There was nothing wrong with this book, but maybe it just wasn't for me, so please bear that in mind while reading the review.

Alex and Romina were together in high school but broke up before going to college. Shortly after their breakup, Alex and Romina do things for th purpose of hurting each other (as one does when they are 18 and have broken each other's hearts); however, they reconnect when they are 29, and what happens then is when this story starts to fall apart. Romina winds up in a fake relationship with someone who is technically her boss, and whose father is marrying her exes mother. High school hijinx ensues, and Romina finally comes clean about the ruse, and she and Alex get back together. Honestly, the story could have ended there, but I feel like there were additional plot points added to keep the story going, which caused the book to drag a bit. It felt odd that Romina has lived her whole life in a small town but hasn't seen her most recent ex since they broke up 2 years ago, and we don't see or hear from him in the story, and that although she believes Alex is her one true love, she isn't sure if she can handle dating somebody with a kid again. Again, this plot point just felt a bit forced, and the story, quite frankly, felt more appropriate for college-aged characters, not 29 and 30-year-olds.

This book is so cute!! It’s giving witchy cottage core and I am so here for it! Hogle does a wonderful job at making you feel like you’re there with Romina Tempest as she goes through her memories of her past and as she moves forward with what life is throwing at her.

Romina and Alex were high school sweethearts, until they aren’t. In a tragic break up, they make the choice to never see each other again- it just hurts to much to see each other.

Romina ends up in a fake relationship and isn’t sure how to move forward in it when she bumps into Alex after years of not seeing him. Does she choose to stick to the plan and keep lying, or to follow her heart even if she thinks it’s lying?

This book is witty and enduring. It’s also a deep look into how the past can play a huge part into love and how you move through the world. With a little bit of spice, this book has something for everyone!

I really tried to like this book. But I was finding myself wanting to DNF it multiple times. It just didn’t do anything for me. I felt as though the chemistry between Romina and Alex was forced, and the fake dating scenario between her and Trevor was just dumb. I did enjoy the magic element and the fact that Romina’s flowers held a different type of magical power depending on what you needed in your life. I loved her outgoing personality but Alex can kick rocks.

I’m not sure if I would say I enjoyed this as much as You Deserve Each Other. But there were a lot of things I enjoyed. The magic was fine, if super simple. The characters… oof. I honestly wasn’t sure how much I liked any of them in the beginning. Even Aisling.

However, as the story progressed, they each grew on me in their own way. Trevor mellowed out, thank god. Mr. Yoon softened. And Alex. God, at first he was seriously insufferable. The amount of answers I owe someone I haven’t seen in eleven years are exactly zero. So his bs really kind of killed me. His wounded expressions just… it didn’t endear him to me in the way I think the author intended. However, about the time Miles showed up, it was honestly like a switch was flipped. Not in any way that felt out of character. But in a way that took him from ghost of his 18 year old self and into the almost 30 year old he was supposed to be.

The shining moment of this book came when Romina voiced her fears. The thing she was most afraid of. And Alex responded exactly how any man should. He heard her. LISTENED. He found a way to work with her fears without making her feel guilty about them or turning it into a fight. It was maybe the most realistic and mature interaction I’ve read in a romance novel. For that alone, this book gets four stars.

Loved it! I don't know how Sarah Hogle comes up with these fantastic ideas, but I am delighted. "Old Flames and New Fortunes" is a super soft witch story that also manages to be intense and dramatic. And it's ridiculously hilarious!

The single POV from Romina rachets up the tension. I felt so absorbed in her relationship with Alex. Their romance is an excruciatingly perfect blend of laugh-out-loud fun and emotional complexity. I desperately hope this becomes a series of the Tempest sisters.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

DNF at something like 12 or 13%. I think this writing style wasn't for me - there was nothing inherently bad about the book or anything I didn't specifically like plot-wise. It just didn't hook me and was very...ethereal? I put it down and just never had the desire to pick it back up unfortunately. Just a case of "not for me"! So don't let this review sway you.

I truly enjoyed this magical second chance romance. Each character was written so well. The sarcasm and goofy humor had me literally laughing out loud. I loved the very real elements of sadness, and how grief doesn’t just go away. You have to process it. It was overall a wonderful read and I highly recommend. Thank you netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

I have absolutely adored whatever Sarah Hogle has put out. I’ve loved every second of every moment of her books, I’ve enjoyed being in her worlds more than anything as I’ve found a sense of comfort in her writing and romances and characters. And this was no different. Nicholas and Naomi have a special place in my heart, but this book, with its wittiness and quirks, holds a special place in my heart too. Watching the main characters cater to each other once again and grow from being distant strangers to once again lovers was beautiful. I loved the vibes of this book too, so well done and so much fun.

