Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I thought I would really love this book as a queer former theater kid who was primarily on the tech/directing/stage management side of that world. I started it before it came out and I just couldn't finish it.

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre was truly such an enjoyable read for me! As a former high school stage crew nerd and now a general theater nerd, this was an absolutely relatable and fun story.
I loved Melody and the trouble she goes through to try and protect her stage productions at all costs, doing what she believes to be best while also trying to balance her own life and newfound romance.
I've recommended this novel to so many friends already, both for the WLW storyline and theater vibes that so many of my friends have made their livelihood.
I also listened to the audiobook, and the narrator of that is also fantastic. I strongly recommend reading this story in any format, it's sure to be a good time no matter how you consume it.

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre is a fun and light book for theater geeks. It is formatted in Act 1 and Act 2. It is a very cute and breezy read, but the main character, Melody, well she is kind of annoying. Beyond that it was a pleasure to read.

Thank you for the review copy. I really loved the audiobook as it was a fun read. I am mentioning this book in a future podcast episode as an audiobook to pick up.

I'm usually a huge fan of Robin Talley, and I have also done a ton of theatre from both an acting and a tech perspective, so I went into this book expecting big things. Unfortunately, I struggled a lot with Melody. She felt a little too imperfect as a main character, so it went from "normal teen" to "obnoxious annoyance". I also didn't love the premise of the book from either side? I didn't like the way that the crew talked about Mel's relationships, but also didn't like that Odile felt like a failure because she only had one relationship?? Sapphic teens don't need that in their heads. Also, the cast v. crew hate was way too much. They're a team... Still, Talley's writing is good, even when she misses, so I enjoyed aspects of this book.

A cute little teen romance. LGBTQIA+ and lots of fun for theater nerds. When it seems like her relationships always end in (literal) theatrical disaster, Melody promises that she won't fall in love during her dream production. But... who can stop love?

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC I received of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book much more than I did. I have been a fan of some of Robin Talley's work in the past and have been looking for some fun, light hearted LGBT books to include in my reading list for my classes. For me, this one wasn't in. It isn't that it wasn't a cute premise. It was. It just read slow and clunky and the main character was dull. I won't use this one because I'm looking for something a little more engaging.

I thought this book was really cute. I liked the central relationship and thought that they were very realistic characters. Unfortunately, this book didn't stand out too much to me. I loved that we saw a lot of diversity in the characters and the general plot was cute and theater-nerdy, I felt that the addition of stage direction and actual parts of the play were awkward and clunky to read. Overall, think that anyone who is a big fan of theater and cute girl-girl relationships would enjoy this book.

As we expect from a romance, the plot here is pretty predictable. The ups and downs of Melody's relationship are exactly what we would expect. Even so, it's pretty readable. The characters are likeable and their interplay is compelling. The pacing is near perfect and events have a comedic air.

I really enjoyed this book! I had thought I finally had the Les Mis soundtrack fully out of my head, but this brought it all back--I've been humming the songs all week. As someone who was in theater in high school, it was cool to see it from the production point of view, and I enjoyed Melody's growth and relationships.

This is super cute and a great reminder that I need to read more YA. It was fun, great characters and very enjoyable!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I have yet to find a Robin Talley book I really like, but I can’t say that anymore. I think the pressure and atmosphere of high school theatre was captured really well. Usually I think authors miss the mark, but this one was pretty true to form. I really enjoyed this for an eventful, cute, sapphic read.

They say "this one have LGBTQ+ representation" and expects to be good. The story is boring, seems like the characters are all the same. I do not recommend this.

This is such a well written, wonderfully plotted, and smoothly executed book. It was so fun to get a look at the detailed descriptions of what being in a stage crew for a musical is like, which is a totally original idea on its own. I really enjoyed the romance, but I do feel as though some of the friendships could be a smidge better developed. One of the better contemporary young adult novels that I've read in a while. Hooray!

The description drew me in immediately, and the book did not let me down. I loved the format, alternating both documents that Melody wrote for the purpose of the musicals and typical prose. I was not a theater kid, but having many friends who were, I understood the importance of musical theater to so many kids and thus, the significance of superstitions. All the theater lingo and technical stuff was well explained, and I never felt lost reading it. It's so hard to find a good LGBTQ+ story that doesn't center around sexuality as the main topic, but that's what this book did. Melody was out and proud, and although their sexualities were discussed and homophobia wasn't completely erased from the story, their romantic plot wasn't intrinsically tied to it. Melody was a realistically imperfect main character, but the author did a wonderful job of making sure the reader always rooted for her. The relationship between Melody and Odile was beautifully written and the chemistry was evident in every interaction they had. This is a brilliantly funny, romantic, and heartwarming book that I would read a million times over.

“The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre” is a wonderful play on high school superstitions and the work it takes to put on a high-scale school musical while showcasing the diverse sea of school and the mental effects it takes on people.

“The Love Cure of Melody McIntyre” follows its title character, Mel, as she takes on being stage manager of the school’s musical, “Les Miserables.” Believing their theater is cursed, each year, the crew picks out a superstition that can’t happen, otherwise, the show will be cursed, and this year, it’s that Mel can’t fall in love. Throw in Odile Rose, a growing actress who is staying long enough to perform in the musical, and Mel can’t stop herself from falling for her. The only thing she can do is hold off falling for her until the play’s done. Or maybe it’s too late for that.

This book, in a word, is simply delightful. The premise of following a school production is worrisome at first, and it may seem overdone, but this is a refreshing take on the concept and creates an utterly enjoyable read. The book is written with a bit of mixed multimedia to create breaks and divide the books into sections which is fun and a unique aspect of the experience.

