well, i really liked the premise of this book. two people trying to break a dating curse together, so they can find "the one"? sounds fun and it's obvious that they are meant to be. of course that doesn't take away the thrill of getting to know the characters. 
 starting with justin, i appreciate how he is the "most flawed" mmc of this trilogy (even if his flaws are just him holding grudges or being angry at stuff, lmao) and, well, i love me a nerdy boy who does nerdy stuff for the girl he likes! maybe him fist pumping in the air every time he got excited was a little cartoon-ish, but well, it didnt really bother me so much.
 then, emily was really nice. i could relate to some of her isolating/avoiding tendencies at some points and i really tried to empathize with her and the reasons why she acted in certain ways

even though, if we're being real, *her* curse only existed bc she has an avoiding attachment style and probably cut off every guy once she started feeling any kind of butterflies 😭

and i really loved the symbolism that her different homes held. 

even though i was disappointed that the curse plot stopped about 30 pages in, i actually liked the secondary plot of the different family dynamics of each main character and their relationships with their mom

it took me a while to realize who amber and neil were btw

and i ended up appreciating that they brought it up because it allowed to give the characters a desire for a more mundane type of love (having breakfasts together, taking care of each other when sick...) and omggg i always eat that kind of romance up. 

while reading, i wanted to give this 4 stars but the ending was *so* rushed, it left me wanting more and i think that's my main problem with this author. not every story needs a third act breakup that gets magically and quicky solved in the last 5% of the book, quite literally, because of the power of love 😭 i really wish we had gotten to see more of their healing process or their "make up" process because, no matter how forgiving you are, i don't think it's that easy to forgive someone after 6 months of ghosting lmao. 

so yeah, it may not be thee book of the summer, but i think it's a nice august/september read! 

ps. i like to think emily and i share birthdays because hers is some time during late september but maybe a week or two before october and mine is on the 22nd sooo