The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern stole my heart, embodying the timeless truth that new beginnings are always within reach. With its dual timelines, this charming book explores the beauty of mystery, friendship, lost love, and second chances, revealing love's profound impact. A heartwarming, inspiring tale.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this beautiful book.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily. I was absolutely charmed by Cohen’s previous work, The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman #NetGalley #ARCReview, so I was anxious to get my hands on this new novel. I was not disappointed.

Okay, I need to get one thing out of the way right away: calling this book magical realism is a bit of a stretch. It was very subtle, so if you’re looking for that aspect in a book, then you’d probably be disappointed. However, even saying that, this is a charming novel.

There are dual timelines: the 1980s, when an aging Augusta Stern moves to Florida and runs into her childhood crush from 1920s New York City. Then, there’s the flashbacks to the time mentioned, with Augusta helping her pharmacist father in his drugstore.

As much as I enjoyed the feisty, older Augusta, and the geriatric love story presented (and set in MY decade–the 1980s), I much preferred the flashbacks to the 1920s, when the picture drawn of a Jewish neighborhood in NYC is much more vivid. And to be honest, the characters of 1980s Augusta and Irving act just as immaturely as they did when they were tweens in the 1920s. There just seemed to be no growth in their relationship beyond what once was. Maybe that’s because sometimes long-time friends or family get together and revert to their younger ways, but that lack of maturing and the miscommunication trope being used made me not like the more modern timeline as much.

The 1920s timeline, where Augusta is pushing back against societal norms and has to deal with a lot of things. Her mother dies of complications of diabetes just one year before insulin was approved for use to treat patients. Her great aunt Esther comes to live with the family to fill the void and is a “natural” healer, or as some might call her, a witch, who uses potions from herbs and other things to help bring about healing. Augusta learns from her aunt and her pharmacist father, combining both worlds and becoming a healer herself, using conventional and nontraditional ways to treat people with ailments.

I feel like I’ve been too harsh with my review, but I did want to point out the minor issues I had. Overall, I’d still say this a solid 4-star read, and would recommend.

Augusta’s mother died when she was young and her dad’s aunt Esther moved in with them. Her father was a pharmacist and Esther specialized in chicken soup made with love, and a little apothecary. Augusta loves working for her dad and pharmacy. She also has a fondness for the pharmacy delivery boy Irving. He ends up married to a girl and moving to Chicago.

Augusta retires (not of her own desire, but her age) and her niece arranged for her to go to a retirement home in Florida. On her first day, she runs into Irving at the pool. All of her memories flood back.

With compelling characters remembering a time about 100 years ago, it is the story of it never being too late for second chances.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern tells the story of a young Augusta growing up without a mother. Her father owns a pharmacy and her and her sister Bess help out there from a young age. Augusta has always known she wants to be a pharmacist when she grows up. She loves watching her dad help people. When Augusta's great aunt comes to leave with them she soon discovers her aunt has some creative ways of helping people that her father doesn't agree with.

Every alternating chapter tells the story of 80 year old Augusta, finally retiring to a nice place in Florida. She is soon shocked to find out the people from her childhood also live in the same area - specifically Irvin who Augusta once dreamed she would marry and spend all of her days with.

I really enjoyed The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern. I was a little leery as it seemed to have a fantasy theme but definitely nothing to be worried about here. Augusta is a lovable character that I cheered on in her younger years and in her 80's. This book has a little romance, fantasy and a touch of the Godfather all mixed into one great read.

Great for fans of The Lost Apothecary! I have been loving reading books that feature senior citizens as the main characters (hello, Thursday Murder Club).

The timeline goes between teenage Augusta and almost 80 year old Augusta. Introducing the perspective of Irving was perfect to help unravel the narrative.

Augusta and Esther were ahead of their time in breaking down barriers of a woman's expected place in society.

This books feels nostalgic and magical. Absolutely loved!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Lynda Cohen Loigman for an ARC of this book!**

OUTLIER ALERT!

