Our Cursed Love by Julie Abe is a beautiful YA magical realism romance! Featuring Remy and Cam, two best friends on a trip to Tokyo at the end of high school; their trip quickly turns from the best trip ever to the worst trip ever after a trip to a secret magical apothecary. After drinking a banned love potion, Cam has no idea who Remy is after drinking the potion, and now the clock is ticking before Cam forgets Remy forever.

4 stars for me because I just felt something was missing! I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope but I just wanted something more from the novel. The front cover is stunning though and for sure made me pick it up! Would love to see more set in this world.

A tale of two teens who live in a magical world who are trying to figure out their "relationship" / "friendship." I enjoyed Cam and Remy living in this magical world - that was fun and I loved the setting of Japan. Read if you like friends to lovers, Japan, magic universities, memory loss. Overall an entertaining read especially for the young adult population. Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I enjoyed the setting of this, Japan with a magical twist, and thought the various spells, potions, and magical objects were cool and incorporated well into a modern era.

The beginning was okay for me, I'm not a big fan of stories where one conversation could have saved the whole thing. Once Cam started losing memories, I thought it got a bit cuter and I liked seeing them relive their happy times.

The sort-of love triangle wasn't my favorite, but if the other guy gets his own book, I'll probably check it out.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. This book was so good. When I request YA novels, I always cringe to myself because I always say..why are you doing this..you are so far from YA!! But I find out I like a lot of them because they speak about life issues and I enjoy that part of those books. This one felt a bit more real to me. The character were written well and the storyline flowed well. I will continue To read and request YA. I just have to hope they have the points in it that I enjoy. Thanks !!

I really, truly wanted to like this one. It's two teens on a dream trip to Tokyo experiencing the literal magic of the city as they try to figure out their own paths and fix the curse they've accidentally put on themselves. It sounds perfect but suffers from never quite nailing down what type of book it wants to be. Is it all about the friends-to-romance story? Is it about finding your own path and fighting for it? It's a little bit of many types of stories in a way that feels more scattered than intentional.
Remy and Cam are cute and relatable both as a couple and individuals, but their constant doubting and downright negating of their own feelings weigh down the book. I get that it's a big part of the plot and might even be a bit of a motivational/inspirational thing for the actual target audience, but it didn't work for me.
I will say that I can see how it will make a great read for other readers, mainly teenagers who might find themselves in similar emotional situations. The writing is solid and the characters do feel fully-realized, it's just that the tone didn't resonate with me this time.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the magical read!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Julie Abe and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Remy has always wanted to be more than friends with Cam. Soon a trip to Japan and a tea leaves reading she is not meant to be with Remy. Should they take the secret magical elixar that is offered to them should they take it or let fate choose for them?

A fun YA read and a cute idea. I love the setting in Japan and the characters.

Our Cursed Love Review

I was really excited to read this book and I ended up loving it, but will not be posting about it on my bookstagram because of the publisher’s stance on the genocide in Gaza.

I loved the two lead characters and how sweet they were. I always love witchy/magic-y books and I really liked how this book’s system worked. It felt very modern and pretty realistic in the way that non magic wielders had no/little idea about the magic all around them. I also enjoyed getting to learn more about Japan and read about so many different places there.

The humour and the heart were contagious and I definitely was smiling to myself while reading. The twists and turns were great and I was enthralled until the end.

The lore about love potions and alchemy itself was super fascinating! I also liked how the magical school was more like a real university and not super mythical/mystical. It was a school where people just happened to study different aspects of magic, which was really cool to me.

The yearning and super slow burn were sweet. I loved that miscommunication wasn’t the trope relied on because that one usually frustrates me haha!

Overall, I did love the book. The setting and time (Christmas/New Years) was super fun and the characters were all very lovable. Due to the publisher, I cannot recommend it however. SMP and Wednesdays Books need to speak out before I can support them again.

I loved this book and the characters so much! Remy and Cam were so cute for each other and i am so glad with how it ended. They deal with a lot and fate seems to be against them but in the end it all works out. I didn't see the twist coming and was thrown for a loop with the things with the elixirs. This book was definitely a cute read and i am thankful to have been able to receive an early copy! Definitely recommend checking it out because it was so well written!

DNF ~58%

I’m calling it. I’m just not having fun here.

Unlike the first book, I found little charm in this one. The pacing is far too slow and I couldn’t get past the fact that all the heartache and grief could’ve been avoided if these two friends just had one honest conversation.

Miscommunication or lack of communication is a weak basis for a book. It can be done but I’ve read far more failures than successes.

