A great debut romance
"A delightful story about alternate timelines where one learns that even the tough things happen to set things in motion in a way you can't even imagine. I didn't realize until I had finished that this was the debut novel of the author who wrote the delightful Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance. Gemma is sick and tired of thinking about her ex who sapped so much from her and had her betraying her own dreams for his sake. Her aunt, trying to be helpful, passes along an old book featuring a forgetting spell. She doesn't really believe in it, especially the part where she needs to kiss someone, but in a drunken haze she does it, kissing her best friend in the process. She wakes up in a completely different reality, one where she pursued her dreams. I'm a big sucker for transformation stories so seeing how things could be different, while also learning more about her sister and taking a chance on something more with her best friend (who didn't know her because she met him and her ex the same night) was gratifying. The ending was just perfect. The biggest delight is that the story is set in Hamilton. When she talks about being walking distance from the GO Station, I know exactly where she is, as I had a friend I would visit frequently who was there. I did the Hamilton Fringe back in 2018 so I experienced the James Street vibe she talks about. I love that romance has evolved and Canadian authors no longer have to set their story either in the US or Britain. This is definitely worth a read."