In 1920's Brooklyn, Solomon Stern is the authority on EVERYTHING pharmaceutical...and his whole neighborhood knows it. The locals come from all around to get his advice, and his daughter Augusta Stern is proud of her father's store and secretly longs to follow in his footsteps...but as a woman, she's not sure what opportunities exist for her. When her mother tragically passes away, however, Great Aunt Esther moves in to help run the household...and Augusta notices that Esther has some special 'remedies' of her own...and everything from chicken noodle soup to special powders is fair game. While Augusta plans for the traditional route to pharmaceutical college, she can't help her fascination with these 'alternative' methods...and with charming delivery boy Irving Rivkin making her heart flutter, she even wonders if Esther might have a potion for HER in that bag of tricks...and would Augusta DARE to use it?

Many years later, in 1980, Augusta is freshly retired from her long career in pharmaceuticals and reflecting on what could possibly be next for her in this new chapter of her life. So you can only IMAGINE her surprise when her new neighbor of sorts at the retirement community is none other than that intriguing man who got away....Irving Rivkin himself. The two reconnect and the banter begins...but Augusta is hesitant. After all, the consequences of the 'clarity serum' she administered so many years ago have never stopped weighing on her...and needless to say, they didn't end up together back then...so how could it possibly happen NOW? When she revisits the past and pieces all bits of this particular puzzle together, will she find out secrets she would prefer REMAINED secret? Or could a special chant that Esther taught her be JUST what she needs to give this romance a TRUE second chance to bloom into something magical?

After missing Lynda Cohen Loigman's last effort, The Matchmaker's Gift, enthusiastic reviews of that book's effortless blend of romance and magical realism had me chomping at the proverbial bit to read her newest book...ESPECIALLY when it seemed this author's special sauce was to blend these two genres in a smooth and intriguing way. (Toss in just a BIT of a HF feel with the 1920's setting and feel? How could I lose?!)

But if you've ever wondered what it would be like to watch two elderly people who were digging on each other in their younger years but never got together actually GET together in their 80's without maturing emotionally WHATSOEVER...well, this might be the book for you.

(Spoiler alert: it was NOT the book for me!)

First off, calling this book magical realism is misleading, to say the least. Sure, there is TALK of the potential of magic...but only in the sense of Esther's Potions N' Powders and their 'special' qualities...and an incredibly obnoxious 'magical' chant that you will read several times throughout. (And for some reason, it felt more grating each and every time I read it). I'll be honest, for a while I had almost hoped for a true love potion in the story...at least that would have made sense, especially considering the title practically screams 'this is what the book is going to be about!' at you. But what happened instead was almost worse...everything was so unclear, undefined, and muddled that I didn't know if we were supposed to believe anything was magical or not. Was this supposed to be a lesson on the benefits of homeopathic medicines...? A week after finishing this...I'm still just NOT sure.

Putting that aside, this is also a dual timeline historical fiction story...and yet, it felt almost NOTHING like historical fiction to me. I'm not sure why the present day had to be the 80's (other than to make the timeline work) but the author didn't capitalize on this whatsoever. NOTHING in the 'present day' said 80's to me, and even the 20's timeline just didn't give me that FEEL I love from solid historical fiction, where I am swept back in time and feel the era sort of 'surrounding' me as I read. Sure, the events taking place at the time made sense, the author wove in enough detail to set the scene....but something about the dialogue, the byplay, and the plot itself just felt OFF to me. I also feel like a good, solid contrast, both in tone and perspective is so needed in a book like this, as it's hard to think an 80-year old woman would look at the world in much the same way as her 20-year old self...and yet, I never saw an INKLING of that here.

At the center of it all, of course, is the aforementioned geriatric love story...and since this was my least favorite element of the book, having to pore through 300+ pages of it felt interminable. The way these two talked to one another felt like they had never gotten their teenage hormones under control...and it was more than a bit gross to me, if I'm being honest. There's nothing wrong with elderly people falling in love, and I've read some beautiful instances of this in the past, but reading about old men leering at old ladies in their swimwear is really something I can FOREVER live without. The ENTIRE conflict also revolves around miscommunication, which is one of my least favorite romance tropes, as it is frustrating enough to deal with in 'real life', much less fiction. There is plenty of sappiness, especially towards the end, as we are led to wonder whether or not our leads will FINALLY get together...but I too must have been feeling too much like a teenager by that point: my eye-rolling was out of control.

