Ellie is looking forward to summer break. Not only is she planning a road trip with her BFF, Lia, but she wants to work on coming out of her guarded shell. She has created The Anti-Wallflower List that includes 13 tasks to help push her outside of that shy comfort zone. Something on the list doesn’t go as planned and Ellie soon finds herself stuck with Jack. The two have grown up together, but their friendship drifted apart after the passing of Jack’s mom. And so the story begins, as we watch them slowly work through their emotions and find their way back to one another.

I really liked Ellie. She was spunky and insecure in a very relatable way. She makes several bad choices, but it was fun watching her character mature as the story progressed. Jack played the part of the mysterious, grumpy love interest perfectly. The one you can’t help but adore as you learn more and more about his past. The forced proximity played excellently in this storyline. You could easily feel the uncomfortableness, despise, yet flickers of attraction. The two shared countless sweet moments together.

“Our magic is special because it can brighten someone’s day, but it can’t save a person’s life.”
Julie Abe does such a fantastic job of creating magical worlds. The setting in this YA contemporary romance takes place in California. However, all of those well known west coast towns have residents hidden amongst them who have special abilities. This part of the story was so enchanting. I loved seeing what each family specialized in and especially enjoyed visiting the magical village.

I was excited to learn that Ellie and Jack’s siblings, Remy and Cam, have their own story - Our Cursed Love. They were such adorable side characters so I look forward to seeing if these two friends can have their own HEA.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I requested this on netgalley a while ago and found that's it's too young for my enjoyment. It was written as a show, not tell story. It took away from my ability to engage with the text because there was little space to infer about the characters.

This was a very well-done Enemies to Lovers novel, but what set it apart for me is the magical realism central to the novel. I love that it was just sort of an accepted thing that magic existed, and that there would be both small and more big-box approaches to handling it. The road trip was another wonderful trope that was executed enjoyably. There's a lot to like here.

I an unable to review this title, as it was archived before I had a chance to download and read it. This feedback is only to stop this title from adversely affecting my netgalley feedback rate. If in the future I have the opportunity to read this title, I will post a proper review here.

This YA novel was just wonderful and has a little magic in it which normally i'm not into but loved it!

The Charmed List is a very cute friends to enemies to lovers story, with a magical flair. I thought the characters in this book were cute and were a lot of fun together. I very quickly started to root for them as they continued on their road trip. I loved the magical system in this book, with its simplicity and sense of ordinary but extraordinary wonder. I think the background story of the magic and how it played into their lives, causing both aid and conflict, worked very well and have a backdrop that was just complex enough without overshadowing the romance and friendship. The ending of the story felt maybe a little quick, but it did not really detract from my enjoyment of the story. Ellie and Jack were wonderful, and I love that this left open a story for Remy and Cam in the future.

This was a very cute YA romance. I loved the story (ex-best friends end up going on a business road trip together) and as someone who fell in love with her best friend at 17 and ended up together, I connected with and cared about the two main characters. I do recommend this as a YA romance and can’t wait to read the author’s next book.

3.75

I really enjoyed this book! I found the magic system to be very sweet and interesting as well. It didn't need a lot of explanation and it wasn't very complicated. I love YA contemporary romances like this. This really captured a sweet story filled with magic, friendship and forgiveness. All of the side characters felt like they were necessary to the story and added an extra layer. I really appreciated the healthy family dynamics shown by the main family in the book. I loved this book and would read other stories in this world if they were to ever come out.

This is a lovey friends to enemies to lovers romance! I admit that at the start of the book I wasn't sure how I felt about it- things felt a little overboard. The dislike between the two Main characters felt a little... silly. However, as the book went on, I fell in love with the characters and this story. I liked the magic woven into the story and felt it was a lovely coming of age-esque story.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC of this title. I enjoyed reading this title. Would recommend for my library.

The Charmed List is a really sweet book. It's about love, loss, magic, family troubles, money, and what happens when friends reconnect.

