Let me start by saying “fantasy” or this type of romance that includes witchcraft or components similar is not usually in my wheelhouse house. I typically don’t select books in this genre. That said I truly truly enjoyed this.

A story of broken hearts, healing & being repaired while also being refilled with love. There are so many things about young love that as an adult feels both immature & not lasting love. In many instances it can if allowed but I firmly believe both individuals MUST grow individually & together as a couple to last. This is true of the storyline of Romina & Alex, which was both charming and sweet. In their case growing separately as adults & eventually finding their way back. I liked that it was clean smutty not hyper detailed or exaggerated. Which could have been considering there is a magic component of the story.

I absolutely loved Rominas powers being tied to flowers. Flowers carry so much meaning, depth, and emotions naturally that really tying this to her storyline brought a ton of depth! Not to mention I loved the stories of her fauna fortunes!

I hope we get more in this storyline! I would LOVE to read more about these two as well as her sisters!

Excited to read other books from Sarah!

Huge thank you to G.P. Putnam via Penguin Random House Press & NetGalley for this early reader copy in return for my honest review.

Since I read You Deserve Each Other, I knew Sarah Hogle would be an auto-read for me. This book was no exception. I have officially found my book boyfriend.

I was hesitant when I started reading this book as I thought it was going to turn into a friends to lovers situation. I'm not a fan of that trope, but boy was I wrong! This was an angsty, magical second chance romance. I loved the flower meanings and the imagery Sarah created. The side characters were phenomenal.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam and Sons and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review. All above thoughts are my own.

Thanks @netgalley @putnambooks and sarah_hogle for the chance to read her forthcoming book, Old Flames and New Fortunes. It releases on April 2, 2024.

In a small, magical town in Ohio, Romina practices flower magic with her two sisters. She uses the language of the flowers to help her clients manifest love in their lives. After having her heart broken twice, Romina isn't interested in her own happily ever after. Business is booming and they need money to fix up the lot they purchased next door to their shop. When their landlord's wealthy father comes to town, it's their opportunity to ask him to make an additional investment. Complicating things, the wealthy dad is marrying the mom of Romina's childhood love and for *reasons* Romina and the landlord decide to pretend to be in love. Shenanigans ensue as Romina's ex challenges their story at every turn. Being this close to her old flame brings up long-buried feelings. Can they find their way to being together again?

Steam: 🔥🔥
Tropes: magic, second-chance romance, fake dating, meddling family, small town

I loved this so, so much!! I read this twice on vacation because I just wanted more of Romina and Alex.

A second-chance romance about high school sweethearts, Romina is swept back into Alex King’s charms as he returns to town for her mother’s marriage. This has a sprinkle of fake dating, a dash of small-town charm, and so, so much romantic tension. The flirty banter? made me giggle, blush, kick my feet in the air!!

In a moment of protectiveness for her friend Trevor, Romina gets entangled in a fake relationship with him mere moments before she runs into her ex-high school sweetheart whose mom is marrying Trevor’s father. A relationship that Alex, her ex, doesn’t believe is real—this ensues a string of hijinks as Alex tries to see through her lie and flirt his way back into Romina’s heart.

This is the perfect second chance romance for lovers of the trope, and also for those who don’t love this trope—the biggest gripe I hear about this trope is that often it’s told with dual timelines: past and present, and never enough time to show why they still belong together. Sarah Hogle completely knocks it out of the park, rarely using flashbacks to their high school selves, and only at times to blend significant moments together.

The reason for their break up at eighteen and their rekindling was realistic. Romina and Alex still held such affection for each other—never really having gotten over each other. What I loved most was that Sarah Hogle created two characters that I can stop and think, “yeah those are soulmates.”

This second chance romance was entertaining, It brought back Alex and Romina and after all the years since their break up its obvious the love never faded. I love all the magical vibes and her title of flora fortunist is so cute. Alex and his dismissal of her magic which I found annoying. You cant be so dismissive and almost ridicule a person for their beliefs, especially when its been shown to important to her and has made for a successful business, Besides that Alex is a dream and I love how he doesn't believe Romina is dating Trevor because well she isn't. Their little back and forth are so cute. A love story that is quiet literally magical.

I really enjoyed this! Sarah Hogle's novels are always lovely to read, and this one is no exception. The angst was definitely there, and the relationship between the two main leads was really sweet. I think where this book lost me a little bit was in the transition between will-they-wont-they to when they actually get together. It felt like it happened due to external circumstances and the main character actively choosing to tell her love interest that she wanted to be with him. It just would've been more impactful and meaningful if she had told him herself. But as it was I still enjoyed this!