This could have been so good if I liked the leading man. I thought he was insufferably rude and annoying and I didn’t like the way he treated Romina, no matter what she thought of it. I don’t usually need to like characters to enjoy a book EXCEPT in romance. The rest of the story was cute, though the side characters felt really shallow. Also, the book was longer than it needed to be. Overall, this had a good premise, but fell short for me.

I absolutely adore Sarah Hogle, so I’m incredibly sad to DNF this book- I might come back at a later date, but the writing was really hard to get into, and by the time I did, the reveal gave me the complete ick.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. I will continue to read this authors work, she is brilliant. I wish I had loved this more.

This was such a fun book! The story is set in Moonville, Ohio. It's a small town where gossip spreads like wildfire. Romina is a flora fortunist who knows exactly what flowers people need to make their wishes come true. She has 2 sisters and one works her magic through candles in the shop with her.

Trevor is the owner of the shop and Romina ends up in a fake dating scenario to try to ask his dad for more funding to save the shop. Little does she know, his dad is in town to announce his wedding to Trevor. Cue in Alex, the ex, the high school sweetheart, and the one who stole Romina's heart. Oh yea, and Trevor's dad is marrying Alex's mom!

Those first love feelings come rushing back for both Romina and Alex, and Trevor soon finds himself pining over one of his former loves too. Who ends up with who? Did they save the shop? Will Trevor and Romina come clean? All questions are answered as you will frantically flip the pages speed reading to find out what happens next!

I really enjoyed this book and the character development. Everything was a good pace and I loved reading Romina and Alex's story and also really enjoyed the inner dialogue being expressed for the main characters too. If you like witchy, small town, fated mates, and a good romcom, this book is for you!

I haven't read anything by Sarah Hogle before, but I enjoyed this one. It was a cute love story.

I always enjoy a romance with some witchy vibes. I would have enjoyed a dual POV because I have read so many of those lately, but that is more a me problem than a problem with the book!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin-Putnam, and Sarah Hogle for an ARC of this book!**

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...

But you can skip the cauldron...because ALL Romina needs to tell your future?

One PERFECT flower!

Romina is a flora fortunist (floral witch) meaning rather than a crystal ball, she uses flowers to tell fortunes. Snug in the aptly named town of Moonville (a bit on the nose, but okay!) she helps others find their forever love after losing a chance at her own many years ago. Alex King is the one who got away, her high school crush and greatest heartbreak, but Romina has spent the last several years throwing herself into her work and trying to put this romantic misstep far out of her mind. As a co-owner of the store The Magick Happens, Romina and her sisters Luna and Zelda (nope, no Sabrina!) and her friend Trevor all aspire to expand the business and attempt to snatch up some more land with the goal of expanding their witchy enterprise.

But as is often the case, money gets in the way, and the deal goes bad, leaving the store owners in a tizzy. They hope to find a financial backer, and Trevor's wealthy dad is in the perfect position to bail them out...but it's going to take some convincing! Romina knows she has to get an 'in' with the family, and decides fake dating Trevor is the perfect way to endear herself to the Yoon family. Romina DOES eventually get the chance to make the pitch at Trevor's father's wedding...but she can't believe her eyes at the identity of his betrothed: it's none other than Alex King's MOTHER...meaning Alex is also in attendance at the wedding. Seeing him again secretly feels like kismet...but since now Romina is 'dating' Trevor, she decides to use this opportunity to make Alex PAY.

With sparks continuing to fly, however, cutting snipes start to feel more like flirty banter...and Romina wonders if this is her chance to rewrite history...or if Alex would even WANT to give their love another shot. With so much hanging in the balance, from potentially losing her entire business to potentially letting the love of her life slip away yet AGAIN...will Romina find a way to listen to her heart? Or will she decide that her Flower of Fortune is less rose...and more like a poppy?

So let me start off by saying...I'm not sure what exactly has happened to Sarah Hogle and the direction of her writing. I grabbed You Deserve Each Other, and when I say it's when of my favorite romance books EVER...it's no exaggeration. From the slow and steady build, the snarky, clever banter of her protagonists, to the REAL emotional underpinnings that caused me to reflect on my own relationships on a level that actually brought TEARS to my eyes...I felt I had truly stumbled upon a SPECIAL romance author...the kind that makes me want to dive into the genre more and more.

