The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley Review

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre feels like sitting among a gigantic pile of stuffed animals and I mean that as the highest compliment. This book is so fluffy and sweet and, honestly, a nice break from how difficult the world has been lately. It also helped that, as a former choir student who was very interested in musical theatre, this was an oddly nostalgic read. On a slightly more personal level, after a year of missed performances and cancelled events, it felt nice to step into a world where the chaotic, stressful, and beautiful productions were still happening.

This books revolves around a high school theatre's production of Les Misérables and their superstitions. After Mel's relationships cause more than a little chaos, she promises her friends that she'll swear off love entirely during their production in order to keep their theatre safe from it's yearly curse. This book aims to radiate the chaotic energy of a high school theater production, along with all the superstitions that come along with such a production, and does so wonderfully.

What I enjoyed about this book:

- The characters! All of them are so sweet and they reminded me so much of actual thespians that I knew in high school (some of which even had the same names as some of my old friends!). I found myself rooting for them all to do well and was genuinely invested in their relationships and wellbeing, which is absolutely what any good book should do.

- The tone! I know I've already mentioned it several times, but this book really does perfectly capture the experience of being a high school student involved in theatre (or, even more generally, performing arts). There's a lot of "unnecessary" drama and a lot of people who are very passionate about what they do, even on it's relatively small, local scale. This truly felt like a return to my own high school's performing arts wing.

- The romance! I don't want to spoil any of the book, so I'll just leave this point at the fact that I absolutely loved the main characters and that their relationship was absolutely adorable in every single way.

- The setting! This goes along a bit with tone, but the high school feels alive and I never struggled to picture what it might look like or what each of the characters were doing within it. There were enough references to classes and classmates that I could easily picture each day without feeling bogged down by details. Additionally, the theatre itself is such a charming setting in this novel because of the various curses and details discussed throughout the novel.

Aspects of this book that weren't for me:

- The length and pacing. This is the only aspect that really dragged this book down from a five star review, in my opinion. While I absolutely loved the overall tone, characters, and plot, the overall story itself is just too slow and long for a contemporary YA novel.

Ultimately, I gave this book four stars. I absolutely love how rich the characters, tone, and environments are and I especially adored how personally nostalgic it felt for me. However, that happy tone was too often brought down by a slower pace than I care for in contemporary YA novels. If you're looking for a very sweet romance and storyline along with the chaos of a high school setting, I would absolutely recommend this book.

TW: Mentions of past homophobia (this isn't a significant theme and isn't perpetrated by any of the characters present in the book, but there's one scene in which an older character discusses homophobic marriage laws in the past).