review: Melody's Key by Dallas Coryell

   “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.”
― Dallas Coryell, Melody's Key

I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

Melody's Key by Dallas Coryell
Publication Date: June 24th 2016
Publisher: AsherRain Publications
Pages: 305
Series: Standalone
Genre: Romance, Adult(ish)

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

A diverse romance, starring in the beautiful Britain with our main character, Tegan.

Calling this romance 'diverse' may be too strong of a word but I'm going with it. I mean, we had a LGBT character, a character who was a rape victim and two characters who are suffering with anxiety and depression. I normally never read romances but I'm gonna take a guess and say romances don't normally have a diverse cast. I was very pleased with this diverse cast but I do have a few other comments to say about Melody's Key.

Melody's Key begins with Tegan Lockwood, a small town girl with small dreams. Her dreams of going to a big art school were recently crushed. Her parents begged her to stay and help their massive manor, which holds their struggling hotel business. How could she say no to her loving parents? Feeling heartbroken, Tegan agrees. So talented Tegan starts her summer by helping her parents summer business, reading old love letters, writing new songs and teasing her little sister. All is going well until Mr. Mason. Before I dive into this review, I wanna recap Tegan. I found her personality, looks and beliefs average well, except her talent in the creative arts. Reading about Tegan herself wasn't annoying just .. okay. You get me? Also, Tegan is a rape victim which includes her anxiety - more on this later. On to Mason! He's top of the charts pop star, has a huge fan base and is a rich man but he's unhappy? Mason comes to the Lockwood Manor for a break, he's feeling upset and more isolated than ever. But why? A little hint/note on Mason: he's the character who's suffering depression. We also had a couple of important side characters like Simon - Tegan's best friend. I found him very lovable. Simon is also our LGBT character. And Tegan's little sister plays a part in Tegan's life too. On to to the plot. Altogether, I found Tegan's story to be ordinary and somewhat predictable. There were a couple of funny, inspiring, romantic scenes but there were a couple of "let me just roll my eyes at you" scenes. Also the writing wasn't my favorite either. There was so many details - it just became overwhelming and the plot was super slow.

So the writing and the plot - not my favorite thing but I found the dialogue to be spot on! It was very sarcastic and the characters communicated very well. Speaking of characters, let's talk about the  romance, the key thing here right? ;) Tegan and Mason's relationship was super interesting to watch. It wasn't insta-love at all. Their relationship of friendship grew into a love relationship. I was really pleased with their growth and altogether, really enjoyed their relationship. And to wrap things up, I wanna discuss the diversity.

minor-ish spoilers ahead - read at your own risk

 So I was thinking about Tegan's and Mason's mental illnesses and I thought, "oh damn, was their illnesses just there to not make the romance insta-love?" Because the only thing really stopping them crushing into each other arms was their mental illnesses. And, after thinking more on this, I realized they use their relationship to "cure" their mental illnesses. ??? ahhhhhhhhhhh no thanks? I'm still unsure about this theory so that's why I'm marking this paragraph as a discussion. :/

OVERALL

Melody's Key had a few rough bumps (for me) but it's totally a guilty pleasure book to read. I recommend this book to 13+ (because those kissing scenes man) and those looking for a new, fresh romance.


Happy Friday bookworms! Reading anything good? Or are you planning on reading Melody's Key? Are you a fan of romances? Let's chat about it.

Share: