I love YA books and this is a prime example of why. I find them more fast paced with a lot going on and with an extra edge of excitement. All of those things are true of this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it

I was scared going into this book as I loved No Big Deal so much but honestly Bethany Rutter has done it again.

Melt My Heart is an adorable coming of age story that is perfect for YA readers. It didn’t take long for me to love Lily Rose and how in love she is with her body. What I loved the most is that she’s unapologetically human and she has her own flaws. She’s struggling with the idea of going to university, leaving her best friend behind and the feeling that she will never be on the same level as her twin sister Daisy. Lily makes mistakes in this book and she is rightfully called out for them which helped her grow as a character.

I found myself absolutely loving her friendship with Carrie and how creative she was! She had Lily’s back and helped her feel more comfortable in her own skin. Carrie is the best friend we all deserve. I also really liked Cal’s character and honestly, he was adorable and one of the most genuine male characters I’ve seen in YA for a while.

The family dynamic was a big focus in this book and I loved how even when Lily and Daisy aren’t getting along they come together to support their mother, who is hands down one of the best characters in this book! Daisy and Lily are both trying to come to terms with the fact that they’ll be separated whilst also wanting to be their own person.

I could sit here for hours telling you about this book but I want you to read this for yourself. I want you to follow Lily on her journey of balancing her summer, her fears for the future and her life in general.

This book is so much more than about Lily’s weight. Melt My Heart is a story about family, friendship, coming to terms with who you are as a person and loving yourself no matter what. This is a book about body positivity that everyone needs to read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A fun YA read and I loved the fact it was partly about body positivity, so nice to see this being supported and included so much more especially in books for YA readers. I loved Lily, she was a great main character and I loved how she struggled when th her conundrum, worrying about and trying to maintain her relationships with everyone , it’s such a fun read but with lots of heart too. Fabulous read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I'm swaying between a 3 and a 3.5

This book was really cute and I really wanted to love it, there were some incredible parts that really highlighted how it feels to be anything but 'normal' in society. I was almost crying at some of the lines about body weight representation, and it was beautiful to see someone so proud in their body. But beyond these sections I felt a little like I was pushing myself through the book searching for more. Things just happened, there never seemed to be a big build up or an explanation really and the only thing that was built up, culminated in a bit of a rush.

I guess at its core its a good book, and I can imagine it will mean a lot to a lot of people, but I was just expecting more from it.

Firstly, I have to say that Rutter crafts amazing, very believable teenage characters that I never struggle to engage with and just utterly fall in love with. Her books are just filled with gorgeous romance and thought-provoking discussion of incredibly relevant issues for myself and my peers. She has such a gift for bottling the sunshine-soaked feeling of summer love in this feel-good YA contemporary about love, family and finding yourself & your path.

The setting was just perfect for me, in that it’s set in the summer after A Levels, with that mix of endless possibilities, limitations and conflicting ideas. That stretch of time often feels infinite and Rutter explores the effect this has on Lily really well. She’s not entirely sure where she wants her future to go and a lot of the story revolves around her being able to find her own path. She’s also majorly impacted by the constant comparisons between her and her twin sister Daisy and the hurtful words Daisy sometimes uses towards her. Melt My Heart is very character-driven, showing how Lily moves beyond her sister’s shadow and into her authentic, true self.

Mixed with this is a beautiful exploration of identity and sexuality, which meant so much to me and will do for so many other readers out there. Rutter ensures that while her discovering her sexuality is hugely significant, it is just one part of her, rather than the sole focus of her character. This is also reflected with her being plus size, as the effect that fatphobic society has on her is discussed, but she is not just relegated to the role of being the ‘big girl’. These are just facets of her brilliant, talented and effervescent self.

Melt My Heart is a feel good, heart-warming story of finding your identity, family and love from an impactful author to watch.

A great YA book that covers a whole host of important issues. I love the dynamic between Lily and Cassie. A great quick summer read

I finished Melt My Heart after spending the last day of school on the Common like a teenager and this has all the ingredients of a modern British YA novel: a cute seaside setting, sibling love, female friendships, summer romance, artists, fashionistas, results day anxieties, anti-racism and a supportive mum.

Lily is a confident fat protagonist who challenges her sister's careless comments and "well-meaning" assertion, "I don't see you as fat" which is incredibly empowering! The love story here is adorable and it's great that Lily's body is never a source of conflict in the novel. The subplot of the bigotry of a small British town was really well written and particularly poignant in today's political climate. Yes it's a little light, but I think it's a great counterbalance to the stress of being a teenager right now. Such a joyful, body positive summer read!

