This was cute, but flawed. I don’t know, but something about it just didn’t work for me. Jack’s reasons for his distance didn’t feel big enough for how he treated Ellie. And Ellie hung on to her downer, “woe is me,” wallflower status for way too long - it was getting annoying. But I did enjoy the magical element of it all. It was - wait for it - charming.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

This book was adorable! I love the love given to shy protagonists and Ellie definitely made this story fun and you guessed it, charming. The magic was definitely an interesting component but made this story stand out against other YA romances. I think that the story could have been cute without the magic, though, because it was kind of perplexing at times to contend with. It's a delightful little read and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It could be that I ate a cupcake or had some tea---leaving me charmed. It was a story with whimsy and cuteness, one of a rediscovering a lost childhood friendship and how that relationship shifted with time. And a journey of learning oneself.

This story was absolutely charming! Ellie is a delight and I love the idea of teens having to hide their magical abilities. It was a fun twist on a coming of age/first love type of story. Everything I could want in YA.

Thank you Wednesday, Netgalley, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

This book was so cute! The relationships between Ellie, Lia, and Jack make for dynamic storytelling and I was rooting for Ellie every step of the way, even as she faltered.

This was a fun, sweet story of former friends having to work together. Ellie is a fun little narrator, always second guessing herself, trying to pump herself up to live with a little boldness. She is a shy girl who has been content to dwell in the shadows until now, and her bucket list will help. Until the trip she was meant to take with her BFF is cancelled and she has to take the trip with her former best friend turned enemy, Jack. Jack is smooth, and somewhat sweet, though he’s been cold to her most of her young adult life. She gets to see him in a different light through the trip. We are getting lots of tropes here, too. Forced proximity, enemies to lovers, only one bed, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of trophy fun and I AM HERE FOR IT. Not to mention the magic is fun, coexisting and often used by people who aren’t even magic aware. I liked the take on it. I also like that it didn’t take the step into sexual NA territory that many YA books are taking recently. Anyway, I dig it. Definitely a fun summer read.

To be quite honest, I thought this book was ok. I liked the concept and liked the added plot line of them being magical teens and having to hide it.

I started reading it a few months ago and it didn't hold my attention. I finished the last 60ish percent over the weekend because I saw the pub date was coming up. Once the plot picked up, they started the road trip and started to TALK instead of all the scoffing (which I know is there to build tension) I found it very entertaining.

My biggest problems were the slooooow beginning and rush/forced/random ending/reason they couldn't be/weren't together. I did not buy it at all (the secondary, dad related, reason) and thought it was a sort of add on to the story. It's not a very professional evaluation but I honestly felt pretty "meh" about the whole story.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for an advance e-copy for my honest review.

The Charmed List follows Ellie during the summer between her junior and senior years of high school. She has an Anti-Wallflower List to help her gain confidence and take some risks during the summer, but one of the items on the list goes horribly wrong. Instead of going on a road trip with her best friend, Ellie is forced to go on the trip with her neighbor and former best friend, Jack. Hopefully they can make it through the trip without fighting constantly, and maybe they can even reconnect.

This was such a cute book! I really loved the magic and the world building. There were a lot of really cool moments and I loved the road trip vibes. Plus the friends to enemies to lovers was really well done. The reasoning behind the friends to enemies aspect was good, if a little heartbreaking, and the eventual turn to lovers was sweet. This was an adorable book and I really enjoyed it.

Very cute YA romance - liked the road trip aspect of the story. The magic part was unexpected, but interesting. Decent character development. I would likely read another book by this author.

