Melt

by Lisa Walker

Summer Wright organises her life down to the minute. And when boyfriend Adrian proposes marriage – on schedule – she will reach the peak of The Cone of Certainty. At least, that’s the plan – until adventure-show queen Cougar Gale intervenes. Suddenly Summer is impersonating Cougar in Antarctica: learning climate science on the fly, building an igloo, improvising scripts based on Dynasty, and above all trying not to be revealed as an impostor. But Summer finds it particularly hard to fool climate scientist Lucas Nilsson. Can Summer use her extreme project management skills to get Project Adrian back on track and make a success of “Cougar on Ice”? And what is The Krill Question anyway?

Genres: Fiction, Romance

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 2, 2018

About the author

Lisa writes fiction for adults and young adults. Her eighth novel, and her first psychological suspense, 'The Pact' will come out in January 2026. Other novels are - 'Trouble is My Business', 'The Girl with the Gold Bikini', 'Paris Syndrome', 'Melt', 'Sex, Lies and Bonsai', ‘Liar Bird’, and ‘Arkie’s Pilgrimage to the Next Big Thing'.

Lisa's half-hour radio play 'Baddest Backpackers' aired on ABC Radio National in 2008. She was a finalist in the ABC Short Story Award and winner of the Byron Bay Writers Festival short story award. Her writing has been published in The Age, The Guardian, The Big Issue, The Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review and the Review of Australian Fiction.

Lisa grew up in Fiji and spent her teenage years in Brisbane. She has worked as a wilderness guide, park ranger and tertiary lecturer, and is now a full-time writer. She has a degree in zoology and a PhD in creative writing.

In her spare time she surfs and explores wild places. She lives on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia.

www.lisawalker.com.au

Reviews

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
If you are looking for a smart, modern day romance with a different slant, the buck stops with Melt, the latest novel from Australian author Lisa Walker. Melt is a crisp and snazzy tale that combines a pathway of self discovery, with a touch of romance, which is set against the broad backdrop of Antarctica. Melt is one out of the ordinary story that will be sure to touch your heart.

Melt features loveable lead Summer Wright. Summer is a hippy at heart, who works as a TV production assistant. Summer is convinced that everything is going right in her life, she is doing all the right things and her life will finally be complete, just as soon as her boyfriend Adrian proposes. But to Summer’s dismay, she got it completely wrong. Instead of proposing, Adrian breaks up with Summer and suddenly Summer ends up impersonating a high flying TV adventurer bound for Antarctica. It is quite the sea change, but Summer is determined to keep the game up. That is, until Summer meets Lucas. A talented climate scientist, Lucas is overseeing the television production in Antarctica that Summer unwittingly finds herself on. Lucas is no fool and he doesn’t believe in Summer’s farcade one bit. However, Lucas is just as distracted by client Nathan Hornby, who doesn’t agree with his climate science theories. To complicate matters further for our leads, Summer’s ex, Adrian arrives on the scene. Meanwhile, Summer thinks she might just be able to woo Adrian back into her arms. There is no doubt plenty is happening for the crew based in Antarctica in Lisa Walker’s new novel, Melt.

I was immediately drawn to Melt, by the main setting, which takes place in Antarctica, a region I have read very little about in the past, but I hope to rectify. I am also a fan of author, Lisa Walker’s writing style, which is fresh, unique and engaging. I have enjoyed two books previously by Walker and I was keen to dive headfirst into Melt. My overall experience of this novel was one of joy, it was an absolute pleasure to read this original new novel from Lisa Walker.

At the heart of Melt is leading lady, Summer Wright. I loved Summer’s background and idiosyncracies. It was great to see a lead that had her heart in all the right places, but she never seemed to pull it off or get things right! I felt sorry for Summer, especially when her thoughts of marriage were shut down by Adrian, it is perhaps the worst possible scenario! I did like how Summer took the bull by the horns and ended up in quite the predicament as a result! Although many of the tangles Summer gets herself into are laugh out loud moments, my heart went out to Summer. I wanted her to succeed and move on from the undeserving Adrian. Walker ensures that all our experiences with Summer are full bodied and thoroughly entertaining.

