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A review by cyanide_latte
Life of Melody by Mari Costa
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This was super cute. I originally backed the Kickstarter campaign to get it in print, but at the time I was unable to back it at the level that would get me my own physical copy. Even after Seven Seas got in on it, it was still years before I was able to find a physical copy secondhand at a reasonable price. I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to read it.
The book is called "Life of Melody", but make no mistake, the story is about her two adoptive dads, Bon and Razzmatazz. Especially Razzmatazz.
When they both find baby Melody in the woods and each decide they can't let the other potentially take total custody of this child, they wind up in an incredibly awkward co-parenting situation. Neither trusts the other due to being raised in two very different societies with extreme prejudices against each other, and a lot of the story is them struggling to reconcile their differences for Melody's sake, and the challenge of overcoming the biases they've each been raised with. By and large, Bon seems to have an easier time of this than Razzmatazz, whom we learn was hoping to raise a "fairy tale" from start to finish. Presumably this is because he has repeatedly botched other opportunities as a fairy godfather, and he is doing this quite against the fairy council's wishes in order to prove himself capable. He's not in this for the right reasons at the start, so he has a bit more growing to do, and it takes more time and effort for him to reconcile the fact he's growing attached to Melody...and to Bon.
I found this to be a very sweet story. I've seen a lot of complaints for this that feel nitpicky, and claim that there's instances of domestic violence present and that Bon and Razzmatazz have a toxic relationship. While I can understand the complaints that their relationship deserved more build-up and development, (and I agree with this, I would have preferred more in that regard,) I think labeling their relationship as toxic and the two instances where actual fights happen as domestic violence feels like an extreme, and paints the situations as worse than they are. Furthermore, while the story beats make the movement from Enemies to Co-parents to Lovers clunky at times, the fact is that is what this story is about. They are systemic Enemies from the very beginning, and it takes them a while and a lot of messy highs and lows to actually work on dismantling and overcoming that. It's important and critical to the story unfolding as it does.
All that said, I do highly recommend this. It's very heartwarming and worth reading at least once.
The book is called "Life of Melody", but make no mistake, the story is about her two adoptive dads, Bon and Razzmatazz. Especially Razzmatazz.
When they both find baby Melody in the woods and each decide they can't let the other potentially take total custody of this child, they wind up in an incredibly awkward co-parenting situation. Neither trusts the other due to being raised in two very different societies with extreme prejudices against each other, and a lot of the story is them struggling to reconcile their differences for Melody's sake, and the challenge of overcoming the biases they've each been raised with. By and large, Bon seems to have an easier time of this than Razzmatazz, whom we learn was hoping to raise a "fairy tale" from start to finish. Presumably this is because he has repeatedly botched other opportunities as a fairy godfather, and he is doing this quite against the fairy council's wishes in order to prove himself capable. He's not in this for the right reasons at the start, so he has a bit more growing to do, and it takes more time and effort for him to reconcile the fact he's growing attached to Melody...and to Bon.
I found this to be a very sweet story. I've seen a lot of complaints for this that feel nitpicky, and claim that there's instances of domestic violence present and that Bon and Razzmatazz have a toxic relationship. While I can understand the complaints that their relationship deserved more build-up and development, (and I agree with this, I would have preferred more in that regard,) I think labeling their relationship as toxic and the two instances where actual fights happen as domestic violence feels like an extreme, and paints the situations as worse than they are. Furthermore, while the story beats make the movement from Enemies to Co-parents to Lovers clunky at times, the fact is that is what this story is about. They are systemic Enemies from the very beginning, and it takes them a while and a lot of messy highs and lows to actually work on dismantling and overcoming that. It's important and critical to the story unfolding as it does.
All that said, I do highly recommend this. It's very heartwarming and worth reading at least once.