This Spells Love: A Novel

by Kate Robb

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK • “A romcom-meets-magic delight!”—Sarah Adams, New York Times bestselling author of Practice Makes Perfect

A young woman tries to heal her heartbreak by casting a spell to erase her ex from her past, but she wakes up in an alternate reality where she’s lost more than she wished for in this witty, whimsical friends-to-lovers debut.

What if one little wish changed everything?

When Gemma 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?

• ISBN10: 0593596536
• ISBN13: 9780593596531
• Publish Date: 5 December 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Dial Press Inc.,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593596531

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Second Chance / "Glimpse" Type Tale Done Right. This is one of those second chance/ "glimpse" type tales ala the late 90s/ early 2000s movie The Family Man with Nic Cage and Tea Leoni done *right*, complete with wildly alternate lives for the male and female leads in this particular tale. And done by a debut author, and set in a suburb of Toronto to boot. So hey, a lot going on here to make it its own - yes, including brief discussions of a multiverse scenario. So if you like your romances with a tinge of magical realism/ scifi-ish ideas... this one is for you. That noted, if you're among the "clean"/ "sweet" romance crowd... eh, this probably has a lot more thinking and acting on sex than you'd like, including some rather graphic terms... at least according to those types of sensibilities. Again, the actual spice level here is probably more akin to a chipotle - not actually all *that* spicy, but far more spicy than some stomachs can handle and perhaps far more spicy than some minds *want* to handle. Still, as long as you're aware of that up front (thanks to reading this review), you can make up your own mind. Ultimately, I thought this was a particularly strong effort from a debut author, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Ms. Robb is capable of in her sophomore effort. Very much recommended.