The Charmed List by Julie Abe

e-Audio, 07:32:33
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Release Date: July 5, 2022
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: July 18-20, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Death of Parents from a car accident, Grief 
For Readers Interested In: Magical realism, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Romance, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, YA

     After spending most of high school as the quiet girl, Ellie Kobata is ready to take some risks and have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List—thirteen items she’s going to check off one by one. She’s looking forward to riding rollercoasters, making her art Instagram public (maybe), and going on an epic road-trip with her best friend Lia.

     But when number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong—revenge on Jack Yasuda—she’s certain her summer has gone from charmed to cursed. Instead of a road trip with Lia, Ellie finds herself stuck in a car with Jack driving to a magical convention. But as Ellie and Jack travel down the coast of California, number thirteen on her list—fall in love—may be happening without her realizing it.

     In The Charmed List, Julie Abe sweeps readers away to a secret magical world, complete with cupcakes and tea with added sparks of joy, and an enchanted cottage where you can dance under the stars.

 

*MY THOUGHTS*

I swear I say this every time there’s a book with miscommunication enemies to lovers that I read. And this is one of those times. I know this is YA so I do think the miscommunication was acceptable because they’re teens, I know they’re angsty. But still it was annoying af lol But I think it’s just a me thing. That I just don’t like them. Whether its YA or NA or adult.

I DID like the way the magic was done in this one. With the charms and trinkets. It was pretty cool. And the hidden like towns and other magical things were pretty cool. I can definitely say the phone screen powder thing would be hella useful lol (Especially my clumsy ass lol) It was just pretty cool to see how the characters controlled it and how they used it for some of the most ordinary things.

The characters were a different story. I liked Jack. I thought he was super sweet, just misunderstood. Ellie was not a great person to share a headspace with. She was upset at Jack the entire time, a lot of it foe things that he couldn’t control. Did she give him a chance to explain? Of course not. Was I super angry about that? No. I know teens are dramatic, but this made me roll my eyes every single time she brought it up. It was just annoying. Every single character was selfish and I didn’t like many of them lol But it didn’t make me hate them because they seemed like teens being teens. Again, I think it was just me being over the situation.

Now, you’re thinking “If this isn’t what you wanted, why did you read it?” Because I liked other parts of it. I was interested in the list. And I was also interested in the romance. When it finally got cute, I found myself saying “Awww” out loud. It was so weird because I didn’t like them apart, but I liked them together. I think because them apart was when all the not talking was happening. Whatever it was, it was a lot better when they were together. Unfortunately, that was only at the very end. There really wasn’t a clear time of them together besides that. Once they finally make way, the third act break up came and it was time for them to “spring apart” then as well.

Lastly, I LOVED the audio experience. But I mean, of course I did. It was Natalie Naudus. She is EVERYWHERE! And for good reason. She just won an award for another audio of hers I loved. She has a great voice that does the right inflection along with doing a great job of telling the difference between the voices of characters and being able to portray their emotions. It was a good performance.

Although this is a YA book and they had some issues with a few things, overall the magic was good and the romance was very cute. It does pack a bit of an emotional punch tho, so be prepared for that. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for me to say it was more than just ok.

Overall, I give this