**Blog Tour & Giveaway ~ Touching Melody ~ RaShelle Workman**

Hey y'all! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for RaShelle Workman's Touching Melody. My stop includes my review and a giveaway!

This tour is presented by Xpresso Book Tours. For a list of all participating blogs, click here.

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Touching Melody by RaShelle Workman

Series: Forever First #1 

Publication date:  June 2013 

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Synopsis:

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 frat 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 Graduation 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.

Days and months 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.

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My Review

Maddie Martin is an interesting girl. She's been very sheltered these last seven years. Her interpersonal skills are a bit rusty. She swears you can tell a lot about a person from the shoes. And she practices music like some people practice religion. Playing the piano, getting lost in the music, makes all the pain and grief she's suffered over her parents' deaths and losing Kyle go away.

Kyle Hadley, Maddie's childhood best friend, has changed a lot in the last seven years. Not only has he grown into a handsome young man, but it seems he's also a bit of a horndog. And he's a bit bitter where Maddie's concerned.

I'm torn over this story. While I really liked its premise. It had so much potential but I felt the execution was a bit off. Maddie and Kyle have much to overcome in order to rebuild the relationship they had and create a new one. The story, told in dual POV, allowed me to feel the bond Maddie and Kyle had as kids. But as adults, they're supposed to bond over music and I never really felt that bond form. The story never developed enough, in my opinion, to understand how Maddie, or Kyle for that matter, could move past what had happened seven years ago.

I did like the suspense created by the mystery that unravels around Kyle's family. However, I felt it was wrapped up too quickly. There was also a part of the story, involving Maddie's roommate, that I didn't feel furthered the plot in any way. It wasn't resolved either, so this left me with a 'huh?' feeling. However, I didn't realize this was the first in a series, so I assume this part of the story will be continued.

Despite the little things that niggled at me, I did like Touching Melody. It's just that I wanted to love this book and I didn't. However, I like the overall story line and the characters. I also like Ms. Workman's writing style. I will be reading the next in the series so I can see where these characters go next.

**I received an ecopy of this book, as part of the tour, in exchange for my honest review.

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Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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About RaShelle

RaShelle Workman is the bestselling author of the Dead Roses series ("Sleeping Roses" is being translated into Turkish, and will be available in print wherever Turkish books are sold in 2014), the Immortal Essence series, and the Blood and Snow series. She's sold over two hundred thousand copies of her novels worldwide in the past year, including Japan, Canada, and Europe. You can find RaShelle all over the web, but the best place to start is on her blog: www.rashelleworkman.com.

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