And while spooky season is now fully upon us, and cauldrons are a-bubbling...I think in this instance Augusta would have been better off leaving the potions to the TRUE experts: The Sanderson Sisters.

3 stars

#TheLoveElixirofAugustaStern #smpearlyreader #partner

This is a second chance love story, which is my favorite trope. However, it is 62 years later. We have a timeline in the 1920s and a timeline in the 1980s. So in the 20s, Augusta's dad is a pharmacist and she wants to follow in his footsteps. Irving becomes a delivery boy at the pharmacy. They are of course attracted to each other but then he just up and marries another girl and moves away. What the heck?! So now we are at a retirement community in the 80s and Augusta discovers Irving is also living there. The man that broke her heart. She is not going to fall for him again but what happens when the truth from so long ago comes out? It was a charming story and I liked not having current day technology in the book. The chapters are short so it was a quick read.

I adored The Matchmaker's Gift and The Love Elixir Of Augusta Stern didn't disappoint! Beautifully woven duel timelines. A cozy, feel good read, and Augusta will stay with me for a very long time.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is story told in dual timelines; told by spirited, soon-to-be retiree Augusta. Lynda Cohen Loighan weaves Augusta story back and forth between the 1920’s to late 1980’s. It tells the story of a young girl in Brooklyn working in her father’s pharmacy, that fell in love with a delivery boy name Irving. It is her story of her time spent with her Aunt Esther mixing her special elixir, her career as a pharmacist and love loss due to a misunderstanding. Now seventy-nine year old Augusta is forced to retire and move to a retirement community in Florida that her niece Jackie picked out for her, only to run into none other than Irving – someone she has not seen since she was eighteen and none too happy to see him now.

I loved the idea of this novel; it sounded delightful and would be a fun read – there are not many stories out there were the main character is an older lovable curmudgeon woman. It is painful for me to say but I had such a hard time connecting with Augusta, as a young girl she was smart, knew what her life path would be but as someone that was on the cusp of turning 80, I found her rude, held a grudge and just lack simple communication skills – just surprised that a woman of her age would act that way especially after 60 plus years had passed. There were two thing that really bothered me; first the title of the book, it is not until almost the end of the book does Augusta do anything with an elixir; second the book is tagged as magical realism of which there was minimal. I liked the book just did not love it.

Thank you, Lynda Cohen Loigman, St martin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel released on October 8, 2024.

I absolutely loved this novel. Lynda Cohen Loigman has jumped on to my list of favorite/autobuy authors. Her writing is so beautiful. I caught myself highlighting entire passages of this book.

This story rotated between Augusta’s life as a teenager in New York in the 1920s and her life in the 1980s after moving to a retirement community in Florida. Loigman weaves these two timelines together so magically. I loved both timelines equally.

The characters in this book were fabulous. I especially loved following the antics in the Rallentando Springs retirement community. They were a hoot!

I felt like the end wrapped up so beautifully and I definitely teared up more than once before it was over. The only thing that would have made my reading experience better would be if I was sipping on some of Aunt Esther’s chicken soup while I was reading.

I highly recommend if you’re looking for a comforting and lovely historical fiction novel!

I enjoyed ‘The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern’. The storytelling was nicely paced, as it flipped from the 1920’s to the 1980’s. I also really liked the fact that the present day characters were in their 80’s, a nice treat. A wonderfully sweet story that will leave you feeling fulfilled by the end.

DNF'd - This was very boring and hard to get into. I got about 20% in and I completely lost interest.

I really enjoyed this. The only reason I marked it as slow paced is because I felt like it took awhile to get into at the beginning. And I was having a really rough week, so I need to explain that. Cause sometimes that’s the reason it’s hard to get into a book.

