(No title)
Bye Baby
by Carola Lovering
5 stars
Psychological Fiction
Dual POV

Billie and Cassie have been friends forever but drift apart after so many years. This starts with a baby being taken, then they jump back 50 days to explain what led up to it all. Also, they jump back to when both girls were younger and how their friendships went along the way—showing how they grew closer and then apart. It takes Billie a lot to realize Cassie isn't what she needs in her life and it's okay to move on and grow apart.
I loved this read it had me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. I love how they show you the toxic friendship and how friends grow apart and we don't need to keep everyone in our life. It's okay to grow. It also shows the struggle of a relationship not being perfect and how not everything in life will go your way.

Thank you, Net Galley and St Martins Press for this eARC for an honest review



This Spells Love
by Kate Robb
4 stars


After Gemma goes through a hard break-up her Aunt Livi shows her a little spell that will help her. Gemma, her aunt, sister, and a hot best friend Dax. Sit to work through this spell and a lot of alcohol. After the spell, Gemma wakes up in a different bed, different everything. After she gets her bearings, she has to decide to stay in this other lifetime or go back to what she is used to.

I loved the whole, magical, whimsical, and all-around little charm. My favorite character was Aunt Livi love her; she is all around the best. I enjoy Gemma and Dax they are a cute friendship and I love watching what happens. Gemma's sister is badass and Oh my god the doughnuts they talk about can we get a recipe, or can I get a doughnut that sounds that amazing, please?

The only thing that drove me nuts was how stuck in her little world and the problems Gemma had. She doesn't figure out what is going on with Dax or her sister which okay really it doesn't take a genius to figure it all out.

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC for an honest review.

This was a cute story that I enjoyed. There were great relatable snippets of the characters that I loved and because of that I enjoyed their character arc. A nice lighthearted read that would be good for a rom-com loving book club!

This Spells Love is an adorable and emotional romcom by Kate Robb. Thank you to her, Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with this ebook ARC. I am voluntarily reading this review ✨

This Spells Love is exactly what I’ve been craving in romance! Gemma and Dax’s romance felt so real and true, it was perfect. Gemma’s character growth and self-reflection was so rewarding to see, and it made me think about my own life, too. This title was also so entertaining and made me laugh out loud! 🩷

I also sincerely appreciated the subtle, nonchalant way the author described Gemma as childfree. Neutral and positive childfree representation in media is so scarce. Thanks for including this in Gemma’s characterization 🫶🏻

Overall, I adored This Spells Love and it’s an easy five-star rating. You’ll love this is you enjoy friends to lovers, time travel, entrepreneurial women, and emotional rollercoasters ✨

This Spells Love took me by surprise - in the best possible way. After a breakup with her boyfriend Gemma gets drunk and has her aunt cast a spell to make her forget about him and make it all go away. The next morning Gemma wakes up to a completely different life. In some ways this life is really good, but in other ways it's bad. They need a full moon to do the spell again so Gemma has a month in this new, seemingly better, life. Gemma grew so much in This Spells Love. You could feel everything as she makes realizations that what appears good might not actually be good. One of my favorite romances of the year.

I could fall in love with this book in any alternate reality! I loved the concept of Gemma, her bestie sister and wackadoodle aunt conjuring up a spell to help Gemma forget her life with her good-for-nothing ex. However...that's kind of where the magic ends. I was hoping for more of a witchy vibe!

Luckily, a different kind of magic happened! In her new alternate reality, life has completely changed, and Gemma gets a new lease on life, work, and falling in love with her best friend Dax (who was obvi in love with her in her original reality!). This was such a cute book and I loved Gemma and Dax's chemistry.

There were some character flaws, like why wouldn't Dax fight for Emma in the other reality if he loved her that much. Or why was Gemma so self-involved that she couldn't see that her sister needed her help SO MANY TIMES. I also wanted more of Dax and Gemma in their regular timeline. Plus, more of Sunny!! Overall, this was so cute and flirty and fun!

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

Sweet romance novel. This definitely makes its readers believe two friends can become lovers no matter what timeline they’re on.

In This Spells Love Gemma is struggling with the breakup on her 4 year relationship. Her aunt suggests them to a spell after drinking margaritas…I mean what could go wrong after drinking.

When Gemma wakes up she realizes that without Stuart her life would be completely different. She’d have the business she always wanted but not her best friend. After living in her new life for a few weeks she realized it wasn’t what was best for everyone else so she chooses to go back to her original life. But takes some of the parts that she liked to make her OG life even better.

This Spells Love was funny from the beginning. I loved all the characters especially aunt Livi because who doesn’t love a crazy old lady!

Definitely read This Spells Love if you’re looking for a lighter, funny read with some witchy vibes to it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Dial Press for a copy of This Spells Love in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Random House Publishing for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Alternate reality, friends to lovers, magical

I don't always like memory loss type books, but this was good. What a great debut. It was cute and funny. I loved the characters. It does get a bit repetitive and does more telling than showing. I do recommend it!

