I really loved this book. The author effortlessly wove together two narratives: one in 1920s Brooklyn and the other in 1980s Florida. The characters were multi-faceted and I became so invested in their lives and stories that I didn't want it to end! A fantastic read. 5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a rom-com featuring second-chance romance and some well-seasoned characters.

Pharmacist Augusta Stern is turning eighty and has recently retired to a senior community in southern Florida where she crosses paths unexpectedly with an old flame, Irving Rivkin. Irving was the delivery boy for her father’s pharmacy and after a serious courtship, broke her heart. August was close to her aunt Esther and was curious about her unconventional and traditional healing methods which conflicted with modern (1920s) medicine. August follows in her father’s footsteps and takes over as the neighborhood pharmacist. Sixty years pass and after a successful career, she sees Irving again and wonders where her relationship with him went wrong. Will she and Irving have a second chance at love?

A 1920s timeline fills in the history between Augusta and Irving, and eventually, we find out what broke them apart. In addition, I enjoyed hearing about a woman’s interest in science and the pursuit of a career in 1920. (based on a woman from the author’s family)

Fans of second-chance romance, later-in-life romance, and childhood sweethearts might enjoy the angsty reunion of these two. A rom-com, senior citizen style.

Some readers might wonder if magical realism is at play in the story…or is it the powerful effect of well-chosen herbs? I think either interpretation will work. If you enjoy hints of magical realism, this story delivers. If you don’t enjoy magical realism, you can attribute these elements to the herbs!

I don’t enjoy profanity in general, although I can see occasions for its usefulness. However, I don’t appreciate religious profanity, and I took off a half-star for this reason.

Content Consideration: religious profanity

If you enjoy seniors finding romance, a mature rom-com, a bit of magical realism, dual timelines, and don’t mind religious profanity, I think you will enjoy The Love Elixir of August Stern. Gentle sides of humor add to this entertaining read.

Thanks #NetGalley @StMartinsPress for a complimentary e ARC of #TheLoveElixirOfAugustaStern upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Augusta Stern, a lifelong pharmacist, is forced into retirement just shy of her 80th birthday, leaving her feeling untethered and unsure of her place in the world. Reluctantly, she leaves behind her life in New York and moves to a retirement community in Florida. There, fate reconnects her with Irving Rivkin, a man from her distant past. As their paths cross once more, the story seamlessly shifts between two timelines: Augusta’s present and her memories of childhood in the 1920s, beautifully brought to life through poignant flashbacks.

This heartfelt tale weaves together not just Augusta’s journey, but the rich legacy of strong women in her family, particularly her aunt Esther. Both Augusta and Esther shine as healers—one through the practice of modern medicine, the other through the art of Jewish herbalism. Each character is imbued with a distinct voice, and their names carry deeper meaning; Esther, fittingly, means "star," and she radiates like one throughout the story.

The dialogue sparkles with wit and warmth, blending moments of sharp humor with an enchanting touch of apothecarial magic. But at its core, this is a story about love—of family, of tradition, and of self. It’s a reminder that no matter your age, it’s never too late to learn, to forgive, to dream, and most of all, to love.

This uplifting, charming novel will leave you with a renewed sense of hope and the belief that life’s most meaningful moments can happen at any stage.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story is absolutely beautiful.

I loved the dual timelines with young Augusta and older Augusta. Such a good, cozy story to curl up with.

This was a skillfully written, absorbing and poignant slowly-evolving love story, with a glimmer of magic that enhances without overwhelming the sense of realism.

I especially appreciated the skilled depiction of Augusta's life growing up Jewish in New York City during the twenties. How she struggled with personal loss, while pushing against the cultural expectations of women (marriage, children), aided by her marvelous and slightly mysterious Aunt Esther, a healer of the old world, and her dad, a man of science who believed her capable.

Equally absorbing was Irving's backstory. And how these two came together in the sunset years of their lives made this an outstanding novel imbued with a message that it's never too late to live and be joyful.

It is never too late for love. Eighty-year-old Augusta has moved into the same retirement condos where the love of her life now lives. From their first time seeing each other, the attraction is there. I love that they have both lived a full life and are older but they both cannot stay away from each other. Augusta does her best to put Irving off at every attempt.

The dual times were wonderful. The past timeline shows how they met, what their lives were like, and gave hints at why they could not be together. I truly did not put it together, the reason why they did not stay together, until it was revealed. I love not knowing. I love having to work through the whole story before putting it all together, the wondering what really happened, and when would it all be revealed. The clues that were given were just enough to keep me intrigued and guessing while also letting me get to know the characters more and learn more about their young lives.

Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a quick and fun book. It was so easy to read. The storyline moved along at a good pace. The characters are so fun and relatable. I recommend picking up your own copy.

Have you ever read a book that seems to reflect your life closely? Until this book, I haven’t. As I read, I felt like I was getting a glimpse of myself in 30 years. I’m so glad my life isn’t a complete parallel to Augusta’s.

I ended up really enjoying this second chance romance. However, my favorite part wasn’t the actual romance. It was the relationship that Augusta built with her aunt and then the relationship she had with her niece. But alas, side characters only get a certain amount of page time in a romance.

I liked the romance but was able to figure out the twist to it fairly early on. It ended up being sweet even if I was a little frustrated by it. I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed reading an octogenarian romance. There were certainly some humorous situations created by those older folks. I would love to have read more about their shenanigans.

This book contains mild scattered profanity and has kissing.

4.5 second-chance stars

This is a wonderful story that follows Augusta Stern's life in an alternating timeline. We meet Augusta as a young woman in 1920s Brooklyn. She lives with her family above the pharmacy they run. Augusta’s father, Solomon, is the pharmacist, and her sister also works in the store at the cosmetics counter. When Augusta’s mother dies, Great Aunt Esther moves in to keep the household running.

The alternating storyline features Augusta, at the end of her working career at age 80, and her move to a Florida retirement community. She loves the pool but is shocked to discover that Irving Rivkin also lives there. He was the delivery boy for the family pharmacy, and Augusta thought they were in love. Irving surprisingly marries someone else and moves to Chicago.

We learn more about Augusta’s early life and the alternate medicine that Aunt Esther uses with her chicken soup when traditional methods have failed. Augusta helps her father in the pharmacy while being interested in Esther’s practices.

Irving and Augusta seem to still have feelings, but they are stubborn! A love triangle crops up with another man from their past in Brooklyn. Will there be a second chance at love for Irving and Augusta if they talk through their past? Why did Irving abandon her all those years ago?

I love this author and I'm on a quest now to read one of her books that I missed.

Author Lynda Cohen Loigman is magical. Her books are always so compelling, so entertaining, so heartwarming – and so unusual. The theme is always strikingly unique with a little bit of almost-magic, not-quite magic, just something not easily explained but delightful.

Augusta Stern has just retired. If you want the perfect example of kicking and screaming all the way, that would be Augusta. She’s just turning 80, but her niece Jackie did a little creative White-Outing on some of Augusta’s paperwork and she’s been claiming she’s 70 for some time now. It finally doesn’t work; she has to retire. So what’s she supposed to do now? She’s been a pharmacist her entire life. A single woman in the business world in New York. Took over her father’s pharmacy and then worked in a number of hospitals. She would have liked to have had a husband and children, but she never found the time or the right man who would support her being in business. And the one-that-got-away has been banished to the farthest corners of her memory. Until he just happens to live at the senior community Jackie helped her find in Florida.

Augusta is determined to keep her mad on, even – especially – when Irving starts reminiscing and calling her Goldie like in the old days in Brooklyn. How dare he. He abandoned her, shocking her by leaving and never contacting her again. They are old, it’s too late, forgiveness is not happening. Except she never quite shoved him all the way out of her heart, did she?

In Loigman’s capable hands, the story swings between the 1920s and 1987. Loigman is a master at this, really; you get totally immersed in one time period and then suddenly you have moved to the other, but it’s never jarring and the transitions are just right. In 1922 Augusta’s mother has died and their world has become gray. All light and joy have left her father. Her older sister Bess tries to make life some kind of normal but it’s not happening. When Solomon Stern’s Aunt Esther comes to live with them, life at least takes on a routine: normal schedules, good meals, the house in order, but Esther also brings the scent of magic with her. In that time pharmacists were well-respected and neighborhood folk look upon them as almost doctors. But doctors and pharmacists can’t cure everything, and Esther fills in some of those gaps. Soon people are seeking her out for that chicken soup, or that remedy for whatever ails them, and she has remarkable success. Causes some friction between Solomon and Esther, but she is not deterred. And young Augusta is fascinated by Esther’s middle of the night potion making and wonders if a blend of pharmacist and healer can be her own future.

Irving is the pharmacy delivery boy, and as time passes he and Goldie become good friends with a hint at more. He makes her feel so wonderful, so beautiful, so talented but then doubt creeps in and she tries some potion making of her own. The exact opposite of what she wanted happens, she is devasted, becomes bitter and here we are in 1987.

