Our Cursed Love

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Author(s)

Julie Abe

Publisher

Wednesday Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

12+

Release Date

December 12, 2023

ISBN

978-1250851321

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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 ever: 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.

Editor review

1 review

intriguing YA fantasy romance

December 09, 2023

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

Characters

3.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

OUR CURSED LOVE is an intriguing fantasy/contemporary romance. Remy and Cam have been best friends for about forever, and they are visiting Remy's sister and Cam's brother in Tokyo to see the magical university Remy dreams of attending together. Cam has plans to go to MIT, which would obviously be quite a ways away. Remy wants to tell Cam how she really feels before they are separated by so much distance, and this trip feels like the perfect opportunity - if only she can get up the courage to do so.

As they explore the city, they find their way into a magical tea shop, and Remy gets a reading. Even though everyone is said to have a soulmate, she is told that she has none. So when Remy and Cam find themselves faced with a banned, illicit love potion, they decide to take it. However, instead of the expected effect, Cam loses his memory of Remy. The potion will take full effect on January 1, so Remy and Cam only have a little time to relive their memories and hopefully prevent him from forgetting her forever.

What I loved: The magical world here was really interesting, especially as it is overlaid upon our own. The magic-aware like Remy and Cam know that it is around and where to find it, but the unaware only get a hint of what is really going on. The magical world was really fascinating, and I loved getting to explore this in the context of the story.

The story was mostly told from Remy's point-of-view, but it also gave us some sections from Cam's. The dual points-of-view were helpful in understanding how both felt and why this trip mattered so much to each of them, which also contributed to a bit of poor decision-making in taking a banned potion.

What left me wanting more: The storyline was interesting enough, but it often felt difficult to really get into the romance. The setup to the main plot included in the synopsis actually takes quite a while to get there, and the perspectives, particularly Remy's, felt a bit angsty even before the potion. As a result, it felt a bit slow to me and easy to put down.

Final verdict: OUR CURSED LOVE was an intriguing YA fantasy romance that will work well for readers who want a cozy friends-to-lovers story with a touch of magic.