I thought this book was going to be more Halloween due to the title of the book, but I was quite surprised!
In this book, Gemma was dumped by her boyfriend Stuart and she wished she had never met him. Her aunt owns this eclectic bookshop and after too many margaritas, with the help of her sister Kiersten and her best friend Dax they perform a love cleanse so that it was like she had never met him at all. She enters a parallel universe and I didn't think she'd get back to the her normal timeline. She works her way through this parallel universe to see what life would be like if she didn't meet Stuart and she falls in love with Dax instead.

The ending was so adorable it brought some tears to my eyes! I loved the relationship between Gemma, Kiersten, and her aunt! They were supportive of each other and always dropped things to be there for each other.

I would recommend if you enjoy:
⭐️Friends to lovers
⭐️Rom-com
⭐️Paranomal Romance

I'm a huge fan of magic realism and this book did not disappoint. I couldn't stop reading it, it was so cute!

This was SO CUTE. basically had heart eyes the entire time reading it. I wish it came out a different time of the year, because I feel like it would have gotten more hype. So glad it was at least a BOTM pick.

I read this in a day, and I think that is one of the highest recommendations for a book. I was glued to the page, loving this book.

When Gemma’s boyfriend breaks up with her, she does a little “love cleanse” spell with her kooky aunt, sister and totally platonic, hot best friend Dax. The next morning, Gemma wakes up and her world has completely changed. She never met the boyfriend, but she also never met Dax, and now she has try to get him back in her life and decide if she wants him as a friend or something more.

I am the target audience for a book like this, I loved Sliding Doors and alternate realities and things that explore what if?

Although I don’t love friends to lovers usually, this one was surprisingly un-annoying about the agonizing over potentially ruining a friendship by trying a relationship.

This was written by a Canadian author and set in Hamilton, Ontario, so I was totally proud that the first Drake reference didn’t even happen until the epilogue 😂 It was also so nice to recognize all the brand and store names for once in a book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

After a bad breakup, Gemma does the only reasonable thing a person could do: a love cleanse found in an old book in her aunt's dusty shop. Sealed with a kiss by her (platonic) best friend, Dax, what could go wrong? Gemma wakes up the next day to realize that her ex has indeed been wiped from her life, and her new life is profoundly different... so different that Dax doesn't know her.

So the premise to this one is a little strange, a little fun, a little... unbelievable? Time traveling books always confuse me a little. The hardest part of this one is that it's difficult to understand why Gemma is suddenly so adamant that Dax, her best friend of four years, should suddenly be her boyfriend in her new timeline. Her obsession with him is borderline creepy. Dax, meanwhile, while momentarily weirded out that a girl shows up seeming to know everything about him, easily adapts and wants to date her, despite the two not really having anything in common. Gemma's early attempts to bond fail, and while the book has a ton of steamy scenes, I'm not sure they have a ton of chemistry together. Gemma has one month to get Dax to kiss her (it's a full moon thing) and revert back to her old life, but soon she starts to wonder if she should stay in her new life.

I did quite enjoy the side characters, like Gemma's quirky aunt and her poor sister, who deserved so much more appreciation. It was interesting to see how Gemma's life differed in her two timelines, and the focus on small business ownership was intriguing. The book had a good focus on believing in yourself and not being afraid to fail.

Overall, I think this is a cute read if you can get past some of the weirdness about Dax and Gemma's friendship/relationship choices.

I'm always a little hesitant about time travel/time slip books but I really enjoyed this one. It takes place in Hamilton, ON and in Toronto which is super fun as a Canadian.

Overall I enjoyed the characters, Gemma is funny even when she's a little cringey. My only issue with Gemma was that she was quite oblivious to very obvious cues about Dax's alternate life. Dax was very hot love interest. I loved that her aunt livi judges people's credibility off of what they read. There was lots of growth for Gemma, which time slips support so perfectly. Plus there is a good bit of spice.

This romance set in Canada is a friends-to-lovers magical realism (loose witchiness but not witches and think Sliding Doors kind of?) story that utterly captivated me. I loved the characters, I found the book impossible to put down because I needed to know how it would resolve, and both timelines had their moments! Naturally, stories like this require a bit of suspension of belief but as someone who reads for escapist joy, I don't care about any of that and I was just here for the characters and their moments.

Fans of friends to lovers stories like Lovelight Farms would likely enjoy this too or really anyone who enjoys stories about the one being right there in front of the main character. There is a great sister relationship with a lot of realness, and the business elements of the character's careers were fun too.

I definitely recommend this one! It is not a Christmas or holiday read despite its publication date. It'd be a good one to add to your wishlist though!

