If you squeal with excitement at the mention of 'deep south gothic', are a fan of Donna Tartt and Stephen King's small-town dramas, then you're gonna want to get involved with Tiffany McDaniel's The Summer that Melted Everything!

It's swelteringly hot in Breathed, Ohio, and with the heat comes the arrival of the Devil, answering an invitation put in the paper by the Bliss family. The arrival of the young boy claiming to be the devil sets into motion the hidden evils of ordinary people...

I 100% agree with Johann that this book goes on my 'favourites of 2017' list and that it should be on everyone's radar! It explores the deepest parts of people, the ugliest parts, and does so with such finesse and a way with words that will blow your mind!

I'm struggling to comprehend that this is McDaniel's debut novel; it is clear that she has a true passion for words, that much shines from the pages in her beautiful, sometimes quirky, prose. She has a penchant for metaphor and yet I didn't find the writing overly flowery: when it needs to, it can cut right to the quick and break your heart in the process.

There are many heavy themes in this book: suicide, homophobia, racism, abuse, rape, but McDaniels handles them all so eloquently, and while there is no doubt that this is an emotional book, nothing about it feels forced or over-used. It's raw and powerful, and the ending is one of the best, saddest endings I've ever read.