Review: Touching Melody by RaShelle Workman

Touching Melody (Forever First #1) by RaShelle Workman

Sometimes life isn't pretty, but you have to close your eyes and let go...
***************
Maddie Martin's first weekend at college is nothing like she's used to. It's wild, like the wilderness on which the University of Bellam Springs sits. Roped into going to a fraternity party, she literally runs into Kyle Hadley. The boy she's loved since she was nine. The boy she promised all of her firsts to. But that was before his father killed her parents.
Determined to stay away from him, she throws herself into her music. Practicing piano eases her heavy heart, calms the sadness, and pushes away images of Kyle's face.
Until it doesn't.
Her music professor asks her to play a duet for their annual Winter Gala. Doing so means she'll be assured another full ride scholarship. It's an opportunity she can't pass up.
But Kyle is the other half of the duet. And that means hours and hours of practicing.
Weeks of seclusion - just the two of them. And it's more than just music. It's passion like Maddie never believed was possible.
The inevitable happens. She falls in love with him all over again.
But, will loving him be enough to erase all the hate in her heart for his father? Can she look at him, and not see the evil in his family tree?
And maybe it's all a set up. Maybe Kyle is only pretending to care so he can finish what his father started, and kill her too.

Publishes in US: May 14th 2013 by Polished Pen Press
Genre: NA contemporary
Source: Netgalley
Series? Yes. Forever First series.

Buy it:   Amazon  Barnes & Noble
IndieBound  Book Depository

Find RaShelle online: ~site ~twitter ~facebook ~book trailer

   It is interesting that they had a history together, that they used to be best friends, but I was automatically a little confused from the synopsis and what happened in the first few chapters that Kyle didn't seem to know about his dad and what went wrong between him and Maddie or perhaps he didn't think it should change anything, when Maddie thought he killed her parents and was set on avoiding him. But then the story comes out piece by piece and I understand more about Kyle and why he wouldn't know where Maddie was coming from. And I had to wonder if Maddie was wrong, or how the truth would come out--the only two ways I thought I would be happy with the story ending. 

   Maddie was unique in that instead of cutting or whatever, she got her pain release through pain from tattoos. I liked her voice, and her pain was palpable. 

   I liked that even though Kyle had his wild streak (i.e. when we first met him, he was talking about having a threesome and not just in theoretical or joking trying to get girls to go along with it, they actually propositioned him.) Kyle also had his troubled past, the jerk dad and and not having a mom, but his music and the passion for that really made him appealing to me. Along with the fact that he wouldn't stand for Maddie being called pudgy. That protector instinct helped warm me up to him. 

    This is obviously dual perspective from Maddie and Kyle, and I am loving that style in NA more and more. I chose to read this one because I liked the premise and I love the damaged coming together romances in NA these days, and it was on netgalley. 

    The chemistry between Maddie and Kyle is great, and there were so many hot moments. I totally understood though when flashbacks or doubts seized her though, but it took them down a notch. Until the next time. Or until they played together, their music mingling, their closeness, and the intimacy helps. 

    I liked the friendship between Maddie and Gina. She was a fun character and had a lot to bring to the story. I like how she nudged (well sometimes pushed) Maddie out of her comfort zone, but she was supportive. I wondered what her story was though, because it was obvious she was struggling with things. 

    The ending was perfect, and wrapped up the book beautifully. 

Bottom Line: Touching but a little wild story of two people brought together by music and fate despite their broken pasts.

Books similar to Touching Melody :(links go to my review) Easy by Tammara Webber, Lost by Simonenko, Wait for You by J. Lynn

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Could you love someone whose Dad killed your parents?