Review: Boys Don't Cry by Jennifer Melzer

Boys Don't Cry by Jennifer Melzer

Blurb:

Taliesin Wick knows exactly what she wants to do with her life. Even when her house-flipping father puts their home in Austin on the market and moves the family to Pennsylvania, it's nothing but a minor wrench in the cogs of her dreams. 

Then she meets Nate Thorne. 

From the moment she first spied Nate playing guitar on his front porch, Tali was drawn to him. The sorrow in his songs, the deep sadness in his beautiful eyes... she can feel Fate pulling her to him. 

Something haunts him. He never talks about the sins of his past, but she knows he doesn’t trust himself, especially not with her heart. Tali can’t imagine the sweet, loving boy she’s come to know being the awful monster he thinks he is, but what if he’s right? What if learning his secrets changes the way she feels about him? 

Tali doesn’t know if their whirlwind of bliss is just a summer fling, or something much more, but she does know falling in love with Nate is going to leave the kind of mark you can never erase.

Review:

"The sorrow in his songs, the deep sadness in his beautiful eyes… she can feel Fate pulling her to him." That's the line from the synopsis that drew me in. I needed to know his story. Then I needed to know hers. 

Tali, short for Taliesin, was living in Texas, getting ready to start her first year in college in the fall when her dad bought an old house in Pennsylvania and up and moved the entire family. Tali had the option to stay behind, as her father had done this in the past: bought an old fixer-upper, moved the family to it, and dove right in on his new project. But Tali opted to go because she knew her younger brother would be lost, have to start over finding new friends, and had a difficulty with changes. She wanted to be there for him. Besides, she had all summer to stay there before college started in which she was majoring in her passion, video games. 

But as soon as they pulled up into the driveway, she saw this boy and knew right then she needed to know him. Over the next several days, she would watch from her 3rd story bedroom window as the boy across the street sat on his front step and played the most heartbreaking songs on his guitar. She felt the need to know his story, why his songs were so sad. And finally one day she ran into him at the grocery store. 

After a little bit of chit chat and a few chance meetings, Nate invited her along on a 'date' to the campgrounds where his friends were hanging out. Right away Tali knew there was something going on when Nate's best friend's girlfriend didn't like Tali, nor did she like Nate being there. The girlfriend said numerous things, quite loudly and full of snark, hate, and disarray, at times. When Tali asked Nate about it, he would blow it off, never tell her upfront what was going on, or what caused the hatred toward him. 

Fast forward a few more weeks and Tali was still trying to figure out what had happened in Nate's past, especially after they were together intimately for the first time and Nate hurriedly left the room after and refused to see her. Tali, with tears running down her face, ran back home and refused to see Nate after that. All he would tell her was that he wasn't good enough for her. He didn't deserve happiness, he didn't deserve Tali. What a frustrating time for the both of them, more for Tali because she did not know his past-STILL!

Over the course of the next week, Tali refused to leave her room, even when Nate would come knocking on the front door, begging to see her. This is where the understanding and love of her family come in, even if the love from her brother is shown in the most absurd, sarcastic, bratty-little-brother ways. 

When Tali finally accepts the proposal to see Nate again, she asks once more for this past story. It was then that he breaks down and tells his story. With his tears matching hers, will she finally understand his sad songs? His reasons for running away? But at the same time, will he believe what she says to him? Will he believe he finally deserves the chance for happiness? 

This was a beautiful, sad, emotionally up-and-down story. I loved Tali's family. They remind me so much of my own. I love the way her parents treat her and respect her and talk to her an adult, not a child. I also, of course, love the building, the angst, and the whole process of Tali and Nate's relationship. 

It is now a MUST that I read the rest of Ms. Melzer's books. I love her writing style and how she draws me in so quickly!

Rating: 4/5

About the Author:

Jennifer Melzer enjoys spinning elements of the fantastic with strands plucked from the heart. She spent most of her life denying the romantic overtones sewn into her fiction, but awoke one morning and realized every single tale she'd ever spun somehow revolved around the heart. She has since given woven from heartstrings.

She currently resides in Northeast Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter and a houseful of dragons she must train regularly to keep them from setting fire to the curtains. Nightly she dreams she is laying on the beach watching stars burst over the Atlantic Ocean.