But with the saccharine sweetness of Twice Shy, it seemed like Hogle started to make a turn...and it seems like now she has decided to set up camp in the Land of Witchy, Fluffy, YA Romance...which is a town unfortunately populated by overly convoluted plots with immature characters that had me fighting the urge to skim from start to finish.

The fact that even writing this synopsis was difficult speaks to the sort of messy way the premise was presented...not to mention, it's a messier premise than it needs to be in general. When the focus was on Romina's long lost love and it was described in sort of a wistful way, I was on board. I thought the floral fortunist angle was something different, and that learning about this 'brand' of witchcraft would be fun...but it quickly lost its luster. Between dealing with the whole messy business dealings (and why they were trying to expand a successful shop that was already thriving where it was in a SMALL TOWN) was sort of beyond me, trying to work in discussion of Romina's sisters (who frankly didn't get their due as characters either) and dealing with Trevor's eccentricities...the story was covering a LOT of ground, but not in a way that fully immersed me in the world of the book. I found myself outside looking in, wondering who these characters REALLY were, and why for people their age, they read more like teenagers.

And then of course, between Trevor and Alex...let's just say there weren't any LIKABLE male characters in this book whatsoever. I honestly couldn't tell which one of them was worse at times. If Romina was just trying to date both of them to find out who was more irritating, THAT honestly would have made more sense. I wanted so much depth out of the relationship, but honestly, I just found both the fake and REAL feelings sort of...meh. Once we FINALLY got into spicier territory, ironically, it picked up a bit for me...but I think this speaks more to Hogle's capabilities as a romance writer in general rather than the specific relationships mentioned here. Romina also has sort of a weird fixation on having children, and sort of glamorizes and romanticizes the entire experience in a way that felt very off-putting to me. It felt more like a teenage babysitter cooing over how cute babies are than a woman who wants to build a family and raise a PERSON...and I guess now that I'm a mom myself, it just made her character seem even MORE immature.

This book also just FEELS long in the way that fantasy books also can feel painfully long to me at times, and there was no part of me that was ever particularly excited to pick this one up and finish it. I felt myself dissociating from the story...a LOT...and had to force myself to keep turning pages, and at times it was VERY hard to fight the urge to skim. Apparently Hogle was teeing this up to be a series (?) but I must have been so checked out by the end that I completely missed that...and needless to say, I think I'm all set after volume one.

And although Hogle seems to have veered sharply from the vein of complex, emotional, funny, adult romance and into the land of fantasy, witches, and highly improbable scenarios...perhaps all it would take to get her back on that path would be a little bit of magic.

Oh, the irony...

3 stars

From the start this book wasn’t getting more than three stars out of me unless a romance miracle occurred. I started this book FOUR separate times before finally forcing myself to continue the dang thing. It’s a very sloggy start. (I know that’s not a real word but there’s no other word to describe it.) So many characters right away, also there are magical flowers but are they witches? Magic is such a mild sprinkling in this book I didn’t exactly grasp the concept of it. There’s so much going on right from the start and I put it down so many times that the ARC I received was no long an ARC when I actually read it because the book is already out in the world now. My bad, Putnam. My bad.

So after slogging my way through the intro of this very detailed magical(??) town we get to the hero Alex and some thrown together half assed fake dating scheme with Trevor that is just playful enough that I’m gonna open my heart to the possibility of a romance miracle occurring in this book. This miracle doesn’t occur and I found myself just mildly amused throughout the course of this book and skimming through some very long internal dialogues about past boyfriends. That’s the bummer about second chance romances is at times they’re so engrained in the past that the present loses its power. Romina is having to look at what happened all those years ago, look at her last relationship SO DANG MUCH that I’m not excited about the pining and tension in the present. If anything I’m like “Girl, MOVE ON! Live for now!!” Which isn’t a super fun place to be.

And also that fun little twist we get from the hero makes me want to strangle him and me want to shake the heroine. That’s always a fun place to be.

And the stupid thing is I really love Sarah Hogle’s first two books. I really thought I was a super fan, but these last two fell flat for me. I don’t know that I’m a fan at all anymore 😩

Stunning novel. Sarah Hogle never fails to bring out the ugly crier in me. Her books are tender and so full of heart and this one is maybe the best example of that. I will fight wars for these MCs.

