A sweet YA romance with added magical elements.

The world building was subtle but effective. I loved how it was intricately weaved into the plot.

The FMC's cute awkwardness and worry felt very believable and I enjoyed rooting for her.

At times I was a bit frustrated with the miscommunication, especially when the twist happened... But both main characters were easy to like. The book reminded me of similar interactions in The Summer I Turned Pretty.

A really lovely standalone YA that reads like a love letter to friendship and first loves.

This was a lovely concept but I felt the execution really flopped. I was really excited to see the magical society in Japan and while I really liked some of the ideas the author had, other aspects of the story really let it down.

The main thing that bothered me was the switch from a third person perspective to a first person one. The book would be going along in third person and then suddenly switch to first to show the character's thoughts, with no warning. It really bothered me reading it. There were better ways to show the characters thoughts.

I also felt that Cam started recovering memories a bit too quickly after they drank the potion. I had no worry that he wasn't going to remember her because he bounced back so quickly. Though the solution was more complicated than this in the end, it just felt too early for him to start uncovering memories.

It's a pity I didn't like this book so much as it really could have been something special.

"Our Cursed Love" is a cute love story about best friends who take a final trip together before heading off to college. Remi wants to confess her feelings for her friend, but after her fortune is told, she takes a different route. Memories are forgotten, and the two friends set out to rediscover their love for one another.

Amazing book!
I was thoroughly engaged throughout this book and I didn't want to put it down! The author captured my attention from the get go! Five stars from me :)

This is the type of romance I like to describe as "idiots in love" because truly the two main characters are so absolutely stupid that the entire story would be nonexistent if they had just spoken to each other for two seconds at the beginning of the book. But I told myself, Katy, its YA, teenagers can be dumb, let it go... but they continued to wait to confess til right at the very last second. Some might call that suspense, I call it prolonged suffering but there we go.
The overall pacing and plot are interesting, it has a magical atmosphere and a version of modern magic that I actually really enjoyed. It was vivid and lush in parts, and had some wonderful scenes. Actually it would make a great age appropriate movie for the teeny boppers now I think of it.
There were things that I felt weren't discussed as much as I would like, particularly a relationship with a parent that help quite a strong plot point but was simply glossed over which I think was a shame really. The book isn't overly long so it could have been fleshed out in that area. However if that meant I had to get 50 pages of more blind longing without one of their older siblings absolutely smacking their heads together to knock some sense into them, I might scream.
Overall it was still fun and quick and as I come to terms with the fact I can no longer be a teenage girl at twenty two, I understand that I am no longer the target audience for this media. One piece of advice I wish authors would take, because surely they have been burned enough, try and keep the pop culture references out of the books, I know you love these things dearly and want to put in little in-jokes, but not only does it quickly date your books, it can bite you in the backside if the creators of those things mess up.

I really liked the magic system and world in this one, first of all - I would DIE to visit that magical university and try all of the magical foods mentioned in here, it sounded incredible! Yes, the worldbuilding could have been stronger in a lot of places, especially considering magic is the underlying basis of the entire plot, but I did still think it had a great foundation.

Friends-to-lovers is usually one of my favourite tropes, if not my absolute favourite. So I was very excited going into this, to feel the pining and the angst that comes with a friends-to-lovers romance. However, I never really felt the emotion behind it all. I also felt like they could have communicated a lot better, if they were such supposed best friends, they just needed to have a proper conversation!

3.25/5 stars! The cover of this book was stunning and the premise was really interesting. It kind of set me up to feel like I would be openly sobbing like I did after finishing You've Reached Sam. The book had some highlights, but in the end, fell quite flat from the pedestal I was hoping to put it on. It felt quite young. I think teen readers will like it but more mature readers may struggle with how simplistic the payoff ends up being.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

If you enjoyed You’ve Reached Sam, you will enjoy this. It’s a magical coming of age story set in Tokyo. It’s hard not to fall in love with Remy and Cam. The chemistry and romance is just perfect. I really enjoyed this read.

This was one I had to DNF. I couldn’t get into this book despite spending most of a day trying to. I couldn’t relate to the characters or the plot and I just wish it had been a bit better written. Normally this is my kind of trope being friends to lovers but i found it hard to fall in love with the book.

Our Cursed Love by Julie Abe follows the magic-filled story of Remy and Cam as they travel to Tokyo for Remy to attend her interview for admittance into Tokyo Magical University. Their trip is meant to consist of exploring Tokyo, spending time with their family and treasuring their time together before they head their separate ways for college. But one night, they end up in a magical apothecary bar, where they are given the chance to take the historically banned love potion. Remy and Cam both agree, but the potion backfires and Cam forgets who Remy is– they have to race to find a remedy before they forget each other forever.

This was a very light and fluffy read. Abe did a fabulous job of building up the connection between Cam and Remy through realistic conversations, glimpses of the past between them as they were growing up, and making new memories with each other. It made them seem like actual teenagers stumbling through teenage emotions and teenage feelings. I felt myself rooting for Cam and Remy, even if they were slightly infuriating when they weren’t being honest with each other. Major themes in this book were growing up, being honest with yourself and being brave.

However, the magical elements of this book were underdeveloped, shallow even. I didn’t really get the whole ‘magic-aware’ wording that Abe used; I wasn’t sure if this was referring to people who came from magical families or people who just knew about magic. I also found that the book was a bit slow in points because it was very obvious what the outcome would be between Remy and Cam by the end; there was no element of suspense or mystery. The sub-plot involving Cam with Naomi and Remy with Taka felt rushed and unneeded. The revelation about Taka’s true involvement in Remy’s life felt weird and out of place, as if it was a plot twist the author decided to chuck in without fleshing it out much.

Before reading Our Cursed Love, I had only read Julie Abe's middle grade books (which are amazing btw).
This was such a cute and sweet romance. And I continue to love Julie Abe's books!

This book was just…okay.

It was a cute story of two young adults who had been best friends and in love forever, but won’t admit their feelings to each other. But this is a world with magic and a magical university and curses that help you find true love and all that jazz, so when a soulmate potion goes wrong and actually causes one of them to start losing memories of the other, this becomes a race against time to admit how they feel about each other and to find an anti-dote.

And this is where I feel the story falls apart a little. There was so much just thrown into the plot that had only small relevance to make the central plot line plausible. It wasn’t done particularly well and I felt like so much more could have been done to make it a more well-rounded world. I have a feeling the author is a fan of anime as well, because it was such a love letter to the kitsch of Japan in a way that felt unrealistic. Of course the best magical school in the world is in Tokyo! Of course it used terminology like “confess their love” because it was all anime and K-drama tropes!

And the author made the mistake of making the red herring/alternate love interest so likeable that I ended up feeling that if only the main character stopped being so stubborn she would realise he was the better future partner. Team Taka all the way.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Our Cursed Love' by Julie Abe.

Sigh. 'Our Cursed Love' had potential! The blurb is beautiful. I love both characters, I truly did. I just didn't like the whole magical aspect of it, I personally don't think all of it was needed. If that was scrapped, I would say this was a solid book and Julie Abe's writing style is a force to look out for.

I saw this on NetGalley and thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.
However, I DNF this book. The plot sounded interesting, but I just couldn't get into the love story. Honestly, I wasn't really a fan. I didn't feel invested in Cam and Remy's relationship at all.
Unfortunately, the writing style wasn’t for me as well.

I am absolutely love you’ve reached Sam and it has me balling my eyes out so I knew ai had to pick up Our cursed Love. I cannot wait to see how this all works out. It has a been of Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Elements mixed in as well. I’m very excited to share my thoughts on this as well as with our readers. Much more to come. Thank you !