Review » Melophobia by James Morris

Melophobia
By James Morris 
Release Date: 9/22/15
Published by Kindle Press
Genre(s): Dystopian, Romance, Suspense
Format: eBook
Page: 265

Buy on Amazon | Add to Goodreads 

MY RATING: 5 Stars

DESCRIPTION IN 6 WORDS
Banned Music, Betrayal, Identities, Trust, Forbidden

Goodreads Description

Melophobia: fear or hatred of music.
The time—now; the place—America, but in a world where the government controls all forms of art and creativity. Any music sowing the seeds of anarchy is banned—destroyed if found—its creators and listeners harshly punished. Merrin Pierce works as an undercover Patrol officer assigned to apprehend a fugitive musician who threatens the safe fabric of society, only to confront everything she thought to be true – her values, upbringing, job, and future.
Can love survive in a world without music?

      I received Melophobia for free in eBook format from James Morris for an honest review. This was actually my first review request ever, so I was super excited! And wow, Melophobia made great for a first review request. Melophobia was such an interesting and unique book. The mere idea that music is banned honestly makes me want to slam my face into a brick because...who doesn't love music? Music is such an important part of society today, it makes up careers and helps some people connect with themselves if you what I mean. When I first dove into this book, I actually didn't really know what was going on, I had read the Goodreads description and all, but I was kind of blank going in. Not because the writing was confusing, but mostly because I simply didn't know what to expect. In my opinion the synopsis Goodreads gives is awfully vague. But in short, Merrin Pierce is working undercover in order to find The Source. An alias for a criminal who has been distributing music to people. Merrin must find The Source and bring him in, but along the way she finds love and a sense for music and what is really means.

     The plot of a story is a crucial part, it has to be good. In my honest opinion, the plot was slow in the beginning, but it definitely got better as the story went on. Being slower in the middle is okay though, don't leave just because I'm saying this, a lot of books start slow and get better just like this one. Towards the middle and end, well Melophobia got so much better and faster! Oh my gosh, the last maybe, quarter of the book, the plot quickens to the speed of light, in a good way of course, and it resulted in lots of me screaming at my phone (the device I was reading the book on) and gasping in sheer horror at was happening. Let me tell you, if any kind of fangirling happens (i.e crying, rolling on the floor, laughing uncontrollably etc) while I'm reading a book, it means I really liked it.

      One of my favorite parts about Melophobia was the characters. Sometimes I truly wanted to kill Merrin and other times I wanted to be angry with her. But as a whole, she was a realistic and rell rounded character with some badassery. Rowan, a man that Merrin's father is trying to pair with Merrin, was awesome! Let's say I really didn't like him in the beginning of the novel, but in the end I LOVED the man. He was so sweet and fit perfectly with Merrin. Now, let's talk about Anders, Merrin's partner. To be completely expressive on my part: I HATED HIM. Maybe you will like him if you've read Melophobia or intend to read it, but I needed Anders to shut up. I felt he wasn't a good friend towards Merrin at all and it totally upset me, maybe that's the way James wrote him to be, maybe not. But Anders...ugh I really couldn't deal with the man. As a whole, the characters were fun and exciting, well rounded and one thing that I found I really amazing was I hated and loved these characters so much. Trust me, on more than one occasion I wanted to slap Merrin. In my opinion, if you hate and love a character at the same time, the character is well written. Especially if you can feel the pain and challenges a character is facing. 

      On a final note, this book impressed me. I personally am not a fan of dystopian or sci-fi and considering Melophobia is just that, well that's impressive. Melophobia is one of those great books that's never talked about, instead lurking in the shadows, a good story waiting to be read. I totally urge you to read Melophobia and experience its absolute awesomeness.