There is a dash of romance in this novel which I enjoyed. I liked the complications of the different love interests Walker employed within the novel. I developed quite the soft spot for Lucas and I hoped that he and Summer would be able to get their act together and make things happen! I won’t discuss this element of the story any further in case I spoil this delightful story for potential readers. What I will declare is I’m never short of amazed by Lisa Walker’s talent in the romance field, she knows inherently what works and it shines through in Melt.

Underneath the fun, frivolity, mix ups and new adventures is a much more series message to Melt. Walker opens our eyes to one of the most isolated and harsh terrains on planet earth, but it is also one of the most stunning locales in the world. I loved the bright descriptions of Antarctica, Walker does a very good job of capturing the rich sense of place of this locale. There are some memorable passages related to the scenery and wildlife in Antarctica which I appreciated very much, especially the penguin interludes. Running alongside this book is the issue of climate change, which I found very insightful.

Melt proved to be quite the epic journey and I loved following the lead, Summer’s mishaps. I like where Walker took Summer by the close of the novel. I think it is important to mention the format of this novel, which struck me as clever, visually appealing and original. The chapter headings were just so quirky and reflective of the whole style of the novel. Interspersed between the verses of narrative in Melt are some great diagrams, giving us a fantastic insight into Summer’s personality. It was such a great little touch and perfectly encapsulates Lisa Walker’s signature style!

I’m so pleased this thoughtful novel eventually made its way into the world. Lisa Walker originally penned Melt as part of her master studies in creative writing. With a few tweaks and some drafting it has finally made its debut. Melt is a simply charming novel from cover to cover.


*I wish to thank Lisa Walker/Lacuna Publishing for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.

Melt is book #44 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge

[Leanne Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is quirky, funny, romantic and serious all at once, I really enjoyed it

[Bree T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot resist a book about Antarctica. It’s an area that fascinates me and I love reading books set there (not a huge amount in fiction, giving the limited population living on Antarctica at any given time) or watching documentaries about it. Also penguins are my favourite animal and look how adorable this cover is!

Summer Wright is a production assistant for a TV company and since meeting her boyfriend Adrian, has desperately tried to be the sort of girl that she thinks he wants her to be. She tries to be relentlessly organised but it almost never seems to work out. The TV company she works for are gearing up to produce a series of an outdoor adventure show in Antarctica when the host Cougar Gale has a fall and breaks her ankle. Apparently with a hair colour, some make up and if you squint a bit, Summer can pass as Cougar Gale…so the idea is to send her in Cougar’s place to host so that they don’t lose their slot filming. The only problem? Summer doesn’t know anything about Antarctica and her love of TV soap operas has her going hopelessly off script.

I absolutely loved this. It was so funny and cute. I see quite a bit of myself in Summer, although I wasn’t raised in the same sort of hippy, free-range style that she was, I’m the sort of person who tries to be organised but then messes up my whole planned out day because thirty minutes more sleep was way more appealing that getting up and doing some exercise. It really seems that Summer is trying to push herself to be this super organised, dedicated person mostly to please her boyfriend Adrian, a project manager who spouts a lot of jargon. Summer thinks Adrian might propose, thereby cementing her new life but instead he breaks up with her, leaving Summer reeling and then on her way to Antarctica before she can blink.