I love a good second chance romance- I did not love this book. The male main character was missing the redemption that he needed, and after about halfway through the book, I didn't want him to get his HEA anymore. This could have been really great, but it landed in the just "okay" category.

Romina Tempest and Alex King were high school sweethearts. It’s now several years later and Alex is back in town for his mother’s wedding to Romina’s business partner’s dad.

✅dual timeline
✅sister vibes
✅fake dating
✅ second chance romance
✅ romcom with both rom & com
✅ when the rom hits, it’s all golden light and soft focus (just picture it, and that feeling is what you get when you read this book)
🌶️: slowish burn but worth it
✅ set in Ohio, specifically Moonville Ohio which is close-ish to Columbus. This has nothing to do with plot but my fellow Ohioans may enjoy the shoutouts

If you like books with floral themes, forget me not by Julie Soto and Lease on Love by Falon Ballard are really enjoyable too!

A small town second chance romance with magical realism.

What do you do when your ex walks back into your life after years of no contact? You fake date your friend, obviously. The problem is your ex sees through your ruse and you can't deny you still have intense chemistry.

There was a lot to like in this story but it was a little too zany for me. I did love the relationship between the sisters and the elements of magical realism. The secondary characters were delightful and I loved the small town setting. However, the pacing was a little off for me and I'm not sure how I feel about the MMC's big secret and how it was handled.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC.

I really really enjoyed this romantic comedy. I just wish there was a little bit more witchiness to it. I adore this entire family of women, and hope we get to hear more of them 🤞🏻

My Rating: 4.5 rounded up!


Thank you to @sarah_hogle and @putnambooks for giving me an e-ARC to read!

It took me a chapter or two to get absorbed into the story and then I found I could not put it down, and finished it in nearly one sitting. Old Flames and New Fortunes releases April 2, 2024.
There are laugh out loud moments, and moments where I had to pause briefly because I found myself crying. And then the plot twist at the end of part one?! SARAH!!! The entire time, it’s impossible not to root for Romina and Alex.
This is a beautiful second chance romance, full of friendship, family, and sisterhood. I cannot wait for Zelda and Luna’s stories (PLEASE TELL ME WE ARE GETTING THEIR STORIES!) Ugh. I love The Wilmot Sisters Series from Chloe Liese and this is such a treat to (hopefully) see another trio of incredible females come alive from another wonderful author.

Sarah writes of Ohio and has us all believing it is the most romantic state in all the US. And now she has us questioning if everything else we have come to believe before learning about the magical, romantic, historic town of Moonville are lies told to keep us out of Ohio.

Single POV - FMC
Strangers to friends to lovers to strangers to lovers
Dated in high school
Small town
Fake dating - but not how we normally see it!
Second chance
Mutual pining

FMC Romina Tempest, an intuitive florist aka flora fortunes at The Magick Happens (run alongside her two older sisters who all embody a little bit of magic and practice modern day witchcraft)
MMC Alex King, construction/roofer

Why say I love you when Alex tells Romina: “I would’ve picked up the sun with my bare hands and moved it if you didn’t like the position of your shadow.”

Thank you so much NetGalley and Putnam for this ARC!

I usually enjoy all of Sarah Hogle's books, but this one lacked the charm and flow that previous ones had.
The relationship between Alex and Romina felt forced at times, and made it difficult to connect with them enough to enjoy the story. Rather than feeling connected and "in the story", I found myself remembering this was a book and I needed to finish it.

There is a big secret to be revealed and this can be off putting to some readers. That said, I think the magical aspect of this makes it worth a read for some.

There’s something so magical about Sarah Hogle’s books. This book was perfect in every single way. I’m such a fan of second chance romances. Romina and Alex used to date once upon a time. She’s now trying to secure more funds to cover the expenses of her joint business venture with Trevor. As they’re getting ready to pitch ideas to Trevor’s father, they run into Alex and act like they’re dating. From their chaos ensues as Trevor’s father reveals he’s getting married to Alex’s mother!

Alex clearly knows something is very fishy about their relationship and he’s determined to uncover what exactly is going on. Of course Alex being on a goose hunt causes laughs and some good scenes. I really loved both characters! Sarah does such a good job of making the reader feel attached to these characters. This is my third book by her and I just can’t get enough.

This second chance small town romance follows Romina, a flora fortunist, and her ex-high school sweetheart, Alex. After years of no-contact, Alex comes back into town for his mothers wedding and runs into Romina, who decides to pretend to be dating someone else.

While the witchy small town vibes were great, this had some issues. One of my main problems with second chance romance is that often most of the tension between the two love interests is created simply by stating that they were in love in the past. This had a couple of small flashback scenes, but not enough to make me believe these two people had a great love story. Once Romina and Alex are back in the same place, a lot of their “flirting” is incredibly childish insults, which is cute in high school, but less so once you are an adult. I also struggled with Alex’s constant teasing about Romina’s career - I don’t really buy all the witchy stuff either, but being so adamant about your disbelief to the person you want to date is kinda shitty, especially when they are so passionate about it. Let people love what they want to love, you know?

