"The best friends to enemies-to-lovers story I needed in my life! The Charmed List utterly enchants with its delightful characters and heartfelt themes of family, friendship, and first love. I adored this fun-filled and swoony road trip romance with a magical twist!" ― Axie Oh, author of XOXO and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea Sometimes you need a little magic to fall in love . Ellie Kobata has spent most of high school on the sidelines, keeping her art Instagram private and shying away from the world. She can’t even tell her only friend, Lia, who she really is: Ellie is part of a secret magical community, and no one outside of it can know it exists. The only person Ellie could fully relate to was Jack Yasuda – her childhood friend who mysteriously started to snub her a few years ago. But before senior year, Ellie 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. With this list, she hopes to finally come out of her shell; even though she can’t share her full self with the world. But when number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong―revenge on Jack Yasuda―she’s certain her summer is cursed. Instead of spending her summer 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. Gr 9 Up-Ellie Kobata has been looking forward to her road trip for months, driving from Palo Alto to the California Magical Retailers' Convention where magical merchants like Ellie's parents can showcase their wares. Traveling with non-magic-aware best friend Lia poses some challenges, but Ellie is used to keeping magical secrets. She is excited to have Lia's help knocking items off her Anti-Wallflower List which Ellie hopes will be able to change her quiet girl persona at school into someone more interesting to her classmates and herself. Ellie's high hopes for the trip are dashed when item four-getting revenge on her ex-best-friend Jack Yasuda-goes horribly wrong, leaving Ellie grounded for the foreseeable future, in a fight with Lia, and, worst of all, driving to the convention with Jack. With so many disasters, Ellie's list is starting to feel as if it might be cursed, but as Ellie and Jack are forced to spend time together, they might also have the chance to rehab their friendship and maybe even check off some other items-like dancing under the stars and falling in love. Abe's YA debut is a delightful standalone filled with romance and magic. Artist Ellie's initially prickly narration will win readers over as she explains details of her magic-aware world. Ellie is Japanese American; Jack is biracial Italian American and Japanese American. VERDICT Fans of the romance genre will recognize tropes including hate-to-love, there's only one bed, and more in this cozy and engrossing story about second chances and new beginnings.-Emma Carboneα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. "The best friends to enemies-to-lovers story I needed in my life! The Charmed List utterly enchants with its delightful characters and heartfelt themes of family, friendship, and first love. I adored this fun-filled and swoony road trip romance with a magical twist!" ―Axie Oh, New York Times –bestselling author of XOXO and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea "A delightfully sweet escape. This magical enemies-to-lovers romance made me grin and tugged at my heart―I’m thoroughly charmed!" ―Rachel Lynn Solomon, nationally-bestselling author of Today Tonight Tomorrow "If you could press the feeling of summer nights, birthday candle wishes, and first love in the pages of a book, you would get The Charmed List . Not only is this a sweet romance that sparks with magic, it is also a heartfelt story about taking chances and becoming your own definition of brave." ―Sarah Suk, author of Made in Korea "This novel is a charming welcome to YA!." ― Buzzfeed " Abe’s YA debut is a delightful standalone filled with romance and magic." - School Library Journal Julie Abe is the author of many books, including the EVA EVERGREEN and TESSA MIYATA middle grade series, and the young adult novels OUR CURSED LOVE and THE CHARMED LIST. She has lived in Silicon Valley, spent many humid summers in Japan, and currently basks in the sunshine of Southern California with never enough books or tea, where she writes stories with a spark of magic.