And We Thought High School Was a Nightmare; Try Being a Ghost Hunter - A Review of "Haunting Melody" by Chloe Spencer
Blessed early Samhain to you all. It's your beloved book reviewer, arriving on a creepy carriage driven by skeletal horsepower to bring you a review in collaboration with Pride Book Tours. They provide sign-ups as a means of supporting queer authors by creating little virtual Bookstagram tours for upcoming titles. I joined in with this initiative to assist my dear friend Chloe Spencer in promoting her soon-to-be-released YA paranormal romance, Haunting Melody.
Today, we're going to dive into this delightful little novel. As spooky season rapidly approaches, I imagine some folks may not always gel with the darker horror offerings I discuss on this page, so have no fear when approaching this sapphic adventure. It could be your newly favorite cozy read as you enter the Halloween season.
My, Oh My, There's Wraiths in the Sky...
Haunting Melody tells the story of our titular teenager, though the beginnings of her tale are a bit rocky. We open with Melody Myere participating in her first Sacred Hunt as a young Ghost Hunter, a profession that has endured within her family and one she eagerly wishes to participate in. As she's sent into the home in which she is intending to exorcise, it's clear that the spirit she's hunting is far more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Unfortunately, her sparring partner is a wraith.
Wraiths, throughout folklore and fiction, are typically considered to be the scariest and most dangerous within the spirit world, having lost all sense of their self due to the often traumatic nature of their death. This leads wraiths to act rather irrationally and violently, leaving Melody to attempt some of the heaviest lifting of her early career she has yet faced. To her great horror, the wraith bests our hero, delivering her a series of nasty scratches upon her face, as well as a severely bruised ego.
Being a teenager is hell enough, but add in what is seen to be a crushing failure, a face wound leaving behind prominent scars, and the disappointment of everyone you love, included then girlfriend Brynne, who shortly afterwards breaks up with Melody, poorly hiding the reality of her embarrassment over her girlfriend's "failure." Extremely harsh.
As Melody works through the loss of her career, girlfriend, and, by proxy, "close" friends, Melody falls into a depression that completely upends her sense of confidence and meaning. However, just a short time later, her parents announce they're moving to the infamously gloomy island of Murkmore, where a series of violent murders have plagued the inhabitants, leading to the contracting of the Myere family. Having no largely important ties left in their hometown, Melody reluctantly makes the trip, finding a community completely like the one she grew up in.
Despite a seemingly colder reception within the rather quiet island community, Melody does befriend Tomai, a friendly non-binary teen whose involvement in theater, as well as a closeness to some of those among the missing/deceased, aid Melody in the earliest days of the investigation. Though her parents refuse to put her in harms way following the Sacred Hunt, our hero decides to strike out on her own to solve this sleepy town's burgeoning mystery.
However, upon following a tip from Tomai concerning music being heard emanating from the local condemned theater, Melody finds something she never would have bargained for...a ghost.
Butches Can Be Ghosts Too. Jerk.
This ghost is not merely any spirit, but a teenager named Cyrus not previously mentioned amongst the reported deaths. Additionally, Cyrus couldn't be the wraith that her family is looking for, being that she's completely lucid, though amnesic, and up until this point had no clue she was stuck in the theater.
As the two trade witty barbs back and forth, it quickly becomes clear to Melody that this adorable butch ghost is a part of the recent slew of murders on the island, but how? Thus unveils the central mystery at the heart of Haunting Melody.
In the ensuing couple hundred pages, we pay witness to a "Disney Channel movie" come to life, as the writer herself set out to achieve. And achieve she does. Spencer doles out her signature penchant for romantic comedy colliding with her frightening horror sensibilities. Much like beloved classics such as Mom's Got a Date With a Vampire, Halloweentown, and Don't Look Under the Bed–yes, I know I'm dating myself here–this charming YA romp balances its influences perfectly, never indulging too much in either genre.
Who Doesn't Love a Little Queer Chaos?
First and foremost, this is a very queer book. Like many contemporary horror writers, Spencer is aware of the damaging narratives that have come before us and makes sure to avoid many classic pitfalls from this subgenre, while also holding her characters and their actions accountable. Melody is obviously queer from the opening pages, with Tomai and Cyrus being two of the more obliquely queer characters for most of the book, though there are certainly welcome twists to come.
Melody and Cyrus's growing relationship carries many of the engaging beats we come to expect from romantic comedies with the squabbles, flirting, fighting, and supporting we find comfort in within these stories. What's lovely when looking to contemporary queer narratives is this sense of accountability, not as a means of chastisement, but to show that these characters are fully culpable and fleshed-out.
Despite her commitment to being the best person she can be, Melody does possess some blind spots in which Cyrus challenges her own– especially concerning the ways in which Hunters treat the ghosts they catch. The teenage ghost presents a unique challenge in that she defies the believed standards of most apparitions, causing the challenging question of just how much of what Melody and her family believe as an ethical solution for wayward spirits is truly ethical.
