The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee (review)

Sixteen-year-old Mimosa and her mother don’t technically make love potions; as aromateurs, they use their heightened sense of smell to essentially sense a person’s “scentprint” and use it to match them to a romantic partner. Mim accidentally gives an elixir meant for the school librarian to the recently divorced mother of the school’s superstar, matching her with Mim’s stuffy old algebra teacher, and Mim needs to “unfix” the match before her by-the-aromateurs’-book mother returns home. It’s not all that bad, though: Mim gets to spend plenty of time with Court, the dreamy son of the unfortunately fixed divorcee, and even though Mim isn’t supposed to fall in love (conflict of interest), it doesn’t mean she can’t flirt. This is a lighthearted romance romp made intriguing by its unique premise and Mim’s witty narration. Her descriptions of smells and their associated emotions (heartache smells like blueberries, thyme is reluctance) are vivid but not overly so, and the chain of unfortunate (but entertaining) events sparked by Mim’s mistake has an authentic, unforced flow. The secondary characters are mostly one note, with the exception of Mim’s Samoan lesbian friend, whose coming-out storyline is cheesy but a nice addition amidst the other heteronomative subplots. Mim and Court’s connection is well developed, particularly in in its heart-fluttery, blush-inducing innocence, while their complicated relationships with their respective mothers add a bit of depth to the froth. Romance lovers will delight in this perky bouquet of romance and heart.