My favorite part of the book is the magical locations - the shops, the inn. It made me want to visit. I liked how some people can be magic-aware. The author delves into what that entails. I always find it a bit of a relief when 'non-magical' people can know about magic, in books.

The characters felt pretty authentic and true to their ages. A nice, comforting, easy read.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. This book was everything I always want in a YA book. The characters, the siblings, the banter, I love books with magic. So much. And this one did not disappoint. It’s just such an enjoyable story, . I absolutely recommend it.

The Charmed List is a quirky, genre-bending book. It’s romance mixed with magic. Ellie lives in a city full of magic gatherers and spell makers. Most of them want to help others by making their lives a little happier, better. Jack’s father seems to just want to make money using the magic. Ellie and Jack used to be best friends until his mother died and he distanced himself from her and chose other friends that make fun of her. Ellie and her now best friend Lia plan a prank on Jack and he uses magic to get rid of it. He doesn’t realize that anyone is watching him. Lia doesn’t know magic exists and the magical community has strict rules about sharing magic, information or anything, with those who don’t know it’s real. When she sees Jack use a spell, she’s overwhelmed and everyone in Jack’s and Ellie’s families find out what they did. Jack and Ellie get in trouble and are sent on a work trip for their parents’ shops. They’re told they have to work out their differences and being wisely magic-aware. The first part of the trip, Ellie is frosty towards Jack. They won’t open up to each other but their siblings planted charms in the lunch they packed, so Jake and Ellie have to compromise if they’re going to eat. They start to relax around each other and actually enjoy their time together. When both families arrive at the convention, Jack’s father blows up and says cruel things about Ellie and her family. A roller coaster ride of emotions, crossing items off a bucket list and cute charm make this a fun read, 5 stars!

I've read Julie Abe's other stories and ultimately find that the author's writing suits middle grade more. To me, the main character was slightly immature and lacked character depth. I loved the side characters though, they definitely added a fulsome account to the story. While I didn't love it, The Charmed List is a great summer coming-of-age for teens.

this had so much potential but unfortunately was a let down for me. Friends to Enemies to Lovers is always a trope I can get behind but I couldn't continue reading this book past 40% because of the fact that the main character was just not enjoyable to read about. I wasn't able to make that connection and had to put down the book multiple times because of that. Apart from this, i'm sure it would've been an enjoyable read for anyone else but this book just wasn't for me.

- thank you to the publisher for an early copy !!

This is a very cute YA contemporary read. If you are looking for a heartwarming romance I would definitely recommend this one.

Apparently, I'm really on a second-chance kick. Jack and Ellie are adorbs. Ellie is a wallflower who would like to start branching out during the summer before her senior year of high school. She makes a list of 13 things to do to not be as much of a wallflower. When one of those tasks (pulling a prank on Jack, her neighbor, and former best friend) goes awry, Jack and Ellie are forced to complete a road trip together.

I enjoyed reading this book so much. I love the way that it showed how oftentimes the people that we knew during our transformative childhood years are the people who know us at our core the best. They’re also usually the first people that get pushed away when life challenges happened and people don’t know how to process them.

My favorite quote is from the end of chapter 28 “Some friends are here for a day, a weekend. And you learn something from those friends, for sure. Some friendships are toxic, and you have to walk away. But there’s some friendships even if you’ve been away from each other for day, a few months—even if it’s been years—when you two meet again, it’s like you two never missed a step. Those are the friendships worth fighting for. Because a friendship that doesn’t have some rough patches isn’t really that real, it’s just a suck-up contest.”

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute YA story. I would add this to my classroom and think student would be interested in reading this book.

Unfortunately a DNF for me, I tried a few times but I couldn't get into it. The MC was my vibe, very insecure and just ehhh. I understand at the characters age that's pretty standard though.

I imagine there are many other people who would enjoy a rom com with a touch of urban fantasy!