We additionally see Cyrus contend with our heroine's internalized fatphobia, reflecting much of the current body neutrality movement as a means of pushing back against Melody's perceived insecurities. This was a plot point I was somewhat worried about, as I'm always scared approaching any form of fatphobia in fiction, internalized or not. Thankfully, I trust Chloe a lot and found that while Melody's internal fatphobia can be rather triggering at times, we are able to see her grow by the end, healing her relationship with food and her body.
Any contemporary story featuring queerness has the ability to upend and subvert many of the rather problematic beats of our past, and Haunting Melody approaches these structures, actions, and beliefs with a comforting nuance, allowing perhaps more menacing characters a space to explore complexity.
Family–Found/Non-Normative Structures, Blood, and the Case of Legacy
As is likely expected, large portions of this book focus on the concept of found family, or even non-normative structures of relationships. This kind of representation has risen higher as more queer and marginalized authors have gained spotlights to share their experience. Within Melody's family dynamic, the character of Simon is someone called an Apostle. Apostle's are often assigned to ghost hunting families as a guide/teacher for the younger learners, teaching them from the tomes that guide any upcoming hunter.
Simon is a unique case, however, being that he was similarly culpable as Melody's parents in the disastrous first Sacred Hunt, though their intentions become much clearer in the book. However, she still harbors that resentment, questioning why Simon has come back to stay with them. I'm not here to spoil the truths we learn of Simon's larger role within the Myere family, but it's something we rarely see, especially within Big Four YA publishing.
Haunting Melody offers unique representations of found family and non-normative familial structure, while also exploring topics of legacy and what blood relation can mean to us/how we respond when blood relatives betray us. Between Tomai and Cyrus, we witness Melody find connection with those who don't abandon her when the going gets tough. It's a refreshing change from the often normative friend/family structures we see in mainstream YA literature.
Haunting Melody's Horror and Paranormal Elements
Being as skilled at writing horror as Chloe Spencer is, you're bound to find a lot of unnerving scenery and description within this book. Though nowhere near as dark and violent as some of her adult novella offerings, the horror never feels like a backseat or secondary aspect of the story. There are always creatures lurking in the shadows, and the central mystery provides its own legends, chills, and twists.
Haunting Melody holds its own unique form of lore, as we learn through interviews, book excerpts, and more that appear at the top of each chapter, as well as in Spencer's exposition as well. We learn much from Melody and Simon, such as the prejudices toward more genetically paranormal folks in the town of Murkmore, despite it being revealed that some characters are not who they seem. This serves as its own metaphor for the ways in which we hide, or maybe downplay, the most authentic aspects of ourselves. While conservatives and gender criticals continue to characterize this as proof that someone's not truly queer, this novel displays the very real danger more often than not faced by young people in school, as well as within their small communities.
While the story is concerned primarily with ghosts, we do learn about other forms of paranormal creatures such as Arachne and Selkies, further broadening the world with which these characters inhabit. The existence of such characters is not used as shock value, but merely extensions of these kids and the fear they face with a killer on the loose. This presents a further enrichening of this beautiful world that Spencer has built.
Final Thoughts and Celebrations
Chloe Spencer is no stranger to YA, as her debut Monstersona arrived in February of last year. But the beauty of every writers journey is their growth as they tell more stories. Since last year, I have very quickly become a huge fan of Chloe's work, both within the adult and young adult spaces. She's a brilliantly talented writer and while some YA authors have attempted broaching a switch to more adult novels, it's not always an easy transition for some folks. This couldn't be farther from the truth for Chloe.
Haunting Melody is a charming, heartwarming, creepy, and suspenseful novel applicable to and enjoyable for all walks of life. Its world-building and central mythology is a delightful addition to the main plotline, allowing readers to speculate and probe deeper into this world, as well as what secrets lie in the margins. The characters never feel trope-heavy, and are exquisitely fleshed out, providing a cast that we deeply care and root for throughout the sinister proceedings.
If you are looking for some lighter, romantic fare for the upcoming holiday, and don't want to get bogged down in the gorier or existentially scarring side of things, perhaps take a look at this fantastic YA offering from one of contemporary horror's brightest stars.
An immense thank you to Pride Book Tours for allowing me a spot on this awesome initiative, as well as providing me with an e-ARC of the book. And as always, my endless thanks to Chloe Spencer for not only being a friend, but being a fantastic writer in general. If you haven't read my deep dive into her adult work, please give it a read and join in celebrating a truly multi-faceted young author.
I'm still working away at the other YA deep dives I have coming up, which I hope to share fairly soon, but until then, thank you to everyone who has joined on recently, and I hope to see you all very soon. Stay spooky.
