About the Book:

Title: Our Cursed Love

Author: Julie Abe

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Release Date: December 12, 2023

Pages: 304

Genre: YA fantasy, YA Romance, YA Contemporary

Synopsis:

Julie Abe’s OUR CURSED LOVE is a magical 50 FIRST DATES meets LOVE AND GELATO set in Tokyo, Japan―about destiny, the impact of the choices we make, and the magic of true love.

Six days to remember.
Love or lose him forever.

Remy Kobata has always wished she was destined to be with her best friend, Cam Yasuda. All the way from being neighbors from birth to mixing up magical prank potions together to their “just friends” homecoming date during their senior year in high school, nothing’s a secret between Remy and Cam―except for how much she is in love with him.

Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier?

Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can’t help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones―and maybe even fall in love all over again.

Review:

 

* I received an e-arc via Netgalley and the publisher for review. Thank you for the opportunity. All thougts are my own*

After reading and enjoying The Charmed List, I was excited to read this one. This is a contemporary romance, while also being a magical fantasy. I loved how these two elements were combined. I loved the setting as well.

One of the main tropes of this books is friends to lovers, which is one of my favorite tropes. Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I tried to connect with the main characters Remy and Cam, but I just didn’t feel the emotions that usually come in a friends to lovers romance. It just kind of foundered for me. I kept putting the book down and picking it back up and it took me a long time to read it, as it wasn’t really holding my interest very well.

About the Author:

Julie Abe is the author of the EVA EVERGREEN, SEMI-MAGICAL WITCH middle grade fantasy series; the middle grade fantasy ALLIANA, GIRL OF DRAGONS; and the young adult novel THE CHARMED LIST. She has lived in Silicon Valley, spent many humid summers in Japan, and currently basks in the sunshine of Southern California with never enough books or tea, where she creates stories about magical adventures.