There is so much going on in the story, wonderfully told by Loigman. Family life, Bess’s budding romance with George, Augusta’s growing closeness to Esther, Irving’s unwitting connection with a mob family who will stop at nothing to get what they want, putting Irving in danger and forcing him to make heartbreaking decisions concerning those he cares for most.

The scenes at the senior community are touching and often hilarious. This is not an old folks’ home but a space full of lively people and activities, including a laugh out loud throwdown between two 80+ year old men, a very jealous woman, and some green Jell-o. Goldie does her best to be cold and rude but Irving persists, just wanting her to listen for a minute and not hate him. He is so sweet you want to hug him, and when he accedes to Goldie’s wishes to “stop calling me that” and “leave me alone” you need a tissue.

The story is full of surprises and revelations and sudden self-awareness. Author Loigman makes you completely forget that these people are in fact biologically old but instead gets you caught up in the history and romance of it all. You never once think it’s too late for love; you are hopeful and if you could, you would jump into the story and give Augusta a little shake to open her eyes. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern via NetGalley. It was an outstanding read, warm and gentle, with a completely satisfying ending. I am always so pleased to find another book by this terrific author. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

Happy Pub Day to THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN and Lynda Cohen Loigman!!!

I was introduced to this author when I read THE MATCHMAKER’S GIFT. I fell in love with that book so much that I read her backlist titles as well. I was thrilled to get my hands on the ARC of this newly published book. I absolutely adored this book, Lynda Cohen Loigman has me under her spell! This was a beautiful written Jewish historical fiction about Augusta Stern, a pharmacist who grew up in her father’s old pharmacy. Unfortunately after her mother’s passing, her great-aunt Esther moves in to help the family. Esther is unconventional when it comes to remedies and mixing elixirs. Augusta learned a lot from her great aunt and made a huge mistake that she still struggled with 60 years later. She finally confronted her feelings and found the answers she needed. It was a VERY heartwarming story, it tugged at my heart! I loved the strong theme of family in this book. I will devour anything Lynda writes! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This story is so fun! It reminded me of a Jewish Strega Nona story for grown ups. Loigman expertly weaves the two phases of Augusta's life together to explain why Irving left all those years ago. I loved getting to know all of the characters and especially enjoyed seeing the growth in Augusta and Irving between their youth and their elderly years. They both changed so much, yet still retained essential elements of their personalities - as do we all - and I enjoyed reading about them getting to know each other again. Thank you for giving me a copy of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern to read and review! I loved it and can't wait to read more from Lynda Cohen Loigman!

Although, in reality, it can be quite touching when people are separated for years and come back together later in life, that is not usually so with books. It is often just an annoying misunderstanding that could easily be cleared up with a frank conversation that keeps characters apart. However, in the case of this book, there is a valid reason that these two characters have been kept apart which makes sense and makes the story unique and interesting.

However, much of the book deals with Augusta learning about the unconventional remedies her elderly aunt clandestinely whips up to help people that her pharmacist father cannot help. While this also relates to the ending, some may find these parts of the book less enjoyable especially if they do not believe in alternative medicines. However, the story and characters are still compelling enough to make this book mostly enjoyable to read.

From the very beginning of this book, when Augusta gets busted for lying about her age in order to avoid retiring from her job as a pharmacist, I loved her character. The story alternates between her present life in a senior community, as she prepares for her upcoming 80th birthday and finds herself confronted with the boy who broke her heart, and her past - as her desire to follow in her pharmacist father’s footsteps, while reconciling the science of pharmacy with her Great Aunt Esther’s more earthy remedies.

This is the second book I’ve read by Lynda Cohen Loigman, and she’ll be a must read for me in the future too.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

After being forced to retire, 80-year-old pharmacist Augusta Stern begrudgingly moves to a retirement community in Florida. After swimming in the pool one day, Augusta encounters an old love from her teenage years. Irving Rifkin, who broke her heart all those years ago, now lives in Augusta’s community and seems annoyingly keen on rekindling some kind of relationship.

The story takes place in 1987 but the chapters alternate with flashbacks to the 1920s as Augusta grows up in Brooklyn. Her two important influences are her pharmacist father, and her Aunt Esther who has been taking care of Augusta since Augusta’s mother died. Esther gains a reputation as an effective non-traditional healer much to Augusta’s father’s dismay, who prescribes and believes only in medicines by the book. Augusta tries using one of Esther’s potions on her father’s delivery boy Irving, in order to find out if he shares Augusta’s feelings, but everything goes awry and Irving ends up leaving the pharmacy, and leaving Augusta. While present day Irving is still captivated by Augusta, she is still hurt and angry.