The author did a nice job explaining Romina’s trust issues and traumas from past relationships, but I did not totally buy that Alex really helped her get over them..? It was a promising moment of potential character and relationship growth that fell flat.

The “secret” Alex was keeping seemed to bother a lot of readers, which is valid, but I was not super upset by it. Alex and Romina did not communicate well at all for the majority of this book, and they hadn’t done a lot of catching up. Alex failing to mention something important about his life was not super surprising. I did enjoy the eventual conclusion of the story. I found this romance to be fun and easy to read, but not super believable or mind blowing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was charming and engaging. Strong characters in a compelling second chance romance, with some light magic sprinkled in. There's so much more going on here than the central romance, and the scene-setting was as wonderful as I've come to expect from Hogle.

I'm not someone prone to forgiveness, and I struggled a bit with how it was handled in this book, but overall an excellent read and a great FMC.

Is this…my new favorite book???

How fortuitous that my first approved request on netgalley was a book by one of my favorite authors. I should turn this account into a Sarah Hogle fan page.

Romina and Alex are high school sweethearts, but they haven’t spoken in years. When Alex appears in town for a wedding, Romina ends up fake dating Alex’s future step brother in an effort to make Alex pay for what he did so many years ago. (Chef’s kiss. No notes.) Obviously, that doesn’t work out well. Go figure.

Some highlights:
- Magical flower picking
- Angsty scavenger hunting
- Affectionate jewelry stealing
- Hot roof repairing
- Sexy car chasing

You know how I feel about Sarah Hogle. And you KNOW how I feel about a second chance romance. This book is so wonderful 💚 I preordered it when I was about 20% of the way through the ARC. (It’s an investment in my future. IYKYK.) Out on April 2, 2024!

Fake dating trope with magic mixed it? Yes please! I was so into this book. I loved every word of it. In my top 5 favorite fake dating trope books!
I just reviewed Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle. #OldFlamesandNewFortunes #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Sarah Hogle’s mind is a magical, creative place. I love love loved Romina and her journey and Alex as a partner for her. Some of the pacing felt a little off to me, but that might just be because I wish there had been more of Romina and Alex’s relationship earlier on and maybe a little less of sticking to a lie.

Old Flames and New Fortunes was a delightful and swoony second chance romcom read. If you love a small town setting, some magical realism / light witchy vibes, a fake relationship and family dynamics this one is definitely for you.

This one felt magical in the best way, it had just the right balance for me. I loved getting to know Romina Tempest and her sisters and adored the family business angle. The flora fortunes and magical ability by way of that was such a fun and interesting premise, I know nothing about flowers or the language of but this read got me interested.

Romina and Alex were both such great characters. I adored their story, they were so intriguing together and had great chemistry and I was very invested in seeing how their HEA would unfold. I liked the breif glimpses into their past too.

This book had me laughing out loud a few times with those classic romcom shenanigans, smiling throughout, and also left me a little at moments.

It was a well written, balanced and paced read - definitely left me wanting more. I was so pleased with the heartwarming ending, and hope that a certain bit was hinting at future Tempest sister stories to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an early copy! 💜

4.5 ⭐️

Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle is a captivating novel that tells the story of Romina Tempest, a flora fortunist who owns a shop in a magical town called Moonville in Ohio. Romina uses the language of flowers to help people manifest their love lives, but she gave up on her own love life eleven years ago. When she learns that the financier who might help her expand her business is getting married, she sees an opportunity to discuss her plans, but she needs a wedding invitation, so she agrees to fake-date her chaotic colleague Trevor.

However, Romina's plans go awry when she discovers that her high school sweetheart and greatest love, Alex King, is Trevor's soon-to-be stepbrother. Romina decides to make Alex pay for breaking her heart, and they start a fake-dating scheme that lasts for a week. As they spend time together, Romina realizes that she still has feelings for Alex, but she is torn between showing him what he lost and risking her business.

Old Flames and New Fortunes is a beautifully written novel that explores the themes of love, forgiveness, and second chances. Sarah Hogle has done an excellent job of creating a story that is both heartwarming and thought-provoking. The characters are well-developed, and their emotions are portrayed with great depth and sensitivity. The magical town of Moonville adds a whimsical touch to the story that makes it all the more enjoyable.

Overall, Old Flames and New Fortunes is a delightful read that will keep you hooked from the beginning till the end. If you are a fan of romance novels that are both sweet and complex, this book is a must-read for you.