Heat Factor: It’s kind of a slow burn but it’s hot with angst

Character Chemistry: It’s pretty good, I must admit. Garden witch meets contractor.

Plot: Romina is thrown together with her first love, Alex, when her business partner’s dad becomes engaged to Alex’s mom. And then she has to sort through all her baggage (which is substantial).

Overall: Haters are going to hate but the adolescent yearning and angst flat out works in this setting and with these characters.

I have found a book that will make Erin’s face get all the disapproving wrinkles—and it’s the first in a series.

In this we find Romina, who is a garden witch and lives in a shop run by her and her two sisters. They lost ownership of the property itself when her parents divorced and her mother sold it to Trevor, who is their eccentric business partner. The sister’s grandmother, who was also a witch, told them that in the span of one year, they’d each fall in love with the person they were meant to be with, and they’d know it’s meant to be so when they saw a silver luna moth.

So anyway, Romina and Trevor end up pretending they’re dating in order to convince Trevor’s father to invest money into their magic shop so they can expand Romina’s garden and make a little market. Alex is…visibly skeptical and obviously not cool with it. There’s a whole lot of angsty drama around this subterfuge, obviously. Very teen.

Around 60% of the way through the book there is a HUGE, HUGE plot twist that I really can’t tell you about or it’ll ruin it for you. But suffice it to say, there’s another layer to Romina’s baggage from a previous relationship and it all kind of comes to a head. Again, a lot of angst and drama.

So I think at this point it’s quite clear why Erin’s head would pop off drama-wise: we have lying for ridiculous reasons, misleading investors, people brooding and making ridiculous missteps when they could just open their mouths and talk it out, et cetera and so forth. But here’s why it works:

Romina and Alex fell in love as teenagers, and Alex apparently loved Romina starting at fourteen. You know how you go home for holidays and your family knows exactly how to push all your buttons (because they created them in the first place) and you regress to seventeen? Well, that’s how this reads. Romina and Alex have BOTH worked really hard to become the adults they are now, but when you put them together they’re just hormones and hurt, all over again. And that’s how it reads! I think it would be weird if they fought over teenage hurts like adults. That would make them very childish. But to have two adults temporarily regress? I think that works.

Also by 75% they’re connecting as a do-over. Slowly, carefully unpacking their pasts, discussing ways they could move forward. Their maturity rebalances as the plot progresses, just as I would expect it to.

Ultimately, this book kind of cemented that I may be entering my witchy romance novel era, which is fitting because I have recently acquired two jet black kittens with green eyes, so, I’ll probably be waiting for the next books in this adorable series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

Sarah has such a great voice and knack for capturing emotions in her books. Add a little magic to a small town second chance romance and I’m in.

I love the details that went into this story. The flower name and symbolism at the beginning of each chapter was such a fun touch since Romina is a self-dubbed flora fortunist.

Old Flames and New Fortunes had a softness to it that I really appreciated. Sarah writes so beautifully and her gift for telling stories is what keeps me coming back every time.

Thank you to Putnam Books and Netgalley for the arc of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'll start by saying Sarah Hogle has been a hit or miss author for me. This one was just ok.

There was a lot of elements that I was excited about.. I love books that talk about the language of flowers; I love second-chance romance; I usually have a lot of fun with magical realism. This book almost felt like it had too much going on though, and I never ever felt truly invested in the characters, and didn't feel like a lot of the aspects I was excited about got developed very much or came together at all. Which was disappointing.

I also thought the tone of the book and the maturity of the characters, and their conversations, made it feel like they were teenagers instead of mid to late twenties. There was no banter here that hooked me, and I felt like the book kinda dragged most of the time and felt too long.

I LOVE YOU SARAH HOGLE!!! sarah has a superpower where everything that comes from her mind and fingertips is pure magic!!! i love her ruthlessly chaotic heroines and her simp-y boyfriends! i was GLUED to my book in this one and i wish i could live with these characters longer. i am forever a sarah hogle super fan!!

One of those books I can’t decide if I liked it or not. There were things I really didn’t like and then things I enjoyed. I couldn’t relate to the characters at all. I really didn’t like the secret that was kept, revealed towards the end, and kind of brushed aside without a full conversation. I did like the little bit of magical realism. There were some amazing and romantic one liners. I think the things I didn’t like out weigh the things I did, all in all.

🤍 second chance
✨ magical realism
👏🏼 no third act breakup

single POV
3/5 stars ⭐️
1/5 spice level 🌶️