Melt With You

April 1, 2022
A sweet story of love on the road. The summer before college, Fallon is working at Love at First Bite, her mom's ice cream truck. It's a good deal except for the fact that her mom's only the co-owner; the other co-owner is her mom's best friend, who just happens to also be the mom of Fallon's former best friend-turned-ex-girlfriend. As their moms go to Dallas to close a life-changing business deal, Fallon and Chloe are left in charge of taking Love at First Bite on a road trip to participate in important food truck festivals. It doesn't help in the slightest that they haven't spoken in the year since Chloe left for college, Fallon still has it bad, and the two may have entirely different versions of what happened--both when they got together and when it all ended. Full of puns and long internal monologues, this is an engaging look at first love that gets to the heart of the feelings of indecision that come with being a teenager--especially one in love with her best friend. The suspense of the will-they, won't-they romance is entertaining and feels new, keeping readers interested throughout. Although perhaps a bit longer than necessary, the book is overall captivating and has a heartwarming finale. Main characters are White. A charming summer romance. (Romance. 13-18)

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May 9, 2022
Eighteen-year-old Fallon hasn’t spoken to 19-year-old former best friend Chloe since their “disastrous hookup” the summer before Chloe left for college in California. When she returns to their Upstate New York home on break, Fallon, who’s still in love with Chloe, is desperate to avoid her, fearing potential humiliation. That proves impossible when the teens’ mothers task the girls with minding their co-owned ice cream truck business, Love at First Bite, while they meet potential investors in Dallas. Now Fallon must road trip alone with Chloe across the country to major food truck festivals. To make the journey as low-stress and amicable as possible, Fallon indulges Chloe’s plans to stop at various landmarks along the way. As the summer unfolds, tension runs high, and the girls are forced to confront their unresolved feelings and the myriad misunderstandings that led to their falling out. Dungan’s (Some Girls Do) unhurried friends-to-lovers tale effectively captures blossoming summer romance while serving as a reminder that “sometimes what seems like a mistake can turn out to be the most fun you’ve ever had.” Most characters cue as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

Starred review from June 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Fallon has mapped out a meticulous plan to limit her contact with her ex-best friend, Chloe (aka the person who utterly abandoned her after hooking up last summer). It will be a challenge seeing as their mothers are still best friends and both girls work at their mothers' ice-cream truck. What's more, Chloe keeps showing up now that she's back from college, seemingly oblivious to just how badly she hurt Fallon. However, this no-contact plan didn't count on their mothers needing the girls to take the truck, just the two of them, on a road trip to a food festival. Now the question is, will the journey bring them together or force them apart? Dugan's latest sapphic romance is a charming story about the pain and miscommunication that can come from a friendship tipping into romance. Though dealing in familiar themes, it distinguishes itself in the sea of YA romance with its smart, nuanced depiction of familial loyalty. Appropriately sweet and messy, yet wholly satisfying, this is destined to become one of the year's best summer beach reads. Serve it up to foodie romance fans taken with Maurene Goo's The Way You Make Me Feel (2018) and Amy Spalding's The Summer of Jordi Perez (2018).

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