Title: Our Cursed Love
Author: Julie Abe
Pages: 304
Genre: YA, romance, fantasy
Is this book part of a series? While not listed as one, I would say yes. There is a book that came out before this, The Charmed List, that has characters from this book. This book also makes references to things that would have happened in that time line.
I discovered this book via: Netgalley working with St Martin's Press.
Publish Date: December 12th, 2023.
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.
I'm just gonna say it.. I hope the people who designed the cover and wrote the summary were both paid well. They deserve a bonus, because those are absolutely the most intriguing aspects of this book. Don't get me wrong, the characters are fairly good; and if we ever decide to give Taka a love story I am there... it was just bland and a little messy.
*Warning, this is a bit of a rant and there will be lots of spoilers.*
I feel like the writing was choppy for the first third of the book. Remy often sounded like an eleven year old instead of someone going into college. To an extent, this makes a little sense as Abe has writen more children's fiction than young adult... but it was jarring. Add the fact that some pretty bit plot lines were just casually thrown out into the world while she was extremely descriptive of Japan and the journey there, and I just couldn't ease into their world. Remy and Cam seemed two dementional, and the first half read like bad fan fiction. (You will note, I said bad fanfiction- there's some amazing fanfiction out there for several shows and book series.)
I did feel like the second half was much better, and that both Cam and Remy grew a lot. The world building was starting to take shape and it made sense that the author would want a magical world that they are part of instead of going for magical realism where the potion was a one-off. It's just, the actual magical community didn't seem to matter to her much in the beginning and I feel like we missed some chances to really flesh the magical community out.
Let's talk about our male lead for a second. Cam, before and after the potion, treats Remy like a lover. He knows he wants to touch her- holding hands, kissing... basically any type of skinship whatsoever- and yet when he thinks about why he wants his memories back he harps on the fact that he wants to be an alchemist. For someone so crazy about a girl, how can that be your first thought? Even if you don't remember them, you feel close to them... wouldn't getting your best friend back be at least on par with your future vocation? Also, how is Remy so okay with the fact that he never really talks about wanting to remember her, that he states his goal is to get his learner's license? To me, that makes her too much of a doormat. I didn't like that.
Our second love interest though.... now Taka's interesting. Handsome and charming, with a past that he had to fight through; he was refreshing. It doesn't hurt that I never felt like his character was acting too young for his age. He was warm, comfortable, helpful and just mysterious enough to hold my attention. That said, Abe did him dirty. I'm not saying that Remy should have ended up with him- she was already in love with Cam. But to make her the one he believes he belongs with- as well as having to deal with his family treating him like a pawn... I didn't like it. I hated how cliche it the aunt and uncle were- oh, she's not good enough... not the right family. This plot device has been overused in asian dramas (well, in all dramas really) for far too long. Also, it didn't seem to track with the rest of their attitude. Personally, I want justice for Taka. He needs a love story.
All in all this was a decent book- the premise is outstanding, the characters are interesting, and the last half of the book makes up for the beginning... you just have to hold on. For me, this is a three star book. It's not the one I will remember forever, or rave to my book buds about... but it was fun.
As far as the adult content goes, they talk about making out. Wanting eachother. It's extremely tame as far as sexual content and there's very little language. I would say this one would be okay for very young teens. For a YA romance it's pretty wholesome, and I kind of liked that.
I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and and Wednesday books (part of the St Martin's Press umbrella) in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!
The book comes out December 12th, is it on your Christmas list?
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