Love & Other Curses - by Michael Thomas Ford (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only guy in my school who can replace a faulty kick-down switch and also create the perfect smoky eye."

The Weyward family has been haunted by a curse for generations--if a Weyward falls in love before their seventeenth birthday, the person they love dies.

Sam doesn't plan to fall for anyone in the weeks before his birthday. He'll spend his time working at the Eezy-Freeze with his dad; cooking up some midsummer magic with his grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother (the Grands); and experimenting with drag with the help of the queens at the Shangri-La, the local gay club.

But when a new guy comes to town, Sam finds himself in trouble when they strike up a friendship that might be way more than that.

As Sam's birthday approaches and he still hasn't quite fallen in love, the curse seems to get more powerful and less specific about who it targets.

A mysterious girl Sam talks to on the phone late at night and a woman he's only seen in a dream might have the answers he's been looking for--but time is running out to save the people he cares about.

Review Quotes

"Michael Thomas Ford has created an intense, complex exploration of family, love, and gender & sexual identity. I learned, I laughed, I got inspired." -- Jeff Garvin, author of Symptoms of Being Human

"Funny, heartfelt, and magnifi cently unexpected, Michael Thomas Ford's Love & Other Curses is a gritty, glittery triumph that broke my heart, put it back together again, and left me with a new, much needed sway in my sashay." -- Bennett Madison, author of September Girls

"A brilliant commentary on what it means to be a family, respect yourself and others, and become your best and most genuine self."
-- Susan Vaught, author of My Big Fat Manifesto

"Intriguing. A solid exploration of the meanings of love." -- Booklist

"Love & Other Curses is a book with heart--a big, generous, loving heart. Anyone looking for a deep, thoughtful story about love and life and coming of age will enjoy the relationships, the search, and the lovely magic that may or may not be a part of every person's life." -- New York Journal of Books