I’ve finally caught up on reading all of Julie Abe’s published novels after finishing The Charmed List! Abe’s YA debut is, as the title suggests, utterly charming. It captures the feel of a magical shojo anime with touches of whimsy (in the form of magic that I 100% existed in real life, please and thank you), and it also has a simple, heartwarming tale at its core that made a tear or two appear in my eye towards the end. That said, there does happen to be a touch too much teen angst (and repetitiveness) for my personal taste, so if you’re not into that, consider yourself forewarned. Still, I enjoyed the time I spent reading The Charmed List and will definitely read anything and everything Julie Abe writes!

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

The Charmed List is just such a sweet story about first love, magic, and life not going entirely according to plan. Loved Jack and Ellie's journey together!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Well, I was fully charmed by this story. I loved the magical world it was set in, and Jack and Ellie were just too cute.

This was an adorable read!Its honestly everything I wanted this to be and more. The magic system in this book was honestly the most practical and enjoyable I have seen and I wish I lived in this world! The romance between the characters was amazing and I just loved the enemies to lovers bickering banter they had (jealousyy). This just checked all the boxes for me and I wish there was more because I am not ready to say goodbye to this story, these characters, and this world.

The Charmed List was a good contemporary debut! However, it kinda felt unoriginal in that it was a story I have read before. A main character with a list of stuff to do, it definitely reminds me of Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson I think? If you’re unfamiliar with this type of story though, I highly recommend this book!

Loved this! So cute. The angst is everything! 4/5 stars. Jack and Ellie’s story was that of every one of us has gone through with someone at some point in our lives. The HEA was everything we needed.

A charming YA debut! I love a contemporary story where the main character works to knock off items from a list and finds out more about themselves along the way. The romance between Ellie and Jack was sweet and it was refreshing to read a contemporary romance with literal magic as a part of the story.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This book was a decent summer read, for me. It was charming and fun, although the enemies to lovers was lacking a bit. Did they really hate each other? Nope. But I did really enjoy seeing their relationship unfold.

Overall, this was a cutesy, quick read. I wasn’t immediately hooked, finding the beginning descriptions of the magical/normal parts of the town confusing and the characters difficult to like. My interest increased as I continued reading. I liked the romance enough, and loved the magical components, especially the village, cottage, and escape room. Solid 3 stars.

Cute, simple and a quick easy read...nothing super memorable but it was a good read. Forgettable but not horrible

Its so cute I just want to give this book the biggest hug. Like astrology mixed with romance perfection. Thank you Wednesday books for the ARC for my honest review.

december already! how did that happen?! coming at you today with a sweet ya cozy witchy book called 'the charmed list' by julie abe. this book follows ellie, a girl in high school who is planning on having the most life-changing summer of her life, starting with her 'anti-wallflower list', thirteen things she wants to do before the summer is over, including a roadtrip with her best friend lia. but when she tries to enact revenge on her neighbour jack (number 4 on the list) and it goes horribly wrong, suddenly her summer is looking less than epic. instead of her roadtrip with lia, ellie has to drive with jack to a magical convention on behalf of their parents. but as they drive and make stops along the way, maybe ellie realizes there's more to jack than she gave him credit for, and just maybe she'll be able to check 'fall in love' off her list, too.

this book was sweet, but honestly that's kind of the only thing i have to say about it. there truly wasn't anything that memorable about the characters or the plot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. the book was fun and easy to read, but just isn't one that made any sort of lasting impression on me -- a week after finishing it, i'm already having troubles remembering specifics of the story. the magical world abe created was awesome, a good blend of magic and non-magic. this book is like a little dessert, a bite of something sweet but nothing more.

3.5/5 stars (rounded to 3)

I received an ARC of this book, and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

First of all, the cover of this book is so cute! It definitely influenced my decision to read this book.

There were several things I enjoyed about this book. I loved that it was an urban fantasy! A YA contemporary rom-com that also had magic? Yes please! I genuinely wish we had more books like that. I also liked the forced proximity and bucket list tropes since I think those are fun to see in YA books. The bucket list combined with the road trip aspect made for an interesting plot and introduced some magical settings that I thought were cool!

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted this to be a 4- or 5- star read, there were a few things that stopped me from rating it higher. The main one was that this was less enemies-to-lovers and more miscommunication trope than anything else. I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope, so that was frustrating for me. This actually contributes to my other main issue, which was the amount of time spent reflecting on Jack and Ellie's lost friendship. Ellie spends the first half of the book trying to convince herself (and the reader) that she hates Jack while also reminiscing on their friendship frequently.

Overall, this was a light-hearted rom-com that had enough magic and bucket list shenanigans to keep me reading! While I had my qualms with it, I still thought it was fun and enjoyable. I could see this being a good beach/summer read for anyone who likes YA rom-coms.

This was a fun read that I wish I wouldn't of waited to read if you want a book full of magic second chances and some love to hate old friendships turning in to something a little more. This book is for you and also if you like a road trip this book has it. I enjoy listen to this book and just didn't want to pick anything else up once i got into this book. with that said i gave it four stars i enjoyed it but not a new fave.

Read if you like: Enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers, magical romance, second chances, road trip

Ellie Kobata is known as the quiet girl at her highschool. She wants to change that. She is ready to take some risks and have a life-changing summer with her non-magic best friend. She's made an Anti-Wallflower List consisting of thirteen items. She’s looking forward to riding rollercoasters, making her art Instagram public (maybe), and going on an epic road-trip with her best friend Lia.

Number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong (revenge on Jack Yasuda). Her parents won't let her go with her best friend now. Instead of a road trip with Lia, Ellie finds herself stuck in a car with Jack driving to a magical convention. As Ellie and Jack travel down the coast of California, number thirteen on her list (fall in love) may be happening without her realizing it.

This book was really cute. It's sweet, magical, and has just the right amount of conflict. I loved their road trip. You get to learn all about how they were formally best friends. Ellie and Jack are so perfect for each other but their family caused conflict. Romeo and Juliet type vibes. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the gifted e-book. ❤️

This books was so cute! It was a fast read and I couldn't put it down. I loved the interactions between the characters. Will definitely pick up another book by this author.

This was a DNF for me. Normally I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers but this one just didn't do it for me.

I initially had a hard time getting into the book, but after multiple starts, I was finally able to read it all the way. One reason for the difficult start might have been due to the immense amount of information about the magic world at the beginning of the book. Although I understood the necessity of providing this background, it interrupted the flow of the story at times. Once I got through this, it turned into a cute read as Ellie's summer plans are ruined by a prank gone wrong and she ends up with Jack as her road trip partner.

While all the pieces were falling together to ensure Ellie and Jack reconnected on this trip, I couldn't help but feel it was all too fast. There was so much anger and uncertainty on Ellie's part about why they stopped being friends, yet this was hardly explored before she started feeling something for him again. It did not seem plausible to me that such a short road trip without the necessary truths coming out would have led to Ellie changing her perception of Jack and forgiving him. The answer eventually arrived, but it would have been more compelling earlier in the book so they could have talked more, setting the stage for not only possibly becoming friends but maybe even more.

4 stars! This was such a charming and magical story. If you're a fan of rom-coms, I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Julie Abe, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.