Maybe this gets better in the final stretch. But I don’t care enough to stick around and find out.

“There’s a phrase—Koi no Yokan—there’s no direct translation, but it means that feeling of seeing someone and knowing you’ll fall in love with them, someday.”

Super cute and filled with magic, Our Cursed Love is an enchanting friends-to-lovers journey through Tokyo that you cannot help but adore.

We get a dual POV between Remy and Cam our MCs. With Remy, we have all been in her shoes at some point. Sometimes even though something is right in front of you, it can be so hard to express how you truly feel. My heart sank for her multiple times throughout this book and I was just hoping for her happy ending. With Cam, I feel like Cam was our discovery bear in this book. He was still that heart-of-gold best friend, but really needed to figure out what he truly wanted. Most of all I loved watching these two run around Tokyo.

I also really enjoyed our side characters as well: Ellie, Jack, Naomi, and Taka. Although my heart definitely hurt for Taka. I really liked his role and character in this story, and I think I might have been okay with him being an endgame option if he was shown a bit more. However, now I vote for a Taka spin-off, please! 😉

“It doesn’t help you if your wish is a secret,” Beni says. “If you want something, you have to be able to fight for it.”

Overall Our Cursed Love was a super cute young adult, friends-to-lovers romance about making your own fate happen and fighting for what you truly want. Julie Abe does such a great job at weaving culture and story. Definitely worth a pick-up!

✨" Every moment is one chance in a lifetime ". ✨

Thank you so much @wednesdaybooks for this digital ARC and finished copy for an honest review.

This book was magical and so beautiful. I love discovering Tokyo through these characters eyes. The places they went to are so well described, I almost felt like I was there.

I love the magic system the author added. It made the story feel more unique and fantastic.

But what I love the most is how much Remy and Cam love each other. As friends and so much more. Their love is so pure and so loyal. It was beautifully written. They would do anything for each other.

Remy is a wonderful, sunshiny girl who is in love with her best friend, Cam. They have known each other since they were babies. For Remy, it always felt like their fate was deeply woven together. Trying to be brave to confess, she promised herself to tell him on their trip to Tokyo.

When she learns from a mystic leaf reader that she doesn't have a soulmate, she cannot accept that Cam isn't hers. She's ready to do everything to break their curse love.

" Ichigo, ichie. A once-in-a-lifetime chance".

Read this book if you love :

✨ Magical system;
✨ Traveling through books ;
✨ Best Friends to Lovers ;
✨ Fighting Fates ;
✨ YA books.

The quick cut: A teen girl on a winter break trip with her male best friend to Japan tries to work up the courage to admit her romantic feelings. Chaos ensues when it goes south due to a potion.

A real review:
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

Friends falling in love is a common writing trope, but how far would you go to express yourself? For Remy, she would take a magical potion to get her best friend Cam to fall in love with her.

Remy and Cam have known each other as long as they can remember. Growing up, they made prank potions together and went as a just friends date to homecoming. Remy has secretly been wanting to tell Cam that her feelings for him are more than friendly, but she's struggling to get the words out. Can magic save her?

I loved this author's prior book, "The Charmed List", so seeing this one made me automatically want to read it. Unfortunately, where Charmed List has characters that were dynamic and well written, this story has superbly flat characters that couldn't be more dense if they tried. It's not a pretty sight as a reader.

Remy and Cam are obviously in love from day one, which is actually what ruins the story. If the love already there was slowly revealed instead, it would have been far more intriguing to read. Everyone else around them knows they love each other too, which only makes it worse. I quickly started to loathe all the characters involved.

The magical element is different and fun, but the characters truly ruined a great structure. More focus on character development could have saved this book from a lower rating.

A fun concept ruined by flat characters.

My rating: 3 out of 5

This was cute! I liked the first book more and I don’t know why it’s not being billed as a direct sequel/spin-off to the charmed list, it stands on its own but you’re missing so much without the context of the first book.
That being said, this was adorable, I’m a sucker for a good friends to lovers story.

It’s six days until New Year’s Day when Remy and her best friend Cam arrive in Japan for a visit/school admissions interview. Remy has been secretly in-love with Cam and is psyching herself up to tell him but she is waiting for the perfect moment. Except the perfect moment doesn’t exist. She gets scared and ends up having magic intervene. Her plan backfires resulting in Cam losing all of his memories containing Remy. Remy and their friends have until New Years Day to get Cam to remember otherwise the change becomes permanent. The story alternatings POVs between Cam and Remy.