I like coming across parallel/alternate timeline romance stories and this was a great debut! There was a lovely friends-to-lovers romance with a sweet, cinnamon roll MMC and lots of character development for the FMC. I loved how Gemma slowly became more confident in herself and her abilities. She has a lot to learn but I also found her quite self-centered at times. She never noticed that Dax was struggling because she just assumed that his business would be successful in this timeline too. And she fails to understand that her sister has her own problems too. She does realize her mistakes later but I'd have liked her more if she'd cared about them the way they cared for her.
And though the romance was sweet(and surprisingly steamy!) I found it hard to believe that Dax wasn't weirded out by her stalker-ish behavior at first 🤣 In Gemma's real timeline he has been friend-zoned for more than 4 years but we never get a glimpse of his feelings completely. I'd have liked more scenes with actual timeline Dax and Gemma!
But overall it was a great debut and I can't wait to read more from this author!

I was a little dissapointed with this one, while I enjoyed the story and the writing, there was little to no witchy vibes which was the draw when I came across this book.

Truly the only "witchy" thing about this book is the "spell" that is essentially the premise for the entire plot.

Dax had such potential as a love interest however we spent the vast majority following him in an alternate timeline rather than the original version of him which felt like we got a secondary love interest instead of a second chance romance feel to the relationship. I was also not the biggest fan of Gemma’s personality, overall I found her lacking growth and maturity.

All those small personal preferences aside I did find it to be a quick and easy read that still felt like a charming little romcom with a more unique plot than your standard romance so I would still suggest to give this a try. I feel I may have gone into this with the wrong expectations and that’s a me problem not Kate Robb’s problem. I did truly enjoy her writing and quirkiness in her ideas for this book and look forward to trying the next release in September of 2024 :)

This Spells Love
*Friends to Lovers
*Alternate Universe
*Magic
*Magical Realism

Thank you netgalley for the advance readers copy. This spells love by Kate Robb is an easy to read book. Her main character Gemma goes to alrernate universe when she do the love clense. In the alternate reality, Gemma realizes how her bestfriend Dax is so important to her and He is the one. But Dax doesnt know her. There are alot of realization for Gemma during her time at the alternate reality. I hate how Gemma's character is self absorbed and doesnt see others is also struggling. Her sister deserve better.

I hope after she got back to her real reality, we could have a glimpse of the alternate reality. What happen to Dax and her sister after she left.

5⭐️ 2🌶️ 🎧
This book was so incredibly cute!
It’s friends to lovers where our FMC drunkenly casts a spell with her aunt and sister trying to erase her ex from her past. She wakes up extremely confused and finds out that the spell worked and unfortunately it also erased her best friend from her past as well and now he has no idea who she is.
I honestly loved everything about this. It was cute, it kept me invested in the plot and the characters, it has some spice in it but not too much and I adored the romance.
I highly recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley for the cutest ARC. This book has my heart! After going through a bad breakup, Gemma makes a wish and has her waking up in a different life. The only thing that's the same is her best friend, Dax.

This Spells Love is a lovely little rom com that has a pack of spice right in the middle. I will definitely check out other books by Kate Robb.

This book definitely gave me all the happy feelings that I didn't know I needed. I found myself losing sleep so I can keep reading it and I am no upset about it one bit.
It definitely gives 13 Going on 30 meets Practical Magic vibes, let me explain how.
Our FMC Gemma just got dumped, and she leans on the support of her older sister, spiritual but fun aunt and her best friend Drax, to help her through it. While having some margaritas, they decide to perform a love spell to make it so that she never met her ex to begin with, but little did they all know that the silly spell was going to work!
The elements of magic in this book were subtle but prominent at the same time. Fate and manifestation truly played a big part. Oh and Gemma's aunt is my favorite character. She definitely knows things, but allowed events to run their course so that our MCs could resolve the conflict on their own. Dax, our MMC, is such a gentleman!
All I can say is that this book was filled with all the parks that come with a whimsical, magical, RomCom. Along with added bonuses like, Friends-to-lovers, second chance romance, and some toe-curling spice!
I couldn't put it down and after finishing it, I found myself wanting to reread it all over again.

This was an interesting read, with a unique premise, great characters, and good plot!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This was ✨magical✨ and I loved it. Time travel romances can be tough but Kate Robb got it right with this one. Loved it!

Well, well, well. Did I end up having a great time with this book! For me this book flexes between a 3.75 and 4 so I am rounding up to 4! Why do I like this book? WELL, I am a Sliding Doors girl so anything that lives in the realm is a joy to me and I actually did not know that is what I would be getting with this book - I thought we were going to be following more of the Ex Hex vibes so I was pleasantly surprised. The chemistry and core relationship between Gemma and Dax is what you hope for and the relationships Gemma has with her sister is also one I was happy to see. Where did this book fall short? There was a bit of repetition in Gemma expressing her concerns on why a certain relationship work, like girl, we get it. I also felt that the potentially magical aunt could have been touched on a bit more to make that side of the story feel more flushed out instead of just a vehicle for the plot to move forward.

All in all, I had fun! I am intrigued to read more of Kate's work. If you're looking for super witchy vibes, this is not the book for you!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review,

It took me a while to get into this book but once I did, it was hard to put it down. I loved the witchy romance of this book and it would be perfect to pick up again during Halloween/fall to see if it gets better during that time of year. Although it took me about 5 sit downs to actually get started with this book, it was worth the read.