madromance's review against another edition
3.0
okay - was this a little hokey? SURE. am i mad about it? NO.
in the end, i cried (a rarity when reading for me) and i just found this whole dang thing so adorable. the end was enough to turn this two star to a three for me. i found the adults in this entire dang story to be insufferable. explain to me how these teachers and parents acted like it was Melody's fault all the time?? she's like 17 and running a show with what feels like little help from the actual adults. not a fan. that, paired with the length of the novel, didn't exactly pay off in the way i'd hoped.
i love a queer love story. i love theater. i /liked/ this story. wishing for more theater geek romance novels!!
in the end, i cried (a rarity when reading for me) and i just found this whole dang thing so adorable. the end was enough to turn this two star to a three for me. i found the adults in this entire dang story to be insufferable. explain to me how these teachers and parents acted like it was Melody's fault all the time?? she's like 17 and running a show with what feels like little help from the actual adults. not a fan. that, paired with the length of the novel, didn't exactly pay off in the way i'd hoped.
i love a queer love story. i love theater. i /liked/ this story. wishing for more theater geek romance novels!!
kelly1505's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
dylaurora's review against another edition
3.0
Talley is back again with a delightful queer YA novel, one I think can be perfectly summed up with the word 'cute.' The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre is a fun, lighthearted high school romance that takes center stage (pun intended) during the school's production of Les Miserables. The story is fairly simple but it made me smile and feel nostalgic, not only for the setting but the immersion in young love with a theater nerd. I've been finding that I prefer Talley's historical fiction as opposed to modern works, so perhaps that is part of what falls short for me here.
kerryanndunn's review against another edition
4.0
“Besides, an almost-kiss isn’t the same as an actual kiss. And neither an almost-kiss nor an
crimsonreader's review against another edition
3.0
This is a snippet of my full review: https://creativesalvation.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/the-love-curse-of-melody-mcintyre-tbr-reviews/
3.5 stars
This review is based on an ARC provided through my local bookstore.
....The titular love curse (which I initially thought was going to be about her inability to have a good relationship) was both uniquely presented and really fun to experience. As much as it was based in superstition and was a bit scummy from the start, I still found myself invested in what would happen if she flaunted the curse and followed her heart. Not just because of the superstitions, but also because of the people who created them. Humans are already capable of being scary fierce about that which they are passionate about, but when combined with the stress of theater and teenage emotions I knew Melody was in for a serious ride if she didn’t play things safe. My heart actually raced out of fear for her and I loved it....
After this, I’m certainly interested in other works by Talley and may even be open to more romance novels in the future. So, yes, I recommend this. Because if it could make me like and want to read more gushy love stuff then it’s certainly got something great going for it.
3.5 stars
This review is based on an ARC provided through my local bookstore.
....The titular love curse (which I initially thought was going to be about her inability to have a good relationship) was both uniquely presented and really fun to experience. As much as it was based in superstition and was a bit scummy from the start, I still found myself invested in what would happen if she flaunted the curse and followed her heart. Not just because of the superstitions, but also because of the people who created them. Humans are already capable of being scary fierce about that which they are passionate about, but when combined with the stress of theater and teenage emotions I knew Melody was in for a serious ride if she didn’t play things safe. My heart actually raced out of fear for her and I loved it....
After this, I’m certainly interested in other works by Talley and may even be open to more romance novels in the future. So, yes, I recommend this. Because if it could make me like and want to read more gushy love stuff then it’s certainly got something great going for it.
lizzie_w123's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
claire60's review against another edition
4.0
Such an enjoyable, fun book to read, the story of Melody, stage manager of the high school play Romeo and Juliet, who messes up the light cues, when her girlfriend breaks up with her in the middle of the play. Everyone is therefore convinced the theatre is cursed and that Melody can't date anyone during their next production of Les Mis. The book follows the challenges, accidents and romances that inevitably happen as the high school puts on one of the most ambitious musicals ever. With lots of detailed knowledge about the elements that go into putting on a show and especially being a stage manager which add to the believability of the story. Some of the formatting didn't work well, which I am sure they will fix for the ebook edition but maybe get an actual book instead. As you would expect from Robin Talley this is an engaging story, told well, with an interesting set up and believable characters, can't really go wrong with a mostly LGBT cast putting on a musical.
With thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.
With thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.
erinmcgawley's review against another edition
3.0
look. i had high hopes for this book, mainly because there is such a small amount of sapphic romances that are kicking around. i liked it, but it was mid at best. the protagonist is an awful person, there wasn't enough romance, and overall it just didn't give what needed to be given. for a book that hinged on melody not falling in love with odile, there wasn't enough of the falling in love part to actually justify everything that happened because of the romance. it was just sort of like 'oh look pretty girl okay shes nice oops we kissed BAM IM IN LOVE'. just, i didn't feel as if there was enough of the falling for me to sympathise with melody for being a shitty person, and when you think the protagonist is a shitty person, it makes it difficult to read the book and think 'yes this is top notch'. yeah. not my favourite.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Lighter than a lot of Talley's books, this nonetheless makes me glad my own high schools' theatre departments were not the drama magnets that Melody's is. We worked hard and had fun, sure (tech theatre class in my first high school, extracurricular tech theatre in my second), but there was none of this actor/techie drama, no troubling ourselves about curses, etc. (My word but Melody & co.—especially Melody—take themselves seriously.)
Things go wrong in theatre shows, especially—as Melody's teacher (his name is Will, so let's call him...Mr. Schuester) points out—when the people running things are high school students with limited experience and expertise. In a high school performance of The Wiz, we had all sorts of things go wrong: an actor was hit in the head with a rigging bar (forgive me, but it was literally half a lifetime ago and I have forgotten all the technical terms) and ended up with a concussion; the sound system went on the fritz mid-performance (I was running lights, and I remember very calmly talking the sound guy through it over the headsets—not that I could fix a thing, but I could keep him from freaking out); one of the devices for our pyrotechnics was knocked over, leaving us with a backup plan of 'stand by with a fire extinguisher and be ready to drop the fireproof curtain at a moment's notice'. Oh, and the girl who played Auntie Em—who had a solo at the very beginning but wasn't otherwise a major enough role to warrant an understudy—moved across the state the day before the play opened, without telling anyone, and her role had to be taken over on the fly by one of the yellow brick road actors (who taped the lines inside Auntie Em's laundry basket). Was that also the show where I got a major, unstoppable coughing fit? I don't remember.
But we didn't have this kind of...rabid live-breathe-eat-sleep theatre. A couple of students who were seriously considering something theatre-related for careers, and some long nights during tech week, but nothing like the drama here. And oh but I am glad of it. Obviously drama makes for more exciting fiction, but I am so very very very glad that we didn't take ourselves this seriously (or have this many showmances). Also glad that I was trusted to hit all the light cues without somebody telling me when to hit 'go'. Also wondering—and this isn't a Talley-specific question, though it shows up in this book—if there are really a lot of teenagers who talk so earnestly about falling in love, as the teenagers in YA novels do all. the. time.
Things go wrong in theatre shows, especially—as Melody's teacher (his name is Will, so let's call him...Mr. Schuester) points out—when the people running things are high school students with limited experience and expertise. In a high school performance of The Wiz, we had all sorts of things go wrong: an actor was hit in the head with a rigging bar (forgive me, but it was literally half a lifetime ago and I have forgotten all the technical terms) and ended up with a concussion; the sound system went on the fritz mid-performance (I was running lights, and I remember very calmly talking the sound guy through it over the headsets—not that I could fix a thing, but I could keep him from freaking out); one of the devices for our pyrotechnics was knocked over, leaving us with a backup plan of 'stand by with a fire extinguisher and be ready to drop the fireproof curtain at a moment's notice'. Oh, and the girl who played Auntie Em—who had a solo at the very beginning but wasn't otherwise a major enough role to warrant an understudy—moved across the state the day before the play opened, without telling anyone, and her role had to be taken over on the fly by one of the yellow brick road actors (who taped the lines inside Auntie Em's laundry basket). Was that also the show where I got a major, unstoppable coughing fit? I don't remember.
But we didn't have this kind of...rabid live-breathe-eat-sleep theatre. A couple of students who were seriously considering something theatre-related for careers, and some long nights during tech week, but nothing like the drama here. And oh but I am glad of it. Obviously drama makes for more exciting fiction, but I am so very very very glad that we didn't take ourselves this seriously (or have this many showmances). Also glad that I was trusted to hit all the light cues without somebody telling me when to hit 'go'. Also wondering—and this isn't a Talley-specific question, though it shows up in this book—if there are really a lot of teenagers who talk so earnestly about falling in love, as the teenagers in YA novels do all. the. time.