Melody McIntyre, stage manager extraordinaire, has a plan for everything.
What she doesn’t have? Success with love. Every time she falls for someone during a school performance, both the romance and the show end in catastrophe. So, Mel swears off any entanglements until their upcoming production of Les Mis is over.
Of course, Mel didn’t count on Odile Rose, rising star in the acting world, auditioning for the spring performance. And she definitely didn’t expect Odile to be sweet and funny, and care as much about the play’s success as Mel.
Which means that Melody McIntyre’s only plan now is trying desperately not to fall in love.
A big reason why I enjoyed this book was how simple it was.
As someone so used to reading epic fantasy stories with detailed plots and a lot of information to remember, my move into young adult contemporary romance is very refreshing. What you see in the description is exactly what you get.
This book honestly had a really interesting choice for an opening scene. In it, the main character gets broken up with in the middle of working on a very important scene for her school’s opening night of Romeo and Juliet. I was really annoyed with the ex for making such an important moment all about her and not waiting for a better opportunity, but afterward I could see how it would make for a good strategy for opening a book. Make readers feel an emotion (any emotion!) and watch as they feel compelled to read more and, in this case, find retribution.
I also think that the characters had interesting arcs and background storylines. For example, Odile’s fears and feelings on acting in movies and how she is scared to tell her agent where she truly wants to go with her career was something I think is generally hidden in real life celebrities’ lives, so it was nice to see that discussion of fame vs wants in Odile’s personal story.
I was mostly just jealous of this high school’s theatre program, though. As someone who was in theatre during their own school years (playing anything from an unnamed background dancer to characters like Rumpelstiltskin and Frankenstein’s Monster), I often found myself wishing I could have had the same experiences the characters in this book experienced. This book definitely shows an idealized version of high school where administration actually cares about theatre programs, but it was a nice escape from a reality full of plays ripping off popular concepts just enough so it wouldn’t cost the director too much of their own personal money.
Simple, sweet, and effective, this book had everything I wanted for a quick little dive into the world of YA contemporary romance.
KiiitasticBooks 