Melt My Heart did just that. It genuinely did 'melt my heart".
I found this book to be un-put-down-able! I absolutely loved every page!
Although there were a few twists that I did guess - Senor Mango Sorbet! I enjoyed how the author allowed events to play out.
A great read for anyone who is worrying about University, friendships, relationships and various other teenage woes.
It was light hearted and funny in parts and had me reading my fastest at others because I NEEDED to know how the events worked out.
It was not what I expected from the blurb, but that was nice surprise!
I would 100% recommend to others!

I really enjoyed this warm hearted YA book form Bethany Rutter, which makes a nice companion to her debut 'No Big Deal.' Lily is 18 years old and doesn't know what she wants - does she really want to study Art History at Leeds University? Does she really want to leave her cute little village by the sea and be academic? Does she really want to stop painting and doing art? And - most importantly - is her best friend Cassie really just her best friend in the whole wide world, or could she be something more?

I'm a big fan of books where young women get space to figure out who they are and what they want, even if it they go about it in a roundabout way. It's so refreshing to see a fat protagonist in YA fiction who doesn't care about diets or what people think about her body, but still has complicated feelings around the way others in her life perceive it. Lily is funny, attractive and determined - although I would have liked to have seen a bit more character development for her twin sister, Daisy. Her confused romantic feelings for her best friend are handled deftly by Rutter. Instead of being horrified, they're dealt with maturely and sensibly - being queer is just a fact of life rather than something that gets shoved to one side.

As someone who had complicated feelings around their own bisexuality at Lily's age, I wish that there had been more books like 'Melt My Heart' which would have equipped me with the tools to deal with it instead of denying bisexuality existed (gotta love being a teenage girl in the 1990s!) This is a sweet - and much needed - addition to the YA cannon.

This is one of those books that looks right into you, sees your deepest fears, then brings them to the surface, polishes them off, and shows you there’s nothing to be scared about.

Lily is happy. She’s got the whole summer ahead of her to spend with her best friend Cassie working at the ice cream stall before she goes off to uni in September. Until then, she’s going to make the most of the time she has with her twin Daisy, Cassie, her close family, and the little seaside town she grew up in and loves. Because she doesn’t really want to go to uni at all. But she’s not thinking about that. She’s thinking about the cute guy from New Zealand, Cal, who is so into her. She’s thinking about how Daisy’s crush from the cinema is said cute guy from NZ. She’s thinking of why on earth does this hot guy like her over her much thinner, prettier sister? And she’s trying to figure out why she keeps trying to make Cassie jealous about her new thing going on with Cal.

Bethany Rutters debut YA novel No Big Deal, released last summer, was one of my favourite reads. Rutter is able to so perfectly capture that feeling of being a teenager, of having body issues, and crush issues, and friend issues, and wrap them into one incredibly readable and lovable book. And she’s done it again.

Melt My Heart has a fat character who is in no way ashamed of being fat. There is fatphobia from other characters, but that’s not the main thread of the story. Lily is such a well developed character that while she does have body issues – she’s a women in 2020, who doesn’t? – her fatness is not the be all and end all of her as a person. She’s aware that her negative thoughts about her body come from external sources and are what society pressures her to think about it, she is an artist, she’s a sister, a daughter, a friend, a crush. She’s such a full character and she’s so fun. She’s the kind of girl I would have adored to have as my bestie when I was eighteen.

So let’s get to Cassie. Not only do I love Cassie because she is also an amazing friend – she’s thoughtful, and kind, and supportive – she’s Lily’s biggest cheerleader. But their relationship is so fun and cute but also majorly realistic. The language they use and way they act is portrayed so well. It’s how I talk with my friends, it’s how I see other people talk with their friends, it’s how I hear Bethany talk with her pal and business partner Alice Slater on their book podcast What Page Are You On? It’s just so well written.

And you know what I said at the beginning? About this book seeing your fears and making you know it’s alright? I am a fat girl, and so many of Lily’s thoughts and experiences hit me so hard in the feels. I’m also bi, and that feeling of not knowing if it’s okay, if people are going to have something to say, of dismissal and ruining friendships and ah! This book is just so well written and encompasses so much.

So, essentially what I’m saying is go out and buy this book and revel in it’s beauty and fall in love with Lily and Cassie and let it melt your heart!

I thought the book was going to be a cute summer read with the focus on a romance between two friends and maybe a love triangle.

Right from the start I knew I would not like the book, the writing style was not for me and the main character is really annoying, I feel like I did not know her at all. Although the book just felt like pages and pages of her inner thoughts and it was boring, it was her thoughts on what was happening and there was not much I knew of the character herself. Because of the writing style I just could not connect to any of the characters and that is why I did not care for the romance which is disappointing.

I expected more romance between Lily and Cassie, I felt like their friendship was portrayed really weirdly and then it was just awkward interactions and no sense of ‘romance’ in my opinion.

