A review by nytephoenyx
The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

 
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. 

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