I love magical realism and this is a cool story. Augusta was growing up in the 1920’s when her mom passed away and her great aunt Esther came to live with them. Augusta’s dad was a pharmacist but Esther was sometime of natural healer. She’d even been called a witch a time if two, by people who didn’t understand her.

Augusta always pictured herself as a pharmacist. But her faith in traditional medicine was shaken when her mom died of diabetes less than a year before insulin started being used.

As a teenager, Augusta continued to work at the pharmacy but also learn her aunt’s methods.

Esther was such a cool lady. I loved how her chicken kreplach soup was basically magic.

There’s also a love story too of course between Augusta and her dad’s employee Irving.
We know they lost touch in the 1920’s but half the book takes place on the 1980’s when they reconnect at an assisted living center.

This book was about family, magic, love, medicine, and second chances. I’d definitely recommend it.

I got to read an early ebook edition on NetGalley. Thank you!

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a heart-warming, uplifting story about love, family, and second chances. This duel-timeline story alternates between 1920s Brooklyn and 1980s Florida, showing two key periods in a unique woman's life. It’s a fast read, and kept my attention from start to finish. Highly recommended.

I wanted to savor every minute of this book. I love a good historical fiction read and loved the dual timelines. I grew up in the 80’s but have always loved reading about the 20’s so it was great for me all the way around. This is a story of love and also loss and many beautiful things in between. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc. Just beautiful.

Augusta has just moved to an active senior community in southern Florida. It doesn’t take her long to run into her old boyfriend, Irving Rivkin. He was a delivery boy for her dad’s pharmacy in Brooklyn. He broke her heart 60 years ago and she is not letting him get close now!

Augusta is definitely a character you will not forget. She is tough as nails. Almost too tough. She just might let her stubbornness get in the way.

This story captivated me from the very start. I enjoyed the dual timelines. And the old world charm from Augusta’s aunt just added a bit of flavor! Oh! And the old pharmacy was a joy for me to read about. Add all this together with gangsters, great characters and you have a pretty dang good read!

I have read another book by this author, The Matchmaker’s Gift. I also gave it five stars. So, I think this author has become a favorite!

Need a heartwarming tale with a kick…THIS IS It! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern was a delight to read. The dual timeline alternates between a young Augusta in the 1920's Brooklyn and at 80 years old in a Florida retirement community. It is a story of remembering life's good and hard times, friendship, and a second chance at love. Thanks to author Lynda Cohen Loigman, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Unlike many reviews for this book, this was one for me was meh. Partly is that I have high expectations for this author after her outstanding first book Two Family House.. But I have found her subsequent books pretty simple and average. And this one, I didn’t think the main character was all that likable.

On the cusp of her 80th birthday, Augusta Stern moves to a retirement community in Florida where she comes across her first love who broke her heart sixty years earlier.

I love Augusta and Irving! The life experience, the snark, the relationship, it was all great! This story is told in dual timeline and I think it really served the characters and their growth well. In the 1920s timeline we get to know Augusta and learn through the years how life has changed her, resulting in the person she has become in the 1980s timeline. We see how life has treated Irving too, through the decisions he made and those that were thrust upon him.

I also really enjoyed the chapters where we get to know Augusta's Aunt Esther, who is a healer. She doesn't have the fancy pharmacy education that her nephew (Augusta's dad) has, but she has her own abilities and is able to help women who have been failed by mainstream health care. This was so true in the 1920s when this is set, and it's also so true still today.

Overall I found this to be an engaging read. There were some twists that life takes our characters on that I didn't see coming. This has a second-chance romance element which is usually my least favorite, but I really enjoyed the way it was done here. I appreciate that the characters recognized they weren't the same people they were 60 years earlier. They changed and grew, life hardened them in some ways and softened them in others. There's are some great moments and I love an older character who just says it like it is. I also love that Augusta was able to reconcile her past in this funny and heartwarming story.

This story was inspired by the great-grandmother of the author's husband and the author's note goes into how the inspiration molded into the story we have today. Definitely worth the read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This is the best love story that I never wanted to end. Cue all the tears and feelings.