1/5

If I wasn't an official fan of Bethany Rutter before then I definitely am now! 'Melt My Heart' was my body positivity heaven. It is just so refreshing to have a book where the main character is actually fat and doesn't treat it like it is the worst thing in the world. Plus you can tell that Bethany really gets what she is writing about because I could literally hear myself saying the exact same things that Lily was saying when other people talked about weight! I think I loved this one even more then I loved 'No Big Deal' and that was my favourite book of last summer.

Please can we have more from Bethany Rutter!!

Thank you for the review copy!!

Wow what a wonderful read! I connected so much with this book and the storyline of discovery, friendship and the anxiety around leaving for university. This book covers sexuality, race, friendship, family relationships and so much more. It really packs a punch. I’m desperate to read Bethany Rutters other book now!

Last year, one of my favourite releases was No Big Deal by Bethany Rutter. So, I was very excited to see that there is a new book coming out from Bethany this year! Again, I requested it as soon as I saw it and, again, I wasn't disappointed!

The thing that I absolutely love about Bethany's books is how the sensitive topic of body image is discussed so positively and in a way that's accessible and non-judgemental. In Melt My Heart, our narrator Lily clearly has some insecurities over being a bigger girl, but it's not the sole focus of the story and it's doesn't define her and we also see how body insecurities affect everyone.

I also love in Melt My Heart that it's set during that strange period between sixth form and university, and that it also challenges whether university is the right option for everyone. Just because someone's seen as "university material" doesn't mean that it's the path they have to take, and that's something I wish I'd known back when I was 18!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book; there were some really interesting storylines taking place and I loved getting to know the characters! They're definitely ones that I'd love to revisit a few months later to see how they're getting on!

This was amazing. Really, truly amazing. Just... wow.

Melt My Heart is about Lily Rose: artist and ice cream seller. She's just finished sixth form, she's going out with a Totally Hot Guy, and the summer stretches out ahead of her. Which all sounds good in theory... But in reality it's maybe not that simple. Her twin sister fell for Totally Hot Guy first, things keep getting weird with her best friend, and she thinks she might be the only person ever to not want to get the grades for university. It's a rollercoaster of emotions for Lily Rose!

This book kinda reminded me of Jordi Perez's English counterpart, which I loved. It's not just that the protagonist is queer and fat, but also the look at fashion and teen jobs, I think. I will take queer YA in any form, and I'm actually a really big fan of American novels, but it was also really refreshing, as a queer Brit, to read something with a context so familiar to me.

I really loved Lily- but I loved her even more because she wasn't perfect. She screwed up, and people got annoyed at her, and that was all totally valid. Often, when people challenge or confront a protagonist, the reader is invited to be on the protagonists side. In Melt My Heart, however, whilst fully loving Lily, I wasn't always on her side in arguments: and that's what I want! I want to see protagonists challenged and allowed to grow, and Melt My Heart did that so well. I also reaally liked that all of the characters were made so three-dimensional; each of them had their own issues and problems, and even characters like Daisy, who were presented as being so together, had their own stuff going on. They all felt so human and real.

In terms of representation, this book ticks some obvious boxes, but also some less obvious ones. Lily is a fat, bisexual woman, and both of these facets of her identity are really well explored throughout the book. I especially loved the bisexuality rep- although MMH is kind of a coming-out-story, it's also not really, because Lily's sexuality never feels like a big deal at all. Definitely, saying that she's bi doesn't feel like a spoiler, and that's the way it should be. Lily also shows the complex emotions that come with being fat in a fatphobic society: her own love for her body, but also the negativity she picks up from others, and the way that these intersect. And, at all times, the book is never just about Lily being fat, or Lily being bisexual: there's way more to the story than that! That's where the less obvious representation comes in too I think. This is a story about twins who love each other, but who are also each trying to be their own people. This is a story about not really knowing what you want to do with your life, when everyone around you seems pretty set. This is a story about navigating friendships and relationships, all at once. This is a story about small towns in England, with their unique experiences, and their flaws as well. There is SO MUCH going on in this book that isn't always portrayed elsewhere, and I adored it all.

I will say- I am a white reviewer. There may well be issues with the portrayal of Cassie, and the racism/fascism part of the storyline, and in no way am I going to negate those. I did feel that the poster storyline ended maybe a little too hastily, and that Lily's actions at times could be seen as a bit White Saviour-y. I'm also really keen to read more reviews as they come, and see what other people, particularly those better placed to evaluate these aspects, have to say about it all.

I do think the writing was a tiny bit clunky at times, particularly in regards to conversations. Having said that, I don't think the copy I read was fully formatted properly, so that didn't help!

