ARC Review : The Summer that Melted everything by Tiffany McDaniel

Goodreads : Link

Expected publication: July 26th 2016 by St. Martin’s Press

My Ratings : 5 stars
(I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)

About This Book:

Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.
Sal seems to appear out of nowhere – a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he’s welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he’s a runaway from a nearby farm town.
When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.

My Review :

The Summer that Melted everything wasn’t anything like I expected. From the cover and the title, I though it would ne a light contemporary novel. From the description I had hoped for some Dark satan- cult stuff.
What it ended up being is the end of me. It is a book with weirdly named characters, strange storyline and to be honest I was totally confused in the first part of the book.
But then after I finished it, tears won’t stop coming out of my eyes and it hurt so much. I was an emotional wreck and couldn’t have been more happy about it. This is the kind of book that I love to read.
It is 1984, the year of the devil.
Sal, a young boy with the greenest eyes and skin black as the night believes himself to be the devil who has come after being invited by Autopsy Bliss (weird name, I told you)
Sal and Fieldin’ (the protagonist) immediately become friends and as the story progresses, we see that the devil is better than most humans. Sal’s thoughts and actions, they were so pure and deep even after people treated him with contempt.
The portion of the book describing the heat and measures taken to keep oneself cold are almost hilarious.
The writing is beautiful, Character development is indeed good and the plotline intriguing.

Our torments also may, in length of time, Become our elements
—MILTON, PARADISE LOST

With Paradise Lost quotes as headers and the devil himself as part of this book, how could it be anything less than charming.

Isn’t that what sin is, after all? Life given too much flame?

Raw emotions and the innocence, the harsh brutality of time, stories behind characters, devil in the guise of humans and angel in the devil’s body. These are the elements that differentiate this book from other books.
And it amazed me that this book is from a debut author.

To the author,
I totally think you should keep writing more books like this. And I would be the first in line to read them.

To all my fellow friends and readers,
Go read this book. You won’t regret it.

About the Author:

Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows. She is also a poet, playwright, screenwriter, and artist. The Summer that Melted Everything is her debut novel.

Love, Alex 🙂