The Charmed List by Julie Abe

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.

It's a cute romance with magic and teenage struggles and hijinks.

The Charmed List takes place in a mildly fantastical world which sets up the background of the story. Ellie wants to no longer be a wallflower, so she makes a list of things to do before her senior year of high school. One of the items on the list gets her and her bestie, Lia in trouble, so instead of going on a road trip together, Ellie has to go with her old best friend, now enemy, Jack.

This is a cute YA romance that's actually for Young Adults. It is sure to put a smile on your face. Reading this book feels like watching those older Disney Channel movies in all the best ways, and I say this as someone who devoured them as a teenager.

This is the third book I've read by this author. I love Julie Abe's magical worlds. They're always cozy, whimsical and fun. This is no exception, even though the magic in this world is a lot smaller scale compared to her Eva Evergreen series, it is well thought out. There are no strong spells here, but little charms, like calming teas, joyful pastries, secret cottages...

The romance between Ellie and Jack is quite adorable. I loved the progression of their relationship, even though they're “enemies” it's always obvious how much they care about each other. The adventures they go on on their road trip and the way they start to trust each other was so cute to see. They had so many adorable scenes together. Also Jack was great as a love interest. He's really thoughtful and nice. He makes mistakes, but throughout the book, you can always tell how much he likes and cares for Ellie. I enjoyed all the flashbacks we got in the book of when Ellie and Jack were friends. The memories helped emphasize how great a friend Jack was and how Ellie must have felt after losing such a great friend.
I thought they were so cute together that I wish we had more of them as a couple in the book.

Aside from the romance, I also loved loved all the non-romantic relationships in the book. I especially appreciated the close relationship between Ellie and her sister Remy, Ellie and Lia, and Remy and her BFF Cam (Jack's brother). I loved Remy as a character, and as a sister. She was always there for Ellie, but also was ready to give it to her straight when Ellie was in the wrong.

I didn't like how repetitive the book got at times. For example, Ellie rightfully had misgivings about trusting Jack after how he treated her, but for most of the book, whenever she had any positive thoughts about him, she'd follow it up with but I can't trust him after the way he treated me.

Overall this was an adorable and age appropriate YA romance with some magical aspects. Highly recommended for YA readers.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this eARC.

I didn't connect with the story, but this is a cute YA story. The story is well written, I liked the storyline and how the author pulled her culture into the story (along with a little bit of magic). The characters are likable and have good character development. The issues the characters face in the story are issues the target reader would face. As a reader I did feel the chemistry between the two main characters.

I liked the choice of narrator. She brought the voice and emotion to the story. This is how I would imagine the story and the character to sound.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillion Audio/Young Listeners for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.