Overall- cannot wait to see this book out in the real world. Cannot wait for people to read it. I can see this really changing people's lives, and I know it will get into the hands of people who really need it.

This is such a sweet story, all about a girl who is pretty stressed out and not confident of what she’s doing, and how she moves forward over the course of one summer. It’s a little too angsty for my taste, but it really is a lovely story and very well written. I like the fact that as well as the main character development theme, there’s also other strands in there about racism and homophobia, and about being truthful and true to yourself. I love the diverse characters. And I love the way the whole thing is just done in a gentle, subtle way. Oh, and I love the cover, it’s cute and bold all at the same time.

I can’t really say much more without revealing important plot points, but if you love some gentle romance, character development, diverse characters and don’t mind a little angst, then this is the book for you.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

I have complicated feelings about this book. On one hand the fat rep was excellent but on the other I really didn’t enjoy the story. I found myself getting easily distracted and bored while reading which I’m really sad about since I inhale read Rutter’s No Big Deal. The characters weren’t as fleshed out as I’d hoped. I feel as though a certain kind of reader that enjoys dipping their toes into a slice of life kind of story will enjoy this; but I wanted more development and by the end I just felt like I still didn’t really know the main character. Nothing as such happened plot wise it was really just character centred and because I didn’t love the characters that made it hard for me to love this. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it, I think it’s a nice read especially for someone questioning their sexuality or if you’re in the transition period if your life after high school. I just didn’t gel well with it.

This is Lily's summer of new things. It's her last summer in the lovely seaside town she grew up in before she leaves for university in the autumn and, although she should be excited, she can't quite bring herself to be. She's spending the summer working with her best friend, Cassie, at Cassie's parent's ice cream stand; doing one new thing every day to prepare herself for the shock of moving away; and she's met a cute boy, Cal, who for once actually likes her rather than her twin sister, Daisy. But that's exactly what starts to cause problems. How can Lily tell Daisy that she's dating Daisy's crush? And why isn't she as into Cal as she should be?

On top of that, results day is looming, and with it the end of the summer and the biggest new thing, leaving behind Lily's beloved home, the streets of which are being covered in hateful anonymous posters; Daisy, who isn't happy that they'll be attending different universities; and Cassie, the only person Lily ever really wants to spend her time with. Then, of course, there's the fact that Lily is keeping a secret. One much more important than dating Cal. She's not actually sure she wants to go to university at all.

Melt My Heart is a story of self-discovery. Over the course of one summer Lily is confronted with a lot of truths to face and decisions of how she will deal with them, and although these choices may overwhelm Lily, the narrative doesn't feel bloated or overly complicated. Each piece of Lily's summer weaves together to show the ultimate lesson she must learn, that she needs to trust her own feelings. Readers who enjoy coming of age stories will find a lot to love in watching Lily grapple with both the new things she chooses and the ones that surprise her, and although the ending seems to come quickly, it is anything but unsatisfying.

As with the protagonist of Rutter's last book, No Big Deal, Lily is fat, and although she has insecurities related to that, which are exacerbated by her skinny twin sister, Daisy, making comments she doesn't always realise are hurtful, Lily never considers losing the weight, and the narrative never suggests that she should. The only thing Lily needs to change is to trust herself more, and once she does, she finds rewards that any reader will agree she deserves. This is an ideal book for teen readers who are still discovering themselves, as that is exactly who Lily is, confident in some ways, but still growing in many others. Once again, Bethany Rutter has created a protagonist who feels like a real teenager, with all the confusion, pain, and joy that entails.

Wow. Just wow. Bethany rutter really knows how to write a 3 dimensional fat character. For too long the fat girl in the story has been there to lose weight or by the funny side character but Lily is amazing. I saw a lot of myself in here and please please please let there be a sequel because I am not ready to let these characters go!

An easy summer read! It wasn't as I thought would be. I expected a girl who doesn't see herself beautiful. But she meets the perfect boy and he makes her to understand that being beautiful doesn't mean being skinny. Happy ending. Oh and somewhere in this image you can find her best friend. I know it sounds like a cliche. But for me it's better than the actual story.

I don't want to sound harsh. The book started good. I used to feel "invisible" as Lily when I was in high school. So of course I wanted to find more about this character and how she will evolve till the end. The perfect boy appeared on stage. She won his heart. At this moment all I wanted was her to understand that she was beautiful and that a boy can love her.

But nope! Everything changed 180°. What she really understood was that she was bi. This wasn't the problem for me. The real problem was the way she found out. She met the boy and in 5 seconds she knew she was bi. And then every discussion with her best friend sounded vapid.

I don't want to say more about this book. I will let you decide for yourself if the story is good or not. Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest.