⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Four stars for me. This long lost retirement home romance was funny, endearing, and cozy. Dual timelines give readers spunky main character Augusta’s childhood in the Bronx working in her father’s pharmacy and her current day retirement home life where she runs into the man who broke her heart 60 years ago. Poignant exploration of women’s health—and how often traditional medicine fails its female patients—and you’ll love the Aunt Esther character—representative of so many women who step in with homeopathic remedies and women-centered care. The narrator for the audiobook does a great job. My only complaint is the book was overall pretty predictable, so I found it dragged on a bit at the end.

This started a bit slow but I ended up really enjoying it! I loved the dual timelines, and I found them both interesting. The stories of life in her father’s pharmacy in 1925 Brooklyn were fascinating. But Augusta’s move to a retirement community in florida in 1987 and the old friends she met again was also really good. After the first 15% I found myself flying though the book and rooting for Augusta to get her hopes up and her happily ever after. I truly love Augusta, her aunt Esther, her niece Jackie, her new and old friends, her sister, and these characters truly came to life in this book. It’s a beautiful story.

I did a mix of audio and ebook and enjoyed both format. The narrator was good.

A sweet, wholesome story of a woman pharmacist and healer, who meets the man who broke her heart sixty years later. It’s filled with strong women, family, and humor. It was delightful.

Things I don't like: magical realism, anachronistic feminists, sappy love stories, the trend of elderly protagonists, historical fiction, narratives split between past and present.
This book had all of the above -- and I loved it.



Review copy provided by publisher.

1920s✓
Dual Timelines✓
Magical Realism ✓
Amazing Protagonist= sign me up

This story is fresh, it's interesting, and I stayed up all night listening to it.
This is not something I would normally choose, and had I not I would have missed out on a captivating story. The voice acting is so good it pulled me in immediately.

This was my first book by this author, but after this I will be looking for some of her past titles.
This is a dual timeline dual POV story about two young jewish teens growing up in Brooklin in the 1920s. This story revolves around a pharmacy where our two main characters meet - Augusta (Goldie) Stern and Irving Rivkin. Our others timeline is 1980s in Boca Raton Florida where our main characters end up bumping into each other at the same Retirement community 62 years after they last saw each other. This is a story of how two young lovers were separated by a number of factors and how they find their way back to each other. There is also a mythical element to this story in the form of Augusta's aunt, a healer who comes from the old country to live with them. She quickly finds her way into the lives of many of the neighbourhood women through her natural and perhaps magical medicine, and her chicken soup!!

While this story was a bit slow at times and I highly recommend the audio of this title, I smiled, laughed and cried along with our characters. The narrator was excellent. She was able to give a unique voice to all the characters. Thank you to the publisher for an audio copy of this story in exchange for my honest review.

Just when I think that I don’t enjoy magical realism, Lynda Cohen Loigman comes along with another one of her charming stories that I get completely lost in.

THE LOVE EXIXER OF AUGUSTA STERN has just a touch of magic, a tiny tincture if you will, but is otherwise firmly grounded in a typical Floridian senior community. We meet pharmacist Augusta Stern after her recent retirement at the ripe age of 80 when she reconnects with the man who left her broken-hearted 60 years ago.

Told in past and present timelines we witness the separate directions their lives took them and the ways fate brought them back together. Themes of found family, new beginnings, and a long-awaited second chance romance will make reader’s hearts swell.

Gabra Zackman brought the audiobook to life with her entertaining narration. I highly recommend this audio format!

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: October 8, 2024

READ THIS IF YOU:
enjoy reading age-positive stories
aren’t sure if magical realism is for you (it's just a touch–I promise!)
believe it's never too late for a new beginning

Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

I have a bit of mixed feelings around this one. It was quite slow and repetitive and also predictable. But, the overall story and message behind it slowly won me over.

I appreciated the older characters, and how it showed how long life can be but how quick it can change.

I always love stories about the power of women, and the healing they offer, and the community that builds around them which this story delivered in a subtle way

Also I loved the authors note, sometimes these notes just bring it all together. The narrator was great and kept me engaged in the story.

#bookofthemonth #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #bookthoughts #bookstagrammer #bookishthoughts #bookworm #reading

A nice breath of fresh air from all the thrillers that I've been reading. I loved the characters and the journey they all took. Every day magic and love, such a sweet story! Narrator did a lovely job.

This is a moving story about first love, coming of age and never being too old for second chances. This story is told is past and present timelines, following Augusta in present day at 80 years old finally retiring to a community in Florida where she runs into Irving, the boy who broke her heart 60 years ago.

The story then flashes back to the 1920s as Augusta and Irving work in the pharmacy Augusta's father owns. Major themes include grief/loss, self discovery and weathering hardships in life.

Thank you Macmillan audio for the ALC

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I really had any interest in reading a love story about an 80 year old woman. Eeek! I know how ageist that sounds. Thank goodness this book proved me wrong! This is such a sweet and lovely story. I was given this audiobook by @netgalley from @macmillan.audio and it was lovely to listen to. The back and forth between Augusta’s teenage years in the 20’s in Brooklyn and the weeks leading up to her 80th birthday after she moves to Florida was done perfectly. It makes for quick chapters which keeps things moving nicely. While the book isn’t sad it is just a little heartbreaking that Augusta and the man she loved when she was 18 missed out on 62 years together. But Augusta is so youthful you can imagine her living for 62 more years to find love again, perhaps with the love from her youth. We’ve all read books about a misunderstanding keeping people apart but this was a fun twist on that.

