and her eyes…you know, doing the dance as well…  Yes, there’s a scene where I was like- Holla, Patrick Swayze groupies, relive the scene but with different, and living, characters. Yes, Dallas may have smothered the whole romance in intense descriptions and towards the end, yes, I skipped some of the really heavy detailed writing but overall, this is a book for everyone that loves a bit of swoon and cuteness.

“Listen…do you hear that?” He motioned to where the music was floating in from across the water. “That’s Lady in Red playing right there. Some wonderfully gracious local jam-band full of middle-aged musicians made the immense effort to learn and perform this most perfect and iconic slow-dance song for a room full of drunk millennials whose only idea of romance is swiping right on their phones. It would be a tragic slight against Chris de Burgh himself if we let it go to waste.”

This book will make you experience everything as if with your own heart. Exquisite and innocent, yet fun and charming. Because life isn’t a bed of sweet-smelling roses, the story doesn’t come without it’s own bitter moments. Just… enjoy.

There are a couple of nags I’d like to mention- a) I would have like to have a more of a conclusion in Simon’s story. It was such a build up, only to leave me with more questions and curiosity, and b) it really got a bit too heavy for me in the end but don’t discount the book based on my personal preferences. It depends on personal intake levels… you’ll either feel like a beached whale after scoffing down a ton of sweets- a little bit sick, but satisfied. Or, totally proud of having gorged on ‘sticky toffee sweet’ writing.

A bit about the characters… To be honest, I was quite jealous of Tegan at one point. Talk about a talented girl. Painter, singer and  creates own music. Like, how much more talent can one girl hold? 🙂 Simon, Tegan’s BFF, brings an element of fun and same sex relationships to the story. Mason- the mystery guy- OOoooOOh! Quite a troubled young man, but way more than meets eye. We have Tegan’s family members with some lovely banter and a couple of a-holes as well, of course. Basically- all members of the personality spectrum are covered.

Here’s the blurb:

“His eyes settled on her…piercing green embers of flame that revealed the ferocity of his pain and passion, yet still shrouded him under veils of ever deepening mystery that made every ounce of her ache to unravel him.”

Tegan Lockwood’s dreams were dead, sacrificed on the noble altar of duty before they ever had a chance to live. Her entire existence was disappearing into the abyss of apathy as she labored her days away keeping her family’s struggling business alive. There would be no emotion, no color, no beauty in her life. That is, until a mysterious visitor begins to draw her out of the darkness of her past towards something that will challenge the boundaries of her world, and unlock the most deeply held secrets of her heart.

As a bonus- Dallas Coryell, the author has a Youtube channel. Apparently, obviously, a very talented guy! Here is a song which appears in the book performed by Dallas himself:

OK! I think I shouldn’t have had those doughnuts this morning- I’m all sugared, sweetened out for the day! *runs off to play Slipknot at volumes of epic proportions*

My rating: 3*** for the story because it got a bit too much for the bitter witch, yours truly, by the end + a bonus * for the crazy good talent= 4****

Amazon UK — Amazon USA — Youtube channel

*I received the book directly form author for an honest review*