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.
“There’s a phrase—Koi no Yokan—there’s no direct translation, but it means that feeling of seeing someone and knowing you’ll fall in love with them, someday.”
Super cute and filled with magic, Our Cursed Love is an enchanting friends-to-lovers journey through Tokyo that you cannot help but adore.
We get a dual POV between Remy and Cam our MCs. With Remy, we have all been in her shoes at some point. Sometimes even though something is right in front of you, it can be so hard to express how you truly feel. My heart sank for her multiple times throughout this book and I was just hoping for her happy ending. With Cam, I feel like Cam was our discovery bear in this book. He was still that heart-of-gold best friend, but really needed to figure out what he truly wanted. Most of all I loved watching these two run around Tokyo.
I also really enjoyed our side characters as well: Ellie, Jack, Naomi, and Taka. Although my heart definitely hurt for Taka. I really liked his role and character in this story, and I think I might have been okay with him being an endgame option if he was shown a bit more. However, now I vote for a Taka spin-off, please! 😉
“It doesn’t help you if your wish is a secret,” Beni says. “If you want something, you have to be able to fight for it.”
Overall Our Cursed Love was a super cute young adult, friends-to-lovers romance about making your own fate happen and fighting for what you truly want. Julie Abe does such a great job at weaving culture and story. Definitely worth a pick-up!
Jotted by Jena 