Wanted to love, but WAY too long. Got redundant after a while. ( )

A cute feel good story that I really enjoyed reading but some parts of it - such as the fact this production was almost all entirely run by high schoolers and just three teachers???? - were a bit unbelievable but maybe that's just me not having ever attended American school. Still an adorable queer book. ( )

this was actually really charming. i am starting to realize how much i enjoy books about amateur acting, especially musical theater. this one was told less from the acting side and more from the behind the scenes side (the main character was a stage manager) which was new (to me) and fun. and the main show they were talking about was les mis, which i used to be obsessed with, so this was extra fun for me. (i haven't gotten the music out of my head for days. not complaining.)

i thought that i was going to find the main conflict sort of silly, but talley made it work. i loved the bi rep that was all over the place, and i really enjoyed the theater stuff. all around fun and engaging. ( )

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre has all sorts of things that should make it a great read for me. It’s a quick flowing contemporary, there’s loads of LGBTQIAP+ rep, and it’s a theatre book. I love a good theatre book! Unfortunately, sometimes you can have all the correct ingredients and still the book just isn’t a favorite. And that’s okay! Unfortunately, Melody missed the mark for me.

Here’s some of the good stuff:

1. I loved the division between cast and crew. I know that’s not an ideal state, but my experiences in high school drama very much drew the line in the sand between the actors and the crew. There were a few floaters… but Nick’s attitude was all too familiar.
2. I loved the blocking diagrams. 🙂 As a former stage manager myself, that was a fun add.
3. I really enjoyed the rep! Odile was such a lovely character and I wish her all sorts of happiness.
4. The overall pacing was fantastic – I read this book in a handful of sittings and the world tugged me back in and I was able to read large chunks of the book each time I sat down to it. Good pacing feels so important in YA contemporaries for me, and Talley nailed it.
5. Melody started off running, right in the middle of the last performance of a show, and I was immediately pulled into that world.
6. Theatre superstitions! Even though Melody takes them to the next level, I really liked that they had a home here.

Objectively, I think those were the main things that Talley did well. Otherwise, I found the book lacking. If I were to pick two things that really bugged me about The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre, I’d pick “character development” and “the intermission”. All the characters are pretty flat, including Melody herself. I wanted so much more of Odile, Dom, and Gabby, but Melody was so deep in her own head that none of the other characters stood a chance. I also really disliked how frequently Melody was slut-shamed.

There’s a section in the middle of Melody called “Intermission”, which consists of four or five quick chapters entirely of dialogue. No dialogue tags, nothing. As a reader, this broke the flow horribly for me. The first half of the book was better, but the middle section left me a bit disoriented trying to resettle into a very different writing style… and then back again.

I also felt like everything was over the top. Nick’s behavior, the number of crises, Melody’s complete lack of focus on this dream-show of hers… it surpassed the point of being entertaining and brought it up to a level of frustrating for me. The drama levels were turned up pretty high for most this book, then the ending resolution was far to neat. There were quite a few “change of hearts” that seemed more convenient than anything. This won’t bother a lot of people, but for me… the more I think about it, the more the book falls apart.

Talley also had several opportunities for interesting twists and turns that she did not take, which was a bit disappointing. In the acknowledgements, Talley admits that she was never a theatre person, but she married one… and the second-generation storytelling really shows here. Sure, it’s a theatre book – but it feels like a theatre book from the outside. The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre has all of the drama and almost none of the heart. And that’s its biggest downfall. ( )

Not Robin Talley's best (Pulp is her best) but totally enjoyable.

Melody McIntyre, Stage Manager, has gone through boyfriends and girlfriends, especially those in theater. When her girlfriend Rachel breaks up with her ion the tech booth during a performance of Romeo and Juliet that seems to be the culmination of a long list of breakups. However, the play has been fraught with issues. Also, it seems that whenever Melody is in love, things go wrong.

Theater folks are superstitious and they make up a new rule for every play. The tech crew gets the idea that if Melody can refrain from falling in love during the next show, things will go better. Recently broken up, she figures she can do that. However, she didn't anticipate meeting Odile Roise, high school senior and Broadway theater star. Now she is caught between falling in love, breaking the superstition, getting t he best performance out of the spring musical.

This is a fund book, broken out in Scenes, days before the show opens and locations...just like a real script. The characters are good. The plot is good. The ending is good. Definitely a fun read. But....if you haven't already, you MUST read Pulp. It's a 5 star book. ( )