I really enjoyed this rom com overall, super cute. My other gripe with the character development. Most of the side characters and relationships felt underdeveloped.

First Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin books


Charming, cute, whimsical, relatable and honestly
One of the best witchy rom coms I’ve read!!!! Like most witchy rom coms the FMC casts a spell to forget her ex and shit hits the fan but in This Spells Love the FMC Gemma does a cleanse with her aunt sister and best friend and end up in an alternate timeline where her best friend is not her best friend, she’s not living in a condo but she did open her dream store. Gemma realizes that maybe this alternate universe isn’t so bad and her best friend Dax is starting to become more attractive to her l. Everything seems to be going well a little too well…..

This story was so unique, it was funny and cute and I felt like the characters were relatable. I also love how the supporting characters were just as interesting and funny as the MC’s. This book will definitely have you reflecting different life choices you could have possibly made years ago. This will definitely be hit around spooky season and to fans of witchy romance.

Tropes
Magic
Alternate timeline
Friends to lovers

I did not want to put this book down. I love the split timeline and what happens when you make different choices plot in books. I love how much she grew throughout the book. Dax is such a perfect book boyfriend no matter which timeline you pick. I was a huge fan of the growth Gem had during this book and would love to see what the other Gem did when they switched places and then switched back. This book had me hooked from the beginning and I’m a sucker for friends to lovers so this take on it had me giggling and kicking my feet the whole time. I also loved her sister Kristen so much. She was so funny and I love the sisters relationship with one another. ( I had finished this book prior to the release date but ended up getting the flu and forgot to send you my feedback. I really loved the opportunity to read and review this book and have already shared my excitement with many of my friends.)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
🪄 friends to lovers
🪄 magic ✨
🪄 alternate universe
🪄 HEA
🪄 a lil spice 🌶️

As soon as I read the description of this one I knew that I was going to love it. This book is so much different than the usual romance script that most romance books follow! When Gemma gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she decides to cast a spell to make it so that she never dated the d*bag… when she wakes up though she finds herself in an alternate reality where her life is completely different and her (male) best friend doesn’t know who she is. To get her life back on track she must convince him to kiss her. During the course of this new life she finds herself falling for her best friend …
This book was funny!! I literally laughed out laugh a few times and I absolutely love that; not enough books make you genuinely laugh 😜
I really really liked these characters! I don’t often connect with characters in books but I absolutely loved Dax and couldn’t wait to make it to the end so I could see him and Gemma get their happily ever after 💕
This was such a quick read for me! Once I started reading I was completely drawn into the story and I read the whole thing straight through 😜
I really enjoyed this book! It was my favourite that I’ve read in a few months for sure 💕

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you’d made different decisions? I think we’ve all done that. Well this book answers the question! And not surprisingly things never work out quite the way you’d expect. Such a good book. Yes there were plot holes you could drive a truck through. But the book was entertaining enough that I could mostly ignore them. Still wondering about other Gemma a bit but I digress. Well worth reading. Two thumbs up.

This was such a cute book! I enjoyed all of the magical themes, as well as the characters. It is always interesting when someone loses their memory. I love how this book played out, and I hope others enjoy it too. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Dial Press for an advanced copy!

Gemma is dealing with heartbreak after being dumped by her long-time boyfriend as any woman in her late 20s would: by getting drunk on margaritas with her sister, aunt, and best friend, Dax. Gemma's aunt encourages her to try a cleansing spell to erase the memory of her ex-boyfriend.

What happens though when one little wish changes everything she holds dear in her life?

I really enjoyed this friends-to-lovers story. Aunt Livi was one of my favorite characters with her witty comebacks and intuition. It was interesting to see Dax and Gemma's relationship in each reality but loved the fact that they always seemed to have a strong connection to one another. The angle with them in a curling club was a fun addition to the story. My final favorite in this story was the sisterly bond. With a sister who is 5 years younger, I loved watching Gemma and Kierst's relationship grow by the end of the story. Their relationship reminded me of the one I have with my sister and it was fun to see their love for each other's dreams.

I'll never decline a story centered around a ~magical realism~ time traveling moment. Gemma makes a wish over a cleanse that takes her to another timeline, and then learns some life lessons along the way. I loved seeing the way little moments impacted each version of the world Gemma was living in. One complaint though is that our supporting characters (her sister and her aunt, mostly) were essentially props. They had a little bit of a story, but were mostly just called in when Gemma needed them for support. To be fair, this was one of the lessons Gemma had to learn (about others having their own lives, and how they aren't just there to center her experiences), but it still felt like we were just bringing these characters in so Gemma had someone to bounce things off of.