Mel is a wonderful main character and embodies many teenagers today. She works hard (a little too hard sometimes), knows what she is after, and messes up largely along the way. She is not perfect by any means and can be a bit unreasonable, but as a teenager, it made the experience much more relatable.

Her relationship with the other characters of the book creates a nice cast with a variety of backgrounds and personalities. Her parents and close friends are very entertaining to read about and add subtle lines here and there that create a much more real experience. With the looming thoughts of the future and college, as well as finding a safe, well-paying job, is a worry readers will be able to relate to instantly. In addition, Mel’s attitude towards different groups of people is obvious and showcases her personality and willingness to please.

The story Mel follows is also unique and somewhat ridiculous, with a superstition holding the entire production’s fate in its hand, but it is nonetheless enjoyable and reveals a good deal about the characters, Mel in particular, and her willingness to put on a perfect play. The anxiety the story brings about is portrayed particularly in Mel’s inner thoughts, which is all kudos to Talley. This might be one of the best portrayals of anxiety in a book, with its subtlety through basic lines of dialogue and thoughts, rather than a big moment that shows Mel is constantly jumping between ideas and worries.

This book communicates amazing messages about identity, hard work, and understanding that sometimes things go wrong that can’t be helped, as well as the importance of taking time to relax and enjoy what can be enjoyed. During the pandemic, when home can feel like work with no escape, this book is a wonderful reminder of those struggles and offers great ways to deal with them.

The Verdict
“The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre” is a delightful take on a challenging premise to nail that offers valuable lessons, relatable characters, and a sweet romance to offer readers an entertaining read. From its good cast of characters to its deep themes and lessons, this book has a lot to offer and will have you wanting to listen to your favorite broadway musical after. Talley knocked it out of the park with this book, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

This is the first contemporary fiction book of Robin Talley’s that I’ve read and it may actually be my favorite. Which says a lot because I have a total Thing for penpals and there was Music from Another World earlier this year…

BUT this book was awesome! I can see it having wide audience appeal. Yes, it’s a queer YA novel but it’s 2020 and a lot of teens are pretty open-minded. I’d even recommend this one to the straights if they’re at all active in their school’s theater department because it’s totally a novel for drama kids and I don’t know that crew members really have that many to choose from. This book took me right back to the incredible fun, pride, and stress of high school musical season. If Talley wasn’t a theater kid it certainly seems that she’s done her research. She’s even got me wanting to pick up a(n abridged) copy of Les Misérables. The Love Curse… made total since without knowledge of Les Mis but it was so good, it made me curious.

There were so many details of the book I liked. The protagonist, Melody McIntire, is bisexual and has had both boyfriends and girlfriends. She’s dated a lot and while some characters try to shame her for it the overall message is that it’s fine to have dated widely. The current love interest, Odile, has relatively little dating experience and that’s fine too. And while Melody McIntire is very 16 in some of her decisions (as she should be in a book for 16 year olds!) she has also cultivated great friendships and working relationships with her exes which I feel is an important behavior to see modeled.

Overall a great book and I can’t wait to read Talley’s next one.

Review from my 12-year-old daughter:

I absolutely loved this book!

This story follows a girl named Melody McIntyre who is the stage manager of the productions at her high school. Every year they start out performing a play in the fall and end performing a musical in the spring, and this year the musical that the book is centered around is Les Miserables. Not only is this already one of the hardest musicals to do, especially for a high school, it's made worse by their cursed auditorium. All of the actors and crew believe that their auditorium is cursed, dating back to when the theater burned down during a production of Macbeth, long before Melody even went to the school. Now, every year the students decide on a new superstition that they use. For example, you aren't allowed to say "Good luck," and you can only say, "Break a leg," so if you do accidentally say "Good luck," then you have to perform a countercurse, or something in the production will go wrong. And this year the superstition is that Melody cannot fall in love. This is due to the fact that during their production of Romeo & Juliet at the beginning of the year, Melody had gotten into a fight with her now ex-girlfriend and the lighting that she was running got horribly messed up. But when Odile Rose, an student actress who has performed on Broadway and in movies gets the role of Fantine, Melody realizes that succeeding in pulling off this curse and the musical will be harder than she thought.

I loved this book for multiple reasons. First, I love musical theater, and Les Miserables is one of my favorites. Second, I thought it was interesting to read the story from the perspective of Melody, who is on crew, instead of someone who was acting in it. Before reading this, I didn't know anything about crew, and I found it so interesting to learn about, as well as seeing the relationships between the crew and actors. And lastly, I loved Melody as a main character. She was determined and worked hard to pull off the play, yet she often times would let that get in the way of her relationships with her friends and girlfriend. Overall this was a sweet story that I recommend to anyone who loves musical theater, especially Les Miserables.

I really enjoyed the high school theater aspects of this - the rush of putting together a show, and the emphasis on teamwork and how the whole experience of late nights and stress and artistry can bond you - and I think it will feel relatable to high school students, even if they aren't involved in plays/musicals in particular (or if, like my high school drama experience, things are much less elaborate/professional!). However, I found narrator Mel to be fairly annoying and hypocritical, the amount of emphasis placed seemingly without question on curses and superstition to be a hard thing to buy into, and the secondary characters to be not particularly well-rounded. Alleged second best friend Jasmin, for example, basically has a personality of "looks on disapprovingly" for most of the book. I also felt that for such a long book, it didn't manage to get me very invested in most of the plotlines - the romance was fine but didn't feel extra special, and the part of the story about Mel and her dads disagreeing about her future was just...there. I certainly wouldn't have recommended making the book longer in order to make me care more, but perhaps some of the step by step description of lighting and sound cues could have been shifted over to characters/relationships instead?