The Summer That Melted Everything - Tiffany McDaniel

4.5 Stars!

ABOUT THE 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

An Ohio native, Tiffany McDaniel's 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.             

Visit her website - HERE





MY THOUGHTS -
Well this was probably one of the best written novels I have ever read! Every paragraph was like opening a package not knowing what you would get - a strawberry shortcake with whipped cream or a dark booming thunder storm. This book was a little slow in spots, but then... OH! All you had to do was start reading the next paragraph because it would change in an instant.

With its ever twisting spider webby plot you never knew what was going to happen next, and sometimes didn't want to know. This was the kind of book that left you saying WHAT??? But the ending was so great you didn't have to have all the answers. I felt satisfied.

This story is a trip. One you're not sure you will want to take, but you do, and you keep reading on - even through all the horrifying sadness because its the quirkiness and excellent writing and original style that keeps you wanting to know more.

I just love this part, I think I will always think of it! -

Old Man, Why do you buy so many rolls of aluminum foil?

For my sins, I answer, to make them beautiful.

I write my sins on a piece of foil and place it on the ground with a rock on its corner so the foil doesn't get carried off. Then I go away from it. Go a distance from it because then, from afar, the sins become beautiful silver things that catch the light of the sun so brightly, heaven is left in want.

And this one as well, just amazing to me -

"You know where the name hell came from." He crossed his hands on his lap. "After I fell, I kept repeating to myself, God will forgive me. God will forgive me. Centuries of repeating this, I started to shorten it to He'll forgive me. Then finally to one word, He'll. He'll.

"Somewhere along the way, I lost that apostrophe and now it's only Hell. But hidden in that one word is God will forgive me. God will forgive me. That is what is behind my door, you understand. A world of no apostrophes and, therefore, no hope." 

Tiffany McDaniel will be a huge success. I do hope others will appreciate her writing as much as I did. Can't wait for her next book!

This was my second "Pool Book" You know - because you can't see an e-reader in the sunlight. I am so glad Tiffany sent me a hard cover! I bet she never knew I would be reading it at my pool!

Thank you Tiffany for sending me a copy of your book for my honest review!

Order your copy from Amazon - HERE