This was a story in need of a lot of polishing. It reads like a first draft. Ideas are introduced and are treated like dandelions, only to have its seeds blown away in the wind never to be seen by the original plant ever again. It lacks any sort of explanation for the magical world that exists in secret from most humans. If one is going to introduce magical realism into a story then one must also explain the magic, its origins, why or how some can see it and others can’t, etc… I would not be able to explain the system here except there’s a fortune teller and a magical potion. Don’t make me explain the anti-dote. I don’t think even the characters understood those parameters.

The characters are naive, flat and robotic. We alternated perspectives but both lacked any sort of emotion or distinguishing voice. Why do you love each other? How does not being with each other make you feel? What is it like not being with the one you love? None of the obvious emotions caused by a friends-to-lovers romance is really explored in any great detail.

The most puzzling aspect of this was that it was a romance without any romance. We're told time and time again by both characters how much they love the other but we never actually see these feelings. No single moment existed between the two where their feelings are demonstrated without explicitly being told that’s what their feelings are. I want characters to show me, not tell me. Because of this, the book seemed overly simplistic and lacking any depth. There were brief glimpses into deeper issues but they were mostly glanced over. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until reading some reviews on Goodreads that I discovered this book actually takes place in the same universe as the author’s previous novel, The Charmed List. So perhaps more explanations regarding the universe and Cam’s backstory with his father were explained in greater detail in the former novel.

Nothing about this was remarkable or resonated with me in any way. I could have put this down at any moment and been perfectly okay not knowing the outcome.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 12/12/23
Genre: YA romance, magical realism
Quick summary: Remy and Cam are each secretly in love with each other, but a visit to a magical apothecary turns disastrous when Cam drinks a potion and begins to forget all his memories of Remy.

I loved Abe's previous book THE CHARMED LIST, so I was excited for this YA romance with a touch of magic. I liked seeing Remy and Cam take on the magical streets of Tokyo as Remy worked against impossible odds to gain entry to the magical university. Unfortunately, their romance didn't excite me as much - it wasn't clear why they were both so in love but unable to act on it. Neither had much depth other than magical ability and being in love with their best friend, so the 300 pages of the book felt really repetitive. This definitely reads young even for YA, but middle/high school readers may enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 1.5 stars
Contains some language, minor LGBT characters, death of a parent (mentioned)

I have a bad habit of procrasti-reading ARCs for highly anticipated titles, and books like Our Cursed Love is exactly why.

I really wanted to love this book.

First of all, the cover is beautiful. Second of all, I low-key love the amnesia trope and big servings of angst with my love stories, so a story about an unrequited love, childhood friends, and amnesia seemed like the perfect combination of tropes for a book I'd love.

Instead, I ended up incredibly disappointed and--I hate to say this--a little bored.

What sucks is that Our Cursed Love could've been such a great book. It's got a unique premise, an incredible setting (um, hi, magic Tokyo??), and a bunch of tropes that could make for a wonderfully angsty romance but doesn't take advantage of any of it (or its gorgeous cover art that's bound to get it on TBR of readers who add books based on appearances alone--it's me. I'm the readers.) Instead, we end up with an underwhelming, unpolished story that reads more like a zero draft than anything else. The pacing is somehow both sluggish and rushed at the same time. The story moves at a slow pace, but it feels like important parts of the story that should be shown and/or developed are completely glossed over. Honestly, it all boils down to the fact that nothing in Our Cursed Love is developed. The plot, the characters, and the writing itself all need some major reworking and depth because right now, there's nothing compelling about Our Cursed Love.

I had so many problems with this book, but we have to start with the writing, which, in my opinion, is the most off-putting part of Our Cursed Love. (It was definitely the first and most glaring offense I encountered.) I can't think of a nice way to say this. The writing is not good. I've read some of Julie Abe's middle grade books, and while I can't say I fell head-over-heels for her prose, I don't remember it being this bad. I'm not sure how much of it is because I'm generally more forgiving of simplistic writing in middle reader books and how much of it is the fact that her writing is objectively worse in Our Cursed Love than in the other books I've read. Either way, this book reads like it was written by an eleven-year-old.

The story is told in third-person POV, which I normally love, but the present-tense just doesn't work. The writing is clunky and awkward, and the third-person narrative gives us zero insight into our protagonists' personalities. It's overly expositional and completely devoid of emotion, so we end up with a watered down story that lacks any kind of depth. It's like Abe decided to take on the old "show don't tell" adage and set out to prove it wrong by writing this book. (Sadly, she does not come out victorious.) What's worse is that she chooses to tell the most irrelevant minutia, focusing on obscure details that add nothing to the story instead of giving us stuff we actually care about. The book is set in Japan, but Remy and Cam constantly make specific references to places back home in California that have nothing to do with the actual story. I'm a Bay Area girlie who loves shoutouts to my hometown, and I even I found the Palo Alto name-dropping incredibly tedious. (At one point, Abe literally gives us the cross streets for a random store in California that I still can't believe made it past the editing phase.)