Summer is supposed to be pretending to be Cougar Gale, who kind of sounds like a female type of Bear Grylls maybe without eating bugs, but Cougar is also a glaciologist and Summer barely knows what a glacier is. So there are quite a few really funny scenes where Summer has to pretend she knows what she’s talking about or deflect before anyone can suspect. Cougar is also apparently a bit of a diva who takes no prisoners so Summer has to basically act like a huge bitch and demand all sorts of things. Every time she slips out of character, her cameraman has to remind her that she’s not down here as herself, but as someone else, even though Summer is hugely uncomfortable with putting people offside. Summer also has her own ways about how she wants this TV series to go and she wants to put her own spin on it. Complicating matters in several ways for Summer is climate scientist Lucas Nilsson, who is responsible for the crew during the time that they’re in Antarctica. It’s pretty obvious Lucas knows his stuff and Summer isn’t sure she’s fooling him at all. And then there’s noted climate change skeptic, Federal Minister for Science, Nathan Hornby and his ‘manager’ – who just so happens to be Adrian, Summer’s now ex-boyfriend. They’ve hopped on the Antarctica flight so that the Minister can really “get a feel” for what’s happening down there and how it might affect Australia’s agreement treaty to protect Antarctica. Summer is being pulled in an awful lot of directions at once and underneath that is the struggle for who she really wants to be. Summer has a dream inside of her that she is passionate about but she is putting a lid on it, in favour of who it seems that other people think she should be. Going the safe route.

This book also addresses a lot about climate change, structured around the TV show that Summer is down there to film so it’s information and debate woven into the story in a humorous way and it really works. Not only are there significant changes in Antarctica but there’s also been much documented information coming from the Arctic as well and it’s something that reflects real life. There’s plenty of scientific evidence to support climate change, but people still seem fixed on the small things. Like how one unseasonably cool day in summer negates the entire ‘global warming’ argument. Our former Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, is a noted climate skeptic. As Lucas points out in this book, ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ are very different things.

For me, Melt is a fabulous little melting pot itself, of humour, science, topical debate, an amazing location, the idea of being true to yourself and finding out what you really want, and of course a little pinch of romance. I wish I could find more books just like this one!

***A copy of this book was provided by the author/publisher for the purpose of an honest review***

[D.M. Cameron]

In my humble opinion, Lisa Walker is one of the masters of the rom com in novel form in this country. This is the second book I have read by her now and again she made me laugh out loud. Not an easy thing to do I must admit. I also love how both books had a deeply important and respectful message in terms of the environment hidden under the seemingly fluffy romance ark. She has a wonderful knack at creating funny, deeply flawed women and then cornering them into almost impossible situations. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Check it out. (Please note - I don't participate in star ratings).

[Lara Cain Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back cover blurb line 'Antarctica - it gives you perspective' sums up the nature of this social-commentary-meets-finding-yourself style novel. Schedule-driven TV production assistant Summer Wright is plonked into chaos when fate sends her on a shoot in Antarctica. Between media poseurs and frustrated climate scientists, the surreal environment puts Summer at a physical and psychological distance from her 'real life' offering a bird's eye view of all that's wrong with the big smoke.

This is a smart, modern romance with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. I loved the stripped back landscape of Antarctica as a backdrop to personal complications - and the juxtaposition of Summer's clean, white, city apartment with this other kind of blank slate. The setting reminded me a little of Nikki Gemmel's Shiver, although Walker's style is more playful than literary.

An engaging, relatable story for anyone struggling with the chaos of 'modern life'.

[Malvina · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know from the very beginning that Summer Wright is still searching for herself. She thinks she's found her dream boyfriend, and her dream job, but she hasn't...yet! A series of mishaps send her to Antarctica - a bit of a stretch, but hey, this is fiction. There she begins to realise what she truly needs, and it isn't The Cone Of Certainty her project-management boyfriend has told her to strive for. This book seems light and fluffy, but touches on deep, sensitive issues of identity, family, grief, being true to oneself, and the biggest of them all - climate change. All dealt with by Lisa Walker's adept hand, without wallowing. Well done. And with the cutest cover ever!

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and enjoyable as well as being about Important World Issues. I liked the characters, and they way they seem exaggerated types like in a rom-com but also have real emotion and growth.
The settings are great -- nicely sketched and fairly familiar to me in Sydney and in the Northern Rivers area, and beautifully described, totally unfamiliar, and awe-inspiring in the Antarctic.
I predicted some of the revelations of the plot, but not all of them.
An easy but satisfying read.

[Sarah Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Summer is an idiot, and for someone who is meant to have “travelled the world” she is neither book nor street smart. The book is so unbelievable and factually incorrect (with my limited knowledge of Antarctica) that I abandoned.

[D.A. Baden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun easy to read rom-com with green theme