“Oh, how she wanted to be that woman again—a woman who, yes, had suffered losses, but whose heart had not yet been broken beyond repair.”

Lynda Cohen Loigman is an excellent story teller and I enjoyed The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern for its humor, and its well-developed characters and historical background. Highly recommended to all who enjoy a slice of golden years life with a splash of magical realism.

Thanks to #NetGalley for an ARC of this fun book!

“Words can do anything. A kind word can fix a person’s spirit. A cruel one can break a person’s heart. Wicked words have caused wars and honest words have made peace.”

This is a coming of age, second chance romance story with magical realism woven with fiction and I really, really LOVED it! You get to meet Augusta Stern, a woman that is about the turn 80 who is smart as a wip and will definitely make you laugh as well as a bunch of other loveable characters that will warm your heart!

I really loved Lynda Cohen Loigman’s writing in The Matchmaker’s Gift and was so excited to get my hands on The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern. I loved the dual timelines and how you sometimes get the POV of Augusta’s friend turned lover turned nemesis Irving. You really don’t know how its all going to turn out until the very end and I love stories like that.

I also did an immersive read with this one and if you can, I highly recommend it!

Gabra Zackman really brought this story to life! I don’t think I have heard her narrate before and loved the way she did different voices and accents for the different characters.

I am a Lynda Cohen Loigman groupie. Her novels resonate with me because of the relatable characters and fascinating plots. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern definitely does not disappoint. The story alternates between Augusta Stern's past and present. August Stern grew up in 1920's Brooklyn. She lives above her father's pharmacy and when her mother dies, Augusta's "strange" great Aunt Esther comes to care for Augusta and her sister. Augusta loves helping in the pharmacy and longs to become a pharmacist one day. Aunt Esther is also a healer and Augusta eventually respects her aunt's form of healing. Augusta falls in love with Irving, the pharmacy's delivery boy. She thought they had a future together until Irving leaves her for someone else. Augusta remains in Brooklyn and becomes married to her work.
Sixty years later Augusta is forced to retire and she reluctantly moves to an active senior community in Florida. It is there she is reunited with Irving and another man from her past. Augusta tries to build a new life for herself without dwelling on Irving and their past. Both sides of Loigman's story are equally interesting. Augusta is a fascinating teenager and reading about her major life change is identifiable for many of us. This novel has humor, intrigue, mysticism and romance. It is obvious that it has been written with love.

I would love to be Augusta Stern when I am 80 years old. She swims laps in a pool. She can make elixir's that help people's ailments. She has a sense of humor. This book takes place in dual time lines. One is the 1920's when Augusta is a young woman and in 1987 when she is getting ready to celebrate her 80th birthday. Augusta retires and moves into a Senior citizen's housing complex in Florida. Low and behold but she happens to see Irving Rivkin, the love of her life and the man who broke her heart. She meets Irving in the 1920's while he is working at her father's pharmacy. Her mother has passed away from diabetes and her Aunt Esther moves in with the family. Her Aunt mixes up potions and elixir's to help people with their illnesses. Augusta's father does not agree with Aunt Esther's methods but they agree to live harmoniously for the sake of the children; Augusta and her older sister Bess. With the dual timelines, you learn about Augusta & Bess's childhood. How Augusta loved the pharmacy and her father and wanted to follow in his foot steps and become a pharmacist. She also loved how her Aunt with her alternative medicine helped people and she wanted to do that also. A combination of both. In this book you will find out what exactly happened to Irving. Will he break her heart again? There is humor and family love and so much more about how life can throw you curves and you just go with it and move on. It was a great read that I would highly recommend.
Thanks to #netgalley, #stmartinspress and @lloigman for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was a fun read about spicy elders, of which i am one. It was truly fun to read this story. Loved the setting and all the plts too. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

What a beautiful and enchanting read! I wasn't sure based on the title of a "love elixir" what exactly might unfold in its pages, but it was a delight from page one. I was immediately drawn into the 1980s world of Augusta in a retirement community in Florida. She is very soon faced with some characters from her past, and we are swept back to 1920s Brooklyn where a love story comes to life.
We are introduced to a time when becoming a pharmacist was only in a man's reality, but we see Augusta overcome stereotypes and challenges to pursue her dreams. It was never over-politicized or dramatic, though.
Highly recommend this thoroughly enjoyable dual timeline story with characters you will actually be invested in. This would make a great movie!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. All opinions are mine.

I enjoyed reading The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!