I'm not a fan of alternating POVs, and Our Cursed Love is a prime example of why. Remy and Cam's voices are indistinguishable (i.e. they're both bland,) and even the bits of dialogue are completely lacking in any kind of distinct voice. They both need some major character development because their only personality traits are "I'm in love with my best friend" and "I'm (sometimes?)* bad at baking" (Remy) or "I'm addicted to sugar" (Cam).

*Remy supposedly learned to bake for Cam and does it a lot but she also does stuff like mistakenly use white pepper instead of sugar regularly??

There's nothing in the storytelling to make me care about or root for any of the characters. Remy and Cam's actions often feel inconsistent, and I didn't buy any of their motivations the whole time I was reading the story.

To add insult to injury, the romance isn't even cute or enjoyable! It's incredibly cheesy to the point that it's cringey. Like, the number of times I had to listen to Cam say Remy was better than sugar (which we've already established is his whole personality,) was enough to give me a cavity. The level of depth that we get makes Our Cursed Love feel like it should be aimed at middle graders--and even then, the quality of writing is far from satisfactory. It's a very superficial kind of a love story, where we're constantly told X is in love with Y, but nothing is ever done to convince me it's true, let alone why I should care. Remy and Cam's relationship feels shallow and overly simplistic despite Abe's best attempts to make it profound and meaningful with random introspective pieces on fate and love.

My biggest issue with the romance is that Abe never gives us a believable answer to the "why can't they be together now?" dilemma. The "mutual pining" even pre-amnesia is virtually nonexistent, and Remy and Cam spend the entire book playing martyr to problems of their own making. I thought the miscommunication problem was bad, but whatever this is is ten times worse. My issue isn't teenagers making dumb decisions; my problem is that teenagers I'm not emotionally invested in are making dumb decisions that are pull-your-hair-out levels of frustrating. At risk of giving too much away, Abe creates this whole soulmate problem that she never really resolves in a satisfactory way, which really is the problem with the story in a nutshell. (#TeamTakaIsTheOnlyLoveableOneInThisBook)

It's like the story is slapped together without any thought. The plot is flimsy and full of holes. Halfway through the book, Cam starts moping about being the Geek to Remy's Beauty, and she turns around with a revelation out of left field she was "the school flirt" when there was nothing leading up to that point that suggested either were true. These are just a few examples, but really, the story feels like its going through an identity crisis the whole time because it's so riddled with inconsistencies.

As much as I liked the idea of a magical world, Abe completely skimps on the worldbuilding. I didn't realize until after I'd finished Our Cursed Love that it technically could be considered a companion novel to The Charmed List, so maybe more of the magical system and rules are explained there, but I still feel like it needs a lot more development--especially if the book is being marketed as a standalone. The magic system makes no sense to me. Like, Remy's obsessed with this snack called "Goldsticks" which are basically just magic Pocky, and I still can't figure out what them magic or why they seem like they're just readily accessible to the public when there's supposedly all these strict laws and magical governing bodies.

What little worldbuiding we do get is lackluster. I love the idea of a magical world where wish-granting matcha brownie mix comes in a bag that transforms into a bowl when you open it, but Abe doesn't even seem to follow her own rules half the time. She starts out by saying there's this strict divide between the magical and non-magical worlds, but then all the magical "Old Families" somehow overrun a souffle pancake place and no one blinks an eye? One of the biggest disappointments about Our Cursed Love is the fact that Abe doesn't take advantage of the setting and incorporate Tokyo much more. Most of the time it feels like the story could be set anywhere else in the world, and it wouldn't change a thing.

The one positive Our Cursed Love has going for it is that it's a quick read. It is not, however, a fun one.

I received an eARC from Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for a honest review

Review: 4 Stars

I went into it with no expectations after seeing mixed reviews and I was surprisingly charmed by the whimsicality of this book. Note that I was not aware that this book was related to her first book. Regardless, it can be read as a standalone.

