Romina and Alex remind me of the phrase “right person, wrong time.” Romina seems super sweet. I wish Alex was a bit kinder to her. I was hoping for some more magical elements during the book. I also had trouble relating to Romina due to her greatest ambition, but that’s a me thing not her. If you like a second chance romance between high school sweethearts who want to have lots of babies, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a DNF for me at 13% and it's truly a case of it's not you, it's me! As soon as Romina revealed that her greatest ambition in life is to be a mother, I was out. Truly bummed because I was here for the whimsy and second-chance romance but the kid stuff is not for me.

DNF @ 50%. I really wanted to enjoy this book, because I loved "You Deserve Each Other" by the same author, however it fell flat for me. I couldn't get myself to connect to the storyline or any of the characters and it dragged on. I think the vibes and aesthetic of the story were very cozy and cute. I feel like I could like it, but I just wasn't in the right mood. If you liked "The Ex Hex" by Erin Sterling, this is like the spring version (second-chance romance with a side of witchy atmosphere).

This was a nice twist on a romance novel. I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading some more novels by this author.

Title: Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle
Publication Date- 04/02/24
Publisher- Putnam
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start of by saying I think this is a me problem. I did not enjoy this book very much but let me tell you why and focus on who will. Part of the struggle with publishing is authors and books being able to find the appropriate audience so I want to tailor my review to getting people to read this who have the most likely chance of enjoying it.

Old Flames and New Fortunes is a whimsical, silly, goofy romance story. We have a magical main character trying to find love again. This story is basically Halloween Town but make it a romance novel.

I really enjoyed Sarah Hogle’s Christmas romance that came out a few years ago. I would say this one is even more silly and goofy. Do not go into this book expecting super mature and well put together characters. Go in wanting to have a silly goofy time.

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
✰ 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
✰ 𝘤𝘰𝘻𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯
✰ 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵
✰ 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺

Honestly no one does second chance like Sarah Hogle!
I was absolutely charmed by this book! Cozy and witchy small town with great delightful characters, emotional and ansgty slowburn romance. I read it so quickly and was glad that I was able to read it in advance after being on my most anticipated reads of the year. I highly recommend if you're looking for something whimiscal and magical, but with great character development and the best a romance arc has to offer.

*arc kindly provided in exchange of an honest review

This book was really cute! Second chance romance is not always my favorite, but the characters especially Romina made it fun.
Rominas ex boyfriend Alex is back in town for his mother’s wedding. Romina hasn’t seen Alex in years and didn’t know what to expect. She certainly didn’t expect the feelings to come back so quick and hard. Meanwhile Romina is trying to expand her Fortunist shop. The problem is the potential investor is the groom. Romina even stooped to fake dating the investors son to get a meeting with him. This had me cracking up at the unmatched pair. Would you do anything to be successful.
I will say Alex was slightly infuriating and his expectations after being broken up for over a decade was weird.

So I really ended up liking this book! Based on the description I was intrigued and thought I was going to get a good second chance romance and I definitely did.

Overall, I loved Romina’s personality and how she was confident in who she is and doesn’t let the none believers get her done , such as Alex. Don’t get me wrong, she had her insecurities, especially when it came to her past with Alex, but it was realistic in how she dealt with her issues and was able to get over them. I also really enjoyed the flower fortunes and having the different flowers at the beginning of the chapters and their meanings. I think it showed how Alex was changing when he read her notebook and would leave her flowers showing his intentions.

Alex rubbed me wrong at first, but as the story went along you understood why he had acted a certain way. By the end, I loved his transformation for the character and he ended up redeeming himself.

I loved the relationships between the side characters and especially between the sisters. I definitely wanna know more about Morgan cause he seems super quirky and I can’t wait to see what t trouble he gets himself into. I can’t wait to read their stories and to see how their stories progress.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book.

DNF at 6%.

i was unable to get through chapter 1 without skimming. why you ask? the enormous amount of information dumping in the first chapter. if i can barely get through chapter one, there is no way i’m making it through the rest of the book.

The Tempest sisters, along with business partner Trevor, run Magick Happens. They’d long since run out out space, but the property they bought next door turned out to be a money pit and now…they need money. Romina is what she calls a Flora fortunist - uses her own brand of the language of flowers to magically encourage relationships along, and she *needs* that new greenhouse space functional

She thought she was walking into a business investment opportunity with Trevor’s father, a much more successful investor than his son.
Instead, Romina finds herself running into her ex boyfriend while pretending to be the new girlfriend of her business partner, who is the son of the man who she thought was there to offer financial assistance but is actually there to announce he is going to marry her ex’s mother - and if that is the most convoluted sentence I’ve ever tried to write…whew

This story had all the elements I’d normally love - witchy with interesting magic systems, fake dating, second chances.
But the characters were…something else? I just didn’t connect with them.
So even though i felt like I should have loved this, it felt like a miss. This could be a me issue though, not every character can appeal to every reader, so I would still recommend giving it a try if you’re a fan of supernatural love stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the opportunity to read this

This novel featured an unlikeable, pompous male character which I questioned "what" the attraction was for the female lead. The banter at their second-chance was cringe-worthy, and off-putting. This novels huge cast of characters was challenging to keep organized in the story.

I would've welcome more glimpses of their previous time together to make this roemance more enjoyable.

Rating 2.5

Thank you, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons

I had a fun time, not my fav romance. I do love me a good second chance romance but I kind of disliked Alex’s character which made me less invested in the story. Good banter is super fantastic but some of Alex’s comments were borderline for me. Honestly think it’s just a personal romantic preference but this one wasn’t my favorite.

ARC Review RELEASE DAY: April 2nd, 2024!

