This super adorable YA romance was the perfect palate cleanser after a string of more serious/darker themed books. I couldn't help smiling while reading it. I could definitely relate with Ellie and was rooting for her and Jack throughout.

I enjoyed the addition of the magic element and thought the book did a good job with the world development and whole magic system. It definitely added a little something extra to the book and made it more than just your typical romcom.

Also, this book had so many yummy treats throughout that definitely had my mouth watering!

A whimsical and unique YA adventure filled with a hint of magic and a pinch of angst. This one really grew on me with each chapter, taking the reader on a journey of reclaimed friendship and young love. A cutesy romance that puts a different spin on magic use, where Ellie and Jack make powders and charms infused with emotions as they go on a trip to a magical convention. This was a fun reading experience filled with all the ups and downs that come with teenage life.

Ellie and Jack used to be close, but after the death of Jack’s mom things slowly started to unravel. So when Ellie accidentally outs her magical powers to her best friend, Ellie is forced to go on a road trip with her former friend Jack and sell a few magical items along the way.

This is a sweet high school romance that’s age appropriate for younger teenagers. There’s an emphasis on friendship and family with glimpses of a magical world only Ellie and the “magic aware“ can see. An enchanting and innocent best friends to lovers story that will suck you in with its soft brushes with magic and its enchanting world of spells and charms.

Wonderfully sweet and heartfelt. Julie Abe has such a gift for evoking the tastes and smells of delicious foods, I was seriously hungry the entire time I read this book, I want to try everything from Ellie’s family’s bakery! Also touching was how friendship and trust was at the heart of this story, Ellie is such a sweet protagonist and the way she cares about her friends and her family is so heartwarming. This was a delightful read and a wonderful contemporary fantasy to lose myself in, and as always, I love to see other Japanese Americans in books!

4.5 stars, rounded up.
The Charmed List is an absolutely delightful YA with a magical twist. I felt like this was spot on for the age range and I adored it. A little bit of enemies, a road trip, lots of emotion, and some seriously neat magic woven throughout make this such a cute, fun story! I especially loved the themes of friendship, self acceptance, and forgiveness that Ellie, Jack, and Lia all work through to get to a happily ever after.

*some language; no f-words

Thank you to NetGalley for my e-arc of this book. All opinions here are my own.

This was such a quick & fun contemporary topped off with the whimsy of magic and young love. The romance was super cute and the relationships between the characters was really enjoyable to read about and experience.

I loved this little friends to enemies to friends to enemies to lovers clean romance. It was sweet, and had a hint of magick, which I love.

Plus, I want to stay in a magical cottage, so damn bad. This was wonderful.

adorable and heartwarming! loved the character development and how the two grew closer as the book went on.

I usually love young adult but I couldn't get into the magic element of this one. I thought I was going to like it but it didn't work for me this time.

I know this will be other people's thing but I couldn't get into it for now. Maybe another time I'll try again. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for allowing the chance to read and review.

This book was so good! The romance was adorable, the characters easy to root for, and I was never bored. I highly recommend this book.

This is a fun spunky story about becoming more comfortable in their own skin and growing into their own. She is taking steps and checking off her list. This is a fun and spunky read that I highly recommend as a great light read.

The Charmed List by Julie Abe is not my typical read - I tend to stay away from books with magic or fantasy themes. But this was a really sweet YA drama with a best friends to enemies to lovers romance that I enjoyed via audiobook. Narrator Natalie Naudus really made this one fun for me - I had started to read my ARC and was struggling to get invested in the storyline. The main character, Ellie, makes an “Anti-Wallflower List” to help her check off the things she’s done/doing to actively become more outgoing before her senior year of high school. I am such a list maker, and this sounds right up my alley. Just glancing around me now I see a list of books to read and review and three different to-do lists (one of which has EVERYTHING crossed out!). I liked Ellie’s goal and that she found measurable steps to help her feel successful in the process. I will definitely recommend this one to my high school students - if you enjoy fantasy reads and YA romance, this would be a good recommendation for you, too! Thanks to Wednesday Books, St Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Received this book as Ebook ARC.

I was hooked within the first 30 pages. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it while at work on a Tuesday.

Childhood friends turned enemies turned friends again to Lovers? Emotional rollercoaster of feels. Got some weird looks while i was reading it. I was very invested in the characters and their story.

The magic aspect was a very nice touch. It was descriptive enough for it to not be super vague about how its explained in the story;

So, I didn't like this one.
I'm well aware that i'm not the target demographic for this (me being 22 and all), but I also read a lot of YA books, mostly contemporary romances and fantasy. So when i read the synopsis of this one i though it felt right into my alley and that i was going to love it. I was wrong.
The writing style wasn't for me. Most of the dialogue felt forced and read weirdly (I kept thinking in my head 'People don't really talk like that' for most of the book), some of it was also totally redundant. Also, not a fan of the pop culture references that the author chose.

I though the romance was cute and I liked the story overall.

I would recommend this one for more younger readers of YA as i think it falls more on the lower end of YA.

3.5 stars = Good+

It took a bit for me to find my footing with this one. Early on I couldn't get the hang of the magical world and the characters. By the end I was all in on the world (the village, the cottage, the convention - all brilliant!), and the supporting cast was enjoyable. In the end I wasn't convinced enough by Jack's explanation to really click with this one. (Language)

Thank you to @NetGalley and @wednesdaybooks for gifting me a copy of The Charmed List in exchange for an honest review.

🌌 Mini Review ✨
When I read the synopsis of The Charmed List by @julieabebooks I knew I had to read it. I got an arc from NetGalley but ended up listening to the audiobook and I really enjoyed it.