In the spirit of the season, this book does take place during the Christmas/New Year season and it is set in Japan. Our mains, Remy and Cam are childhood besties that made the trip to Japan to visit their older sibling while Remy also interviews to enrol into the university of her dreams. Remy is in love with Cam and has been trying to confess her feelings to Cam as this would be their last trip together before going on their separate ways to different universities but would always talk her way out of it. During their trip in Japan, Remy and Cam stumbled upon an apothecary store where they were offered a love potion to drink. For reasons of their own, they drank it and in doing so, Cam lost his memories of Remy. Will they succeed in recovering his memories as they race against time?

This is my first Julie Abe book and its whimsicality won me over. I adore the writing style and fell in love with all the characters. Remy. although uncertain about her future would strive to do her very best but would willingly throw it all away for the sake of Cam. Cam, meanwhile grapples with the consequences of his broken family and how adverse he is to risk taking which means love itself is risky.

This hits besties to lovers vibe YA-style. I also love how the author gives us a taste of Japan and the thoughtful research that went into it. The world building is interesting with the assumption that magic is hidden in the world and only certain people are aware of it. It’s a refreshing take on how one can use magic in the modern world and apply it to the modern lifestyle.

My only nitpick which made it a 4-star read as opposed to the 5-star read is the lack of depth. I did not feel the consequences or the angst to follow as Cam lost his memories. It felt like everything was taken in stride where problem solving followed as opposed to showing more depth on Remy’s and Cam’s end. The conflict and the twist at the end was building but felt somewhat shallow.

Our Cursed Love is a YA contemporary fantasy about two best friends who get more than they bargained for when they drink an ancient soulmate elixir. Remy has been in love with Cam for as long as she can remember. She made a promise to herself she’d confess her feelings this year. Well, it’s almost New Year’s Eve which means she’s running low on time. Only the perfect time to tell him never arises. When she and Cam are offered a soulmate elixir, it’s the solution she’s been looking for. Only things don’t go as planned. After drinking the potion, Cam lost all of his memories of Remy. Now she has to find a way to restore his memories and make him fall in love with her before midnight on New Year’s Eve or they’ll be cursed to forget each other forever.

Can we give a round of applause for this stunning cover? The cover alone enticed me to read this book. Our Cursed Love was different than I thought it would be. I expected it to be a magical realism story but it is a contemporary fantasy story. Remy and Cam are both part of a magical society and Remy is interviewing to go to a magical university–which I didn’t expect at all. Overall, the story was sweet but I never felt fully invested. The characters felt more surface level to me rather than fleshed out people which made it hard for me to root for them.

Julia Abe somehow manages to always write stories that just tug on your heartstrings so much. This had so much longing and I loved exploring the relationship between Remy and Cam. It's the perfect winter vibe that's just cozy and nostalgic.

Remy promised herself in January that this would be the year she would tell her best friend Cameron her true feelings, but it’s now December 23rd, and time is running out for the year. They travel to Japan together to visit family and for Remy to go to an interview for the magical university she wants to attend in Japan. They visit a cafe where Remy has her fortune read and finds out…she has no soulmate. Devastated, Remy is determined more than ever to prove fate wrong by proving that Cam is her soulmate. Things go awry, though, when her and Cam decide to take a potion that would help them find their soulmate, but it backfires and now Cam has forgotten her, and they have until January 1st to help him get his memories back of her.

This was such a cute read! I also do love Julie’s books a lot and so I may be biased too 😂

I LOVED the magical realism in this book, this world! I wanted it to be real so so bad! I loved the hidden doorways, the hidden cafes, the hidden houses, it was so magical and all within our world, I loved it. I wish there was more detail about the magical realism in this book, but I wonder if I read the first book(I didn’t know this is technically the second book 😅) that maybe more would have been explained in the first book. Despite that, I still enjoyed it and the magic in this book! It was like living in a Ghibli movie for a bit!

I LOVED the romance! I’m always a sucker for a good slow burn, and I don’t always enjoy friends to lovers romances, but this one was sooo good and so sweet and adorable! You truly feel the friendship these two have! You learn so much about how they feel about each other, how well they know each other with all the flashbacks and memories we experience, they’re truly best friends. And you’re just hoping they get what they want, which is each other. And it is slooooow!!! The angst is there and the whole “I’m going to scream if they don’t admit their feelings for each other right now” feeling, it was wonderful. I loved every moment of it.

I could see myself in Cam a lot. He’s very logical and analytical, and I am very much like that. Thinking far ahead about the actions I take or want to do. Remy is a good balance with him being a bit more outgoing and more out there. I loved the balance these two had and loved seeing them together, it was so endearing and sweet.

I said sweet a lot, but it really was 😂 and there’s also a lot of sweets and treats in here which made it sweeter 😉

I highly recommend this one for anyone!

I received a free digital copy to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.