Thank you so much to Putnam Books, Penguin Random House, and NetGallery for providing me with this lovely arc.

This 100% would’ve been a 5 star read for me, had the middle portion of the book not occurred. I love Sarah’s work, more than anything I adore second chance romance. This was such a cute read, the magical aspect to it, the flower knowledge, the feelings shown in both end, all so so cute.

You Deserve Each Other stays being my number one favorite, as a second chance romance this was done well. They meet again years later, serendipitously. I think the timeline was done so nice and their relationship was cute, you can definitely see the feelings for each other always lingered.

- High school sweethearts
- Second chance romance
- He falls first, and harder
- Magic cozy vibes
- He gets jealous (a lot)

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, but it really just did not land for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read it.

Fun, quirky, and endearing -- this was such a cute story! I went into this one completely blind and admittedly, it started a bit slow for me. This is my first Sarah Hogle book and it took me a while to get used to her writing style. At times, it felt a bit too fluffy and overly descriptive, but once I got deeper into it, I was able to connect with the story and characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I was very excited to receive a copy of this book. I have really enjoyed some of the author’s previous books as well. This one did not disappoint. It is a fun second-chance romance full of interesting quirky characters. This book had a little spice, and was full of angst as well as a little bit of flirty fun. It was nice to see the characters evolve and try to work through their mistakes as the story unfolded. Each chapter was titled with a flower and a descriptor to tie it back to the plot. This story was a fun read. Some of the writing was a little silly and far-fetched but i loved the tender romance and the banter among all of the characters in the book. If you’re looking for a light and fluffy spring read, this would be a fun one to choose!

I love Sarah Hogle’s books. She’s excellent at creating iffy situations and then pulling it all together well.

However, I don’t like Alex. I saw another reviewer say he’s smarmy, and yes, I can get behind that. The thing is, he feels entitled—entitled to Romina. He feels entitled to barge into her relationship (fake or not) and to any intimacy she would have in that relationship, and frankly, that is downright gross.

Hogle wants to bind Romina and Alex through their past, but the reader doesn’t get to experience the connection that brought us here, nor the current one. He eventually calms down a bit and shows a softer, caring side that will go the distance, but boy, it is a hard road to get there.

Romina’s love of gardening leaps off the page. Because I didn’t feel the romance, I gravitated towards the other aspects of the story, such as the store, the magic, and the bond between sisters and friends. That is ultimately the draw of this book.

3/5

Sarah Hogle, how I've missed you!

This book is another second-chance romance with a bit of whimsy thrown in. I'm a huge fan of Ms. Hogle, so I am willing to give all of her books a shot, but unfortunately, this book was just not my favorite of hers. :(

I don't love second-chance romance in general, so that was already kind of a mark against this book. However, this is one of the only authors from whom I might enjoy a second-chance romance, so I was willing to give it a shot. I really did like the setting, the witchy, small-town vibe, and the overall aura of the book.

However, I struggled to like the main love interest. And if I don't like the love interest, it's hard to be excited about the romance. Also, the pacing was a bit slow, and I put the book down several times to pick up other things, which is rare for me with this author.

Overall, I'm glad I read this because I love this author, and I thought the setting and overall vibe of the book were cute. I love it when authors mix in a bit of whimsy, and I think Hogle adds just enough to make a book sing. I just think, in comparison to her other novels, she has told stronger stories before, and this one just wasn't my favorite. But, I am still a Sarah Hogle fan and am looking forward to the next one!

I’ll just jump straight to my thoughts on this, starting with what worked:

▪️ Romina and Alex were fascinating characters with relatable issues that grew on me as the story progressed. It took awhile, but by the end I felt invested in what the future would hold for them and hoped for their HEA! They had good chemistry, even if I wasn’t totally blown away by it.

▪️ There was an extremely unexpected twist in Part Two that I wasn’t sure I liked at first but ultimately did and thought it worked well with the plot.

▪️ The town of Moonville is magical and charming, so big points for the setting!

▪️ The story is well-written and I loved the details of what all the different flowers meant. Heading each chapter with a different flower and fortune was so clever!

Unfortunately, there was quite a bit that didn’t win me over:

▪️ This is my second Sarah Hogle book - the first being Just Like Magic, which was SO adorable and fun! Whereas that book had characters that made me laugh and had such a feeling of playfulness and joy to it, the first half of this book was more like being stuck in a car for a cross-country trip with two teenagers sniping at each other like children. Not so fun.

▪️ There wasn’t a lot of fleshing out of the other characters outside of Romina and Alex, so I never felt very attached to any of them. Trevor was so one-dimensionally immature that it wasn’t funny. His bro-talk and snarky “playful” insults were more cringey than humorous.

▪️ The book was too long. Shave 50 pages and nothing important would be lost.

▪️ The sex talk was painfully juvenile. Grown adults referencing “dicks”, being “sixty-nined”, “boinking", among others (Really? We’re sure these aren’t teenagers?)

▪️ Speaking of juvenile, the whole first half of the book suffered from an immature tone, so the second half had to do a lot of heavy lifting to get me invested in the relationship. It got there eventually, but in many ways the damage was already done.

Despite the less preferred elements, it’s a decent story, and I liked it well enough, but this was a very different experience than my last read from Hogle. It looks like it may be the first in a series, and if it is, I’m really hoping Hogle lightens the mood and lets her characters grow up a bit next time around!

Having loved another book from this author (Just Like Magic) I thought this would be a fun read. Wrong. The floral fortune mess was just confusing and a bit annoying and honestly all of the characters left me scratching my head. None of them made any sense nor did the6 gave any common sense. I found this impossible to enjoy as a result.