This story is a second chance romance that centres around Imogen Finch, a woman who believes she has a curse that stops her from winning at anything - games, sports and her love life. The curse was predicted by her clairvoyant mother and Imogen believes it has impacted many aspects of her life.
The story is cute with a main character readers will root for, but the story didn't get going until around the halfway point and I felt the main plot got lost in the extraneous details. Much of the book is spent trying to break Imogen's curse and returning to Imogen's past, failed relationships. This gives readers insight into why she is the way she is and makes for a good coming-into-herself storyline, but the curse and the introductions to all her exes took up too a lot of page time when I wanted to focus on the current romance.
What stood out for me were the friendships between Imogen, Franny and Eliot. Friends since childhood, their bond is solid, and I enjoyed witnessing their support, banter and comfort with each other. The build up to the romance and the dialogue was delightful and I liked that the author gives Imogen a couple of romantic options. I was surprised that I wavered about who I wanted her to end up with.
Overall, this was a sweet story that allowed its characters to embrace their awkwardness and explore their trauma, within a story that has humour, heart and a side of quirkiness.
Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press for the complimentary digital copy of this title which was provided in exchange for my honest review.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Author: Jacqueline Firkins
Genre: RomCom, Romance
Type and Source: eBook from publisher
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
First Published: October 31, 2023
Book Description from GoodReads: A beautiful story of friendship, and second chances at love.
Imogen Finch has just been through her seventeenth breakup. She saw it coming, so she's not as crushed as she might be, but with all sixteen of her exes leaving her for other partners, she's come to believe a prediction her well-intentioned and possibly clairvoyant mother made over twenty years that Imogen would never come first at anything or to anyone. Is her love life failing due to a magical curse? Insufficient effort? Poor timing or personality mismatches? Everyone has opinions on the matter. Imogen's ready to give up altogether. But when Eliot Swift, her secret high school crush, returns to their small coastal town after a decade of nomadic travels, Imogen has new motivation to try again. Eliot's full of encouragement. He suggests that her curse is not only imagined, it's easily breakable. All they need is one win-- any win--and she can believe in love, and in herself again.
From trivia games to swimming races to corn-shucking contests, the pair sets out to snag Imogen her first first. But when victory proves more elusive than Eliot anticipated, and when his deep-seeded wanderlust compels him to depart for far away places, Imogen fears she's destined to remain in second place forever. Fortunately for them both, sometimes magic lingers in the most unexpected places. And love is far from predictable.
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