Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier?
Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation ever: Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can't help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones—and maybe even fall in love all over again. (Pub Date: Dec 12, 2023)
I don't remember if I picked this book because I knew it was the second in a series, but I do remember well the first story, and I had enjoyed it a lot. So, as soon as I realized I was reading this time the story between the younger siblings of the first book's couple, I got excited. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good. And the cover? And the title? They give you all the wrong the idea of what to expect.
This story, unlike the first one, takes place in Japan, but it's also about a trip Remy and Cam take to Tokyo, where their sister and brother live now, and where Remy wants to enroll for college. Remy has liked Cam forever, but she never seems to get the courage to confess, and now they might go separate ways, since he plans on attending MIT, it may be her perfect but last chance. That's when she finds out she actually has no soulmate, takes an ancient love potion, and thanks to that, Cam forgets everything about her. They have a few days to relive their memories before the effects of the potion become definitive.
I had trouble feeling interested by the story. Both characters are fine, the world-building is still super interesting, but the events and their consequences felt shallow. It wasn't even a matter of "oh I already knew what was going to happen so I didn't care about all the drama". I had real trouble caring for anything. Unfortunately, I can't point out what was at fault. Perhaps, there was too many stimuli for me to focus on the real matter. Maybe the organization was lacking. In the end, as much as I could relate to the problems the characters went through, I don't remember one part I really cared for them. It just felt shallow. Moreover, it didn't help the book's case that Cam's conflict didn't have enough time to be developed. I still don't get much how the event that brings him to said conflict was enough for that. Then again, him not remembering enough of it for a part of the story makes it hard to show it to us readers too.
We also have a bunch of interesting side characters of which we get a glimpse of depth but then that's it. I wasn't a fan of how any of them developed or acted in the story. Likewise, I think I'd have preferred the story to be just about Remy and Cam, and less about a trip to Japan. It was distracting.
As second books in series tend to, this wasn't a good follow up. It lacked the feels of the first one, and maybe it wasn't ready to be released yet. But it's still a pleasant read that stands apart from regular YA romcoms.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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