Much thanks, as always to the good folks at NetGalley for "The Charmed List" advanced read.
Kind of perplexed on this one.
I'd guess 85 per cent of it centers around a well known predictable, but nevertheless sweetly entertaining romance. Traditional YA tropes are all in place here......Ellie and Jack have taken that familiar journey from childhood friends to toxic teen estrangement. Of course we know they're soulmates meant for each other and it's going to take a forced compulsory road trip throwing them together to make that long awaited falling-into-each-others-arms happen.
What I didn't quite understand........ the book going to all the trouble of framing this story around the world-building of a contemporary magical universe......sort of a kinder, gentler Harry Potter-Lite world, where the magic folk mostly function as benevolent retailers marketing all varieties of supernatural charms.
To its credit, "The Charmed List" does in fact use all of the magic stuff that Jack and Ellie use, sell or encounter in service of their rekindling of affection for each other.......and their inevitable but wonderfully conceived and written reconciliation.
But I couldn't help thinking that this story could just as easily been told without all the accumulated bric-a-brac of the magical world surrounding it. To put it this way, I would have found Jack and Ellie's bumpy road back to each other still charming even without all the charms.
For everyone who can't resist yet another "friends-t0-enemies-to-swoony-kiss' novel, it's a still ends up as a satisfying 3 star read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
The Charmed List promises a lot of magical fun, and it definitely delivers. I got instant nostalgia for Wizards of Waverly Place in the way the magic is incorporated here, including the way the fear of the discovery of the existence of magic is baked into the story, including a reveal to Ellie’s best friend (which doesn’t go as well as it did in Wizards, unfortunately).
Ellie is a relatable protagonist, and I love how she has a pretty clear plan for how she hopes to shed her “wallflower” reputation. The “bucket list” setup makes for a cool structure to set the book around, and I love that the story sees her coming out of her shell and accomplishing her goals in ways she did not expect.
I felt a bit more mixed on the romance. I did eventually come to like it, but the dynamics between her and Jack at the start feel very petty. I guess that’s more excusable in YA, given younger people don’t always make the best decisions, but I still kind of wanted more substance to their falling-out. That said, once they have to hang out again, the story makes good use of forced proximity to bring them back together. And once that happens and they’re on their road trip, I did like seeing them reconnecting.
I really liked this, and look forward to reading more from Julie Abe in the near future. If you enjoy romcoms with a hint of magic, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Julie Abe, and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Known as the quiet girl in high school, Ellie is ready to change that and make a name for herself. She creates a list of thirteen things that she wants to accomplish to help her not be a wallflower anymore. How will she accomplish these tasks? By going on an epic road trip with her best friend Lia.
But when Lia sees Ellie performing magic to get revenge on her ex-friend Jack, she is in big trouble! Instead of going with her friend, she now how has to go with Jack and head to a magical convention for their parents. As they road trip, will Ellie and Jack learn to become friends or even fall in love?

I found both Ellie and Jack to both be very relatable characters. As someone who is almost 31, I don't always relate to the characters in a YA book. They were both authentic though and expressed their emotions. I think that is an important thing to do as a teenager/emerging adult.
I will recommend this book to others!

Right at the end of the school year, Ellie Kobata has her plans for the summer all mapped out: she and her best friend Lia will road trip down the California coast on their way to a convention and Ellie will complete all thirteen items on her Anti-Wallflower list so she can come out of her shell and start being herself! Whoever that is. But when a prank aimed at Ellie's former best friend and neighbor Jack Yasuda goes sideways and Lia finds out magic is real and Ellie has been keeping this secret (I mean, she has to...), plans change. Now Lia has to go to magic-education classes and Ellie and Jack are forced to complete the road trip together as punishment. Though she thinks her summer is ruined, Ellie might find out that completing her list - and reconnecting with Jack - might not be as hard as she thought.

The Charmed List is a sweet story of friendship, love, trust, and magic. I liked that the magic of this book isn't big or showy or life-changing so much as practical, small, comforting, and useful. Ellie and Jack don't use magic to fix their problems directly or easily, but the magic helps them to find each other again after years of misunderstanding and hurt. Though the intricacies of magic use are hinted at here and there, the story focuses more on the relationships between Ellie and those around her - this is mostly a good thing, though a bit more detail on how things work might have helped explain why some things are the way they are. The central conflict between Jack and Ellie is both relatable and also somehow a bit small to have created so much tension between them. At its heart, this is a book about love and friendship and how those things are more magical and precious than anything else we experience, so even if things are a little too neat at times, it can be forgiven since it gives us such a beautiful look into Ellie's world and heart.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing early access in exchange for an honest review!

Oh my gosh The Charmed List was such a cute read!

While I found the reasoning behind why Jack stopped being Ellie’s friend annoying I enjoyed watching them rebuild their relationship throughout the book. They’re an adorable couple and I can see them being the “married my high school sweetheart” couple in the future because they truly belong together.

I’d like to note that I’m not normally a fan of “sweet romances” but The Charmed List was a very enjoyable read for me! All the fun magical elements and the bucket list made for an interesting ride and captured my full attention. So don’t pass up reading this just because it’s sweet! You’ll be missing out on an awesome book if you do.

If you want a sweet YA romance with forced proximity, one bed, friends to enemies to lovers romances with a sprinkle of magic this is definitely the book for you!

LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK SO FREAKING MUCH

I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this review, because this book was so unique and unlike anything I had ever read before.

It’s a classic friends to enemies to lovers and was so cute and sweet, but what made it, well, magical, was, well, THE MAGIC!

The world Julie has created is just *chef’s kiss* spectacular. It made me smile, made me feel safe and cozy, and honestly I’m so upset it isn’t real (BUT ALSO MAYBE IT IS?!)

Ellie is about to start her senior year of high school and has grand summer plans to become less of a wallflower over the summer. She and her BFF make a whole list of things to do, but when she accidentally exposes herself and her family’s INCREDIBLE magical community to those who don’t know it exists, she is forced to road trip with her nemesis to a magical convention as punishment.

Jack, Ellie’s former best friend turned nemesis, has a lot of secrets he is keeping, largely around why he has distanced himself from his childhood best friend. But when he and Ellie embark on a road trip through hidden magical communities throughout California on their way to set up their families’ booths at the magical convention, those secrets start to be shared and lots of healing and feelings start flying.

Just go into this story without knowing much and I guarantee you, you will be whisked away and craving some yummy treats that may or may not have some added charms to make you feel more brave, confident and secure.

I highly recommend this quick story of friendship, adventure and young love to EVERYONE!

This was a sweet, light read perfect for summer. The magical realism was delightful and the setting was a lot of fun. A great quick read when you need a smile.

This is a really cute fun read with an adorable cover.

The story follows a magical girl named Ellie that makes a Charmed list to complete by the end of the summer to help her start to grow out of her shell. She was supposed to take a road trip with her best friend Lia to a magical convention. Ellie’s family was having a booth at the convention but things took a turn. Now she has to take the road trip with her ex-best friend Jack. I really enjoyed watching Jack and Ellie’s relationship mend throughout the story. It shows that everything happens for a reason. I also loved their siblings Cam and Remy and how tight knit they are. I also love how they are geniunely looking out for Ellie.

I just wish they would have explained the magic a little further. Maybe learning a little bit about how Ellie and Jacks family, and how they got magical powers. I did want to visit a magical cottage and town after reading this story. They sounded so quaint and lovely. Who wouldn’t want a bedroom ceiling to turn into a sky full of stars?!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press Wednesday books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

<b>"When I walk into a room, I see you," he says. "It's always been that way, from when we were kids, to when we didn't talk much, to now. I always see you first, and to me, you light up the room in color." </b>

Jack & Ellie. Swoon. The Charmed List totally has Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibes. I thought this was an adorable story!

<b>" where you go, I'll go too." </b>

THINGS AND STUFF
-loathe to love
-childhood friends
-second chance
-magic & charms
-family owned tea shop
-friend and family dynamics
-road trip!
-buck list
-dancing under the stars
-escape room
-#IsThisAKissingBook: young adult. "As if he wasn't just looking at me like he wanted to kiss me."

Thank you Wednesday Books for an advanced copy.

Song: Let Me Know by BTS

This was a sweet best friends to enemies to lovers YA summer romance I didn't know I needed. Set in a magical alternate reality of Palo Alto, Ellie and Jack belong to a secret magical community and are sent on a road trip by their families to attend a convention for magical store owners. Initially planning to go on the road trip with her best friend, Ellie's secret gets revealed causing a rift between the two and leaving Ellie left alone to complete their "Anti-Wallflowers" list. An attempt to get Ellie outside her comfort zone and take some chances before her senior year, Jack ends up helping Ellie come out of her shell and the two slowly rekindle their friendship and maybe more.

I loved the magical world the author created - the setting gave me lots of Ex Hex and Witches of Thistle Grove vibes but geared towards a younger audience. While lighthearted, the book does touch on some serious topics including the death of a parent from cancer, depression and the burdens of medical bills. I will admit I liked the friendship journey between Ellie and Jack more than their romance (it was lacking in chemistry imo). Overall though still a fun summer read. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Wednesday Books for the free book. This was a cute YA book. I really enjoyed the magic elements - they were unique and interesting. I liked the growth of Ellie and Jack through the book, but I wish it didn’t end up romantically because I had a hard time believing the pace of this relationship. Yes I know it’s YA, but there was a lot of hurt here, and I wanted to see more healing, I guess. It’ll be perfect for readers that want a story that shows what authenticity in friendships and more look like. Natalie Naudus narrates and is so spectacular in her performance. I love how she captures the characters voice, tones, and emotions in her narration.