Ellie and Jack, once best friends, now enemies, are stuck taking a road trip together. Ellie and Jack are part of the magical community and both own different shops. They are both sworn to secrecy and are not able to tell anyone about their magical abilities and if they do they can get severely punished. A prank gone wrong opens the world of magic to Ellie’s best friend and the punishment for that is the road trip with Jack, which was supposed to be with her bestie.

Ellie is determined to not let Jack ruin her summer list though. 13 items she wants to have checked off by the end of the summer. What she doesn’t realize is that Jack may actually be helpful in checking her list off… in more than one way…

Ellie and Jack were super likable characters and I loved their interactions with one another. I liked the magical element to the story. It wasn’t super over powering but the system was interesting and totally fit into the regular world.

If you like books with magical realism and forced proximity, then I totally recommend this book to you! I gave it ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️💫.

Enemies to lovers ...yep I'm there for it. Ellie and Jack were best friends until the day that they weren't. Jack suddenly abandoned Ellie in middle school and left her to flounder on her own in a world where it's difficult to navigate your way already. Now, they are finishing their junior year in high school and they are still on opposite sides. He runs with the popular crowd and acts as if he never knew Ellie.

But Jack and Ellie have one thing in common - - they know about magic. In their world, not everyone does. Therefore, it's a big deal to keep it from those who are unaware. When there's a slip-up, these two are thrown together as a punishment. Will this be their opportunity to figure out where everything fell apart? Or will it drive them further apart?

This was a really enjoyable young adult read. It's a well-done enemies to lovers with a good back story. I liked the characters which helped me to invest in the story even more. Also, the side characters add to the depth of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Love is all you need- but a dash of magic never hurts.

Ellie is a fairly private and shy person, almost to the point of invisibility at school. She and her family are part of a magical community, and she can't tell anyone about magic. It pains her not to tell her best friend, Lia, who hates secrets and lies. The only person her age she was ever able to talk to about magic was Jack, her former best friend. Jack started ignoring Ellie and stopped hanging out with her in middle school, and has since become her worst enemy. In an attempt to come out of her shell and take a few risks, Ellie creates an Anti-Wallflower list, complete with thirteen goals to achieve by the end of the summer. When the fourth task on the list, "get revenge on Jack Yasuda," goes awry, Ellie lands herself and Jack in hot water. As a consequence, she is now forced to take a road trip to a magic convention with Jack, instead of spending her summer with Lia, as planned. As Ellie and Jack embark on their trip, they may end up crossing number thirteen, "fall in love," off the list.
I love a story sprinkled with magic, and The Charmed List was no exception. I laughed a lot throughout this story as Ellie faced many relatable mishaps and embarrassing moments. I also loved the unique way magic was presented in this novel. I listened to the audiobook while reading the eARC, and the narrator portrayed the characters perfectly. I struggled to put this novel down, wanting to know if Ellie and Jack could patch things up, and if Ellie would complete the goals on her list. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a YA romance novel with a magic touch!

The thing that first drew me to the book was it's like Jenny Han meets Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Well, that, and the synopsis. I got an advanced copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Quiet girl Ellie, who grew up in a family that uses magic, wants to have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List. She's looking forward to it, especially an epic road trip with her best friend, Lia (non-magic aware). But when number 4 off her list goes horribly wrong--get revenge on her childhood friend-turned-enemy Jack, she must go to a magical convention with him instead as Lia refuses to talk to her. But as they drive down the coast of California, she might fall in love without realizing it.

I like the childhood-friends-turned-enemies-to-lovers trope. Ellie's irritation towards Jack maybe you want to read the book even more. And a trip from NorCal (Northern California) to SoCal (Southern California) with a twist of magic? Yes, please. I really LOVED the little bits of magic they did, without it being very heavy and unbelievable, especially the stopover and the magical town and the stopped in the cabin off the grapevine.

I don't think there's anything about it that I really can say stood out for me as an I don't like. All the characters were enjoyable, and everything seemed to fit together. Even Jack's angry father.

If you're fans of Jenny Han, the above-mentioned trope, Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or teen romance, get this book.

The thing that first drew me to the book was it's like Jenny Han meets Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Well, that, and the synopsis. I got an advanced copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Quiet girl Ellie, who grew up in a family that uses magic, wants to have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List. She's looking forward to it, especially an epic road trip with her best friend, Lia (non-magic aware). But when number 4 off her list goes horribly wrong--get revenge on her childhood friend-turned-enemy Jack, she must go to a magical convention with him instead as Lia refuses to talk to her. But as they drive down the coast of California, she might fall in love without realizing it.

I like the childhood-friends-turned-enemies-to-lovers trope. Ellie's irritation towards Jack maybe you want to read the book even more. And a trip from NorCal (Northern California) to SoCal (Southern California) with a twist of magic? Yes, please. I really LOVED the little bits of magic they did, without it being very heavy and unbelievable, especially the stopover and the magical town and the stopped in the cabin off the grapevine.

I don't think there's anything about it that I really can say stood out for me as an I don't like. All the characters were enjoyable, and everything seemed to fit together. Even Jack's angry father.

If you're fans of Jenny Han, the above-mentioned trope, Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or teen romance, get this book.

this was a cute book but halfway through i kind of lost interest. its the story of jack and ellie former best friends turned enemies who are forced to go on a summer road trip together. Ellie was supposed to go on that trip with Lia, her best friend, but something happened that changed their plans. They also live in a community that involves magic!!

this wasn’t the best book i’ve read this year but it wasn’t that bad either. the writing was okay for this type of book and the premise had a lot potential.

overall it was a sweet ya rom-com involving the friends to enemies to lovers trope + only one bed trope!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion