The Charmed List by Julie Abe

Summary from Goodreads:


After spending most of high school as the quiet girl, Ellie Kobata is ready to take some risks and have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List—thirteen items she’s going to check off one by one. 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.

But when number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong—revenge on Jack Yasuda—she’s certain her summer has gone from charmed to cursed. Instead of a road trip with Lia, Ellie finds herself stuck in a car with Jack driving to a magical convention. But 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.

In The Charmed List, Julie Abe sweeps readers away to a secret magical world, complete with cupcakes and tea with added sparks of joy, and an enchanted cottage where you can dance under the stars.

Review:

This was a cute book. If you’re looking for a super sweet YA romance, look not further. Somehow, I read the summary with no idea that there would be magic involved! It’s a lighthearted magical romcom filled with delicious sounding tea, secret magical villages, hate-turned-to-love romances, and fun road trips.

When your life is stressful, and you think you don’t have the time to be reading…it turns out you stay up late reading YA books to calm down. And this one was the perfect remedy for my tired, stressed out brain. I really like Julie Abe’s middle grade books. Of course it would make sense I’d enjoy her first foray into YA books too. And of course the author who wrote about a semi-magical witch named Eva Evergreen would write magic into a YA romance too.

I wish the things in this book were real. There are magical conventions with magical escape rooms, and teas that make you stronger, or cupcakes that make you happier. Scratch that, I would do anything just for those cupcakes. Or maybe the tea….

I love that this book wasn’t all about the love story either. A large portion of it was about Ellie fixing her friendship. And another chunk was about family. Jack was doing so much to take care of his family. And I guess I spent a large portion of the book a little annoyed at how strict the parents were….The prank with the mice in the beginning seemed like a totally innocent thing that teenagers would do. I get that the repercussions in the circumstances were huge, but way too much pressure was put on these kids, one of which apparently was already working on the college fund for a sibling….I mean come on!

Tough parenting aside, I loved the friendship story. I loved the building romance. I loved the whole road trip and the all the magical stops along the way. Why does the author always make me so hungry though? I give this one an 8.5/10.