Overall, a cute read that I enjoyed, but there are other books with similar premises that I think are better.

Life got in the way with this one, but once I picked it back up I knew this would be a winner. As someone who's a sucker for a time slip, this book hit all the right marks for me. Dax and Gemma are a friends turned lovers dream. They had chemistry, hot tension, and endearing qualities. This had I'd fall for you in any universe vibes and I just swooned the whole time.

4.5 stars.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This is the second book I've read consecutively that deals with the altering of time so the main character can get a different view of their life. I think it's interesting that two similar storylines can come out on the same day from different publishers and wonder if it's a conscious decision due to trends in publishing or possibly just happenstance. I will say that the two stories are not so similar that I felt like it was a rinse and repeat situation.

Going through a breakup after four years together, Gemma Wilde looks to rid herself of her ex and what better way to do so than drink tequila and perform a spell - as one does.

Well, turns out Gemma wakes up in an alternate timeline where she never dated her boyfriend. To top it all off, looks like she's quit her corporate job and opened her own clean beauty shop - a distant dream in Gemma's previous time. Everything seems better. Then the other shoe drops and Gemma finds out that her best friend Dax doesn't know her in this timeline.

Doesn't matter how great things are, a world without Dax as her best friend is not one she wants to be in. She has a month until the moon aligns and she is able to perform the spell again to right time. But in order to do so, she must be friends with Dax as he helped perform the spell in her timeline. But as Gemma moves through her new life and learns things about herself that she barely dreamed of, she also starts to see Dax as something more than a friend. But what is she willing to sacrifice in order for things to be perfect?

I like the way that Kate Robb builds up the new timeline. At first seeming like the ideal life for Gemma to pick up on, to the point where she questions if staying would be such a bad thing. Looking closer, she sees all the ways that her changing even the smallest thing can have far reaching consequences.

I don't know that this story tells us anything new that we haven't read in countless other stories that force the main character to re-examine their lives. I wish that there had been more focus on Gemma's family. One thing that I absolutely loved is that Gemma was never alone in this new dimension. She still had her family and I loved seeing how she could confide in them and, whether or not they believed her story, they still accepted Gemma and supported her. I think there could have been a few more avenues to explore because, as we discover, the timeline didn't just mess with Gemma and Dax's relationship. Everyone around her is a slightly altered version of themselves.

Overall, though, it was a very thoughtfully crafted story about how sometimes we get so used to what is safe and secure that we forget how great it feels to take risks.

I'm certainly looking forward to what Kate Robb brings to us next!

Set in Toronto, this best friends to lovers romance is low stakes and had a bit of magical realism.

There were some things about the book that weren't for me based on my personal preference. It was nice to see Dax and Gemma get a chance to build a new relationship, but their physical relationship in the second half felt out of sync when Gemma had to go back to her "real" life. I would have liked more space back in the "real" timeline for Dax and Gemma to explore that together for the first time.

That said, the author did provide some great details:

"Goodnight, Dax McGuire," I call to him.
"Goodnight, Gemma McGuire," he calls back.
"Slip of the tongue?" He shrugs and smiles.
"Something like that."

3.5 stars rounded up.

*I was provided an ARC copy of this book via the publisher & NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

After having a chaotic childhood, Gemma Wilde has always chosen the safe and practical options in life. Same job for years, same relationship for years, same donut order. When her four year relationship ends, her aunt invites her over for a "love cleansing" spell so she can wipe away her ex from her life. However, when she wakes up the next day she has woken up in a different timeline of her life. In this timeline she didn't meet her ex or take the safe routes along the way. But this also means she never met her best friend, Dax. Now she has to try and recreate a friendship with Dax, but finds herself falling in love with him. Should she stay in this timeline or go back to her real life and risk never having a romantic relationship with Dax?

I enjoyed parts of this book, but overall it felt way too predictable and cheesy. The alternate timeline felt SO rushed with Gemma forming a relationship with Dax. I love a friends-to-lovers rom com, but this was just a little too unrealistic. It was a cute debut novel, and a very lighthearted read. If you are a fan of Jasmine Guillory or Josie Silver this is probably a book you would enjoy!

This Spells Love by Kate Robb was a seriously fun, fast read. I enjoyed the relationship between the main character and her sister and grandmother. I loved the friend to lovers. I loved that it had an alternative time line. I felt like it lost a little steam about halfway through, but once the attraction that had been building, boiled over, it got back in the swing of things. Might have been just a small passing issue for me. I don't want to give the ending away but the decision she ended up making felt like the right one and everyone was happy. Thank you NetGalley for access to the ARC. I would recommend this book to people. I really enjoyed it.