celinenyx
Written on May 27, 2017
I have read a novella of Ms Loren before, Yours All Along, which I quite enjoyed. It was a nice combination of emotional development and tension, which led me to try one of her other books. Sadly, Melt into You didn't live up to my expectations. Where I found the emotional development in Yours All Along to be believable and satisfying, that of Melt into You was lacking. All of the emotions and thoughts of the characters were described in such clear and obvious terms, that there was no sense of mystery or an idea of trying to discover their true feelings. It was all just there, immediately, all the time. I think one of the most basic of human experiences is confusion - it is hard to figure out how you feel, why you feel it, and how to deal with it. Emotions are tough, but for the characters in this book they were always crystal clear, knowable as if they were written down somewhere. Added to this, there was little complexity to their feelings.
Always a tough point in romance, is the "love redemption" plot. The idea that a romantic relationship will fix all problems is incredibly problematic and gives unhealthy expectations. While I could tell that Ms Loren took an effort to try to keep her characters away from this cliché, I don't think she fully succeeded. Evan, the female main character, has a history of cutting, suicidal thoughts, and takes anti-depressants. Her battle with her demons stays largely off-page, only mentioned when convenient. At some point, we get a quick recap of "yeah I worked on it and now I don't need anti-depressants anymore", and claiming her emotional availability towards the others. When you incorporate such heavy matters in a book, it deserves more than a simple mention of being better. A battle against depression and suicide isn't something you can just play lip service to when it suits you, and leaving the resolution out of the story. Evan's mental health issues could have been handled more in-depth - as it is, I found this part of her back-story be more harmful than anything else.
Lastly, I was vaguely disappointed with the erotic BDSM aspect. Evan is a submissive to dominants Jace and Andre. Part of such role-play is of course following along with what the dominants tell the submissive to do; that is the entire point. What I did not like was that Evan seemed to have few thoughts or wants on her own. She merely reacts to the situations Jace and Andre put her in. There was too little attention to desires of her own. I think that even in role-play, there can be more attention to this. Now Evan just felt like a passive participant in the proceedings, rather than a willing subject.
Overall I found Melt into You disappointing and occasionally problematic. Perhaps one of the later books by Ms Loren would be a better choice.
