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?

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre is a fantastic read! I felt connected to each character and loved everything about the story. The flow was great the the ending was fabulous! Robin Talley did an amazing job with this book!

Reading The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre was an utter delight, even as somebody with zero theater experience who’s never seen or read Les Misérables. (I live under a rock, I’m aware.) 

Identifying maybe a little too closely with Melody’s need for perfection and her control-freak-tendencies, she came off as a believable, passionate teenager who can’t help falling in love (often, with many people). Melody’s bisexuality isn’t a source of contention in her own life or with her family, and the only problem with her love life is an imagined theater curse rather than because of the people she dates--and, let’s be real, her love life is only a curse because maybe she gets a little too caught up in who she’s dating or doesn’t give them enough attention. On the other hand, Odile’s struggle with her own sexuality and coming out is expressed but not a major plot point, which made her seem genuine and sympathetic. We also get an adorable look at three adult gay men, Melody’s two fathers and their best friend slash Melody’s teacher, Will Green.

Possibly one of the most important elements of a romcom is the chemistry between characters, and sparks abound between Melody and Odile with lingering glances and sneaking off to talk quietly. There are a couple of really great moments in the book where the tension is palpable and I was skimming ahead to see what happened, butterflies thrumming in my own chest as I read. I loved them as a couple. Melody’s grand gesture at the end had me tearing up because a) I’m a big sap, and 2) I don’t think I’ll ever tire of reading about girls falling in love and getting a happy ending.

Overall, The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre is funny, adorable, and sweet. I loved Robin Talley’s Music from Another World (you can read my review of it here or at Pine Reads Review), and after this one, I think I’m going to have to check out all of her other books.

This is fun new YA book, with the main character being on crew, rather than an actor. There was a good LGBTQI+ story line, though I wish we got to see some of one of the character’s family life. In 2020, I needed a book that would make me laugh and smile, along with a balance of angst, and this book did that.

3.5 stars 

I have really enjoyed Robin Talley's works, and I was thrilled to get this arc just to read another installment from her. While this isn't at the top of my list of Talley novels, it is an entertaining and worthwhile read. 

Mel, the m.c., lives for her high school's stage productions, and she also has quite the busy love life. As the title suggests, these facets of her life converge in a mysterious "love curse." Basically, Mel can't be in love during the upcoming production, or all kinds of terrors will befall the cast and crew. The theater-based superstition streak is highly amusing and fun to read, and it serves as an enjoyable backdrop to the central (you guessed it!) romance. 

Mel and Odile are intriguing characters, and - while I have never found myself especially interested in shows - I did enjoy the setting and premise. At times, this moved a bit slower than I would have liked. I wanted faster pacing and more development of some of the ancillary characters. 

This is a solid read, and Talley fans will not be disappointed. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

This book was so wonderful. Robin Talley did amazing as always. 

I've been enjoying these YA LGBTQ+ theater based books recently and this was no disappointment. Melody is such a fun character and easy to fall in love with.

This is one of those books where you have to remember what it was like to be a teenager. The kids take their theater superstitions too far; I understand that that is what creates the stakes, but it's hard to take seriously and it leads to people rationalizing being mean to the MC which is unjustified. Cute casual LGBTQ representation. Give clean romance to give to a younger teen. Pretty good at describing the stage tech stuff. Cool concept for how the chapters are broken up.

I am a huge theatre nerd  so when I saw this book  on NetGallery I requested it right away. This book transported me back to my high school theatre days in the best way possible. I loved Mels voice, it really drew me into the story and I was able to empathize with her so much. There were so many moments that I laughed out loud or was biting my nails because I was stressed for these characters. I also thought the "intermission" section was a really interesting and unique way  to help move the story along as well as intensify Mel and Odile's relationship.
 
 The only thing I wish was that we got to see some more of the side characters like Dom and Gabby because when they were there at the beginning, I loved them but as the story went on we kind of lost them (which I guess might be the point). But I would have loved to see more of them in "Act 2" rather than just hearing about them. But overall a great book about the joys and trials of theatre that made me miss live theatre so much, and so excited to get back.

In general, I'm becoming a huge fan of Robin Talley. This is the third book of hers that I have read and she keeps surprising me. She puts out beautiful queer content that is nuanced and focuses on much more than just the characters' sexualities. This one was fun, I enjoyed it. The premise (a high school theater department that is plagued by "curses" that supposedly only get worse when the stage manager--Melody McIntyre--is in a relationship) is interesting. My only real downside with it is that it occasionally delved into that type of YA where I had to put it down because I was cringing so hard. The choices teenagers make...oy.