This Spells Love by Kate Robb

May 21

Synopsis

What if one little wish changed everything?

When Gemma (POV Character) gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she reacts the way any reasonable twenty-eight-year-old would: by getting drunk with her sister, kooky aunt, and best friend, Dax. After one too many margaritas, they decide to perform a love- cleansing spell, which promises to erase Gemma’s ex from her memory. They follow all the instructions, including a platonic kiss from Dax to seal the deal.

When Gemma wakes up, she realizes that this silly spell has worked. Not only does it seem that she never dated her ex, but the rest of her life is completely unrecognizable. The worst part: Dax has no idea who she is.

To reverse the spell and get back to her old life, Gemma must convince her once-best-friend-now-near-stranger to kiss her. But as she carries out her plans, she finds herself falling for him—hard. Soon, Gemma begins to wonder whether she even wants to go back to the way things once were. What if Dax was The One all along?

*Blurb taken from Goodreads

Review

This fun and refreshing friends-to-lovers plot had me so bubbly that I finished the whole thing in a night and a morning. Gemma was an endearing protagonist with some erratic quirks who, due to a tumultuous upbringing, craved stability above all else. When this desire comes at the cost of Gemma’s dreams and her chance to be with the love of her life, the universe tosses her into an alternate reality where she gets to see a path she might have taken. I’m a sucker for stories like this. Especially when there isn’t a clear choice, because both possibilities have beauty within them. And that’s what made this ending so much better: Gemma gets to blend her worlds as she sacrifices comfort for happiness.

The secondary characters in this romance are truly wonderful. I especially loved Gemma’s sister, Kiersten, who supports Gemma with her snarky attitude, lascivious comments, and wholehearted belief that her sister can accomplish anything if she’ll simply make the choice to go after it. But with Kiersten we also get the depth of a mother of three who had to put her career on hold and now realizes that she lost her self-identity somewhere along the way. It’s truly heartwarming to see these sisters come together to create a business that brings them both joy. I also have to give a shoutout to cooky Aunt Lily, who certainly had some clairvoyant abilities happening, even if they were merely hinted at.

The relationship between Dax and Gemma comes off as real. (You know, omitting the whole alternate reality hiccup.) And while that may seem like an odd thing to point out, I’ve read so many romances that are conveniently thrown together with highly unrealistic circumstances. Daz is a precious, considerate, kind, consenting gentleman with a mischievous side. These two truly are partners, and they care about one another. Even as Dax’s profession falls apart around him, he remains enthusiastic and supportive over Gemma’s success. Gemma, in turn, does everything she can to help Dax regain control of his dreams—even when that means she has to return to her previous reality. They were cinnamon rolls together. Cinnamon rolls that definitely didn’t skimp on the icing and who spent a good amount of time in the oven, if you know what I mean—nudge, nudge. (BAHAHAHA, I crack myself up.)

I do think playing with timelines in romances gets tricky—how similar can people really be? Robb did a good job solidifying that, yes, original Dax and alternate-reality-Dax are in fact very similar. So similar that Gemma can tell from the minutest of expression changes how Dax feels, and Dax mentions a few times that it seems as though he’s known Gemma longer than he actually has. It’s a subtle way of nodding to skeptics and saying “I know, but I promise they really are essentially the same people with slightly different life circumstances.” This is, after all, a romance, and not a piece about the devastation that comes with altering the space/time continuum. We rolled with it, and we enjoyed it immensely!

I’d definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a fresh take on a friends-to-lovers romance that also emphasizes some common themes seen in women’s fiction. A great cast with some interesting philosophical takes. Plus, there’s curling! I love me some recreational sports in a romance!

Critiques

Gemma had an unsettling level of cluelessness when it came to basic social queues. She couldn’t figure out that alternate-reality-Dax was broke despite the obvious signs, and she completely ignored the blatant observations she made about Kiersten seeming stressed or having random meetings. Gemma lived in her own little bubble, which was irksome, but I let it slide because the focus of the story was about her two potential futures. Still. It kept this rating lower than it might have been.

Um … the tow truck ride? Gemma is grinding on Dax (whose lap she has to sit on due to lack of space), and you expect me to believe that the tow truck driver was completely clueless? Nah. I’ll buy into the alternate reality, sure. But I refuse to believe her and Dax got away with minor exhibitionism without the man sitting directly next to them noticing. I cackled at this impossibility of that one.

More a critique of the title and cover, but I was expecting more witchy-ness in this. Aside from the spell book that Gemma takes as a joke, as well as the way we can interpret Aunt Lily as having some psychic-ish abilities, this doesn’t have witch vibes. No big deal and I liked it regardless, but it is misleading.

Nothing too mind-blowing happens here. Aside from the concept twist of an alternate reality, everything comes across as your general romance. It’s certainly a solid plot with solid prose and solid characters, but I’m not blown away by craft or content. Which, again, isn’t a critique so much as an explanation as to why, despite the fact that I really did enjoy this, I rated it at 3.5 stars.