On the cusp of her 80th birthday, Augusta Stern is recently retired, and moving to Rallentando Springs, Florida, to live out the rest of her life basking in the sun.

Except, when she arrives she finds Irving Rivkin, the boy who broke her heart more than 60 years before.

Told in alternating time periods, we slowly put together the pieces of their lives and the events that ended a chances for happiness.

1920s Brooklyn finds Augusta living with her father, sister, and, following the death of her mother, her Great Aunt Esther. Augusta helps in her father’s pharmacy and dreams of going to pharmacy school, but is also pulled toward Esther’s unconventional methods of helping mostly women with concoctions of herbs and soups and a special pestle and mortar. Homeopathy, Augusta will later learn.

Irving is the delivery boy for the pharmacy. Without much to offer financially or in name, Irving wins Augusta’s heart with his sincerity, honesty, and kindness.

In 1987, Augusta, never married, no children, fights her curiosity about her former beau. Why did Irving suddenly marry and leave for Chicago when she expected a proposal? And is there any chance that the two star crossed lovers can spend their remaining years together?

This book is glorious - and it’s impossible to explain the beauty and genius of the story telling in this tiny space.

While it doesn’t match the heavy feeling of ATCOTD, it works within a similar tone. There are many characters, many separate storylines, many ways in which they intersect, all of it inventive, surprising, and fascinating.

I adored this book and found it hard to stop listening (audio is fantastic!). Don’t miss out on this one!

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillianaudio for the audio ARC to listen to and review. This one comes out October 8, 2024.

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @lloigman for the gifted e-book. Thank you to Macmillan Audio @macmillanaudio #MacAudio2024 for the gifted audiobook.

This enchanting tale is skillfully woven through dual timelines, transporting you from 1920s New York to 1987 Florida. Augusta's unwavering determination to pursue her passion for pharmacy, coupled with her fascination with her aunts' potion-making skills, makes her a truly compelling character. The poignant love story between Augusta and Irving unfolds seamlessly across the two timelines, keeping you hooked until the very end. The supporting characters add humor and warmth to the narrative, making it a truly delightful read.

I had the pleasure of experiencing this story through its narration, and the narrator's skillful delivery brought the characters to life in a way that truly enhanced the storytelling. Her voice and pacing were absolutely perfect.

If you're a fan of magical, heartfelt stories, I highly recommend this book! The book will be available on October 8.

This was an incredibly sweet and heartfelt book. I loved the nonlinear timeline, and the uncovering of what happened in the past. The narrator also did a fantastic job reading.

This charming story, loosely based on the life of the author’s husband’s great-grandmother, features, Augusta Stern, a nearly 80 year old, newly retired pharmacist who also learned to mix healing elixirs from her great aunt. It is a second chance romance between Augusta and Irving, the errand boy for her father’s pharmacy when they were teens. Told using dual timelines in flashbacks to 1920’s Brooklyn and in 1987 Florida, when Augusta moves to a retirement community in Florida. The story unfolds carefully, and the reader comes to root for Augusta finally getting her HEA. The author summed it up beautifully in her Author’s Note, the book teaches you that “…age doesn’t change who we are, second chances are always possible and it’s never too late to try to recapture the lost magic of our youth”.
I listened to the audio version of this novel and found the single voice actor to have a pleasing, easy to listen to voice.
4.5/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a delightful blend of romance, history, and magic, wrapped in a nicely balanced dual timeline tale. It kept me under its spell from the first magical page to the last. I highly recommend this one.

Gabra Zackman and Lynda Cohen Loigman did a fantastic job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Lynda Cohen Loigman, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book isn't something I would usually pick up but honestly I was very intrigued by the blurb and I even love the minimalist cover. I love that this story was told in dual timelines. You understand and get to know the characters in there past forms but also their present forms. I love the magical realism that was included in this story too. If only we could heal with actual words and soup. I love all of the characters of this story. And I love that even after many many years and decades the two main characters still found their way back to each other.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern was absolutely perfect. I came into it a bit wary: I'm not a huge fan of magical realism or the 1920's time period. But Lynda Cohen Loigman tells her tale beautifully, and I couldn't help falling in love with Augusta (Goldie) Stern, her Great Aunt Ester, her one-time beau, Irving, and the entire cast of both her 1920's Brooklyn neighborhood and her 1980's Florida retirement community. I also learned details I never knew about prohibition business and crime practices, and the book was a stern (!) reminder of the lasting repercussions that often follow rash decisions. The novel is classified as women's fiction, but it's also a beautiful love story. I look forward to reading/listening to more from this previously unknown-to-me writer.

I loved this book so much! Great story, great characters and great narrators to bring the story to life. I really liked the dual timelines.

If you like to start your fall with some cozy, witchy reads, this is a perfect addition! We follow Augusta in two different parts of her life, in the 1920s as a teenager, and in the 1980s as a new retiree. As a teenager, Augusta’s life revolves around helping her father at his pharmacy, spending time with the shop boy Irving, and observing her great-aunt Esther, a healer from Russia. As a retiree, Augusta has found herself in the same place as Irving, after spending the 60 years in between trying to mend her heart from his abrupt departure.
I loved Augusta’s teenage storyline. As a teenager, I worked at an old-fashioned soda fountain that was in the front of our local pharmacy, with most of its features still original versions. Cohen Loigman painted such a similar, comforting environment that it was impossible not to love it. Add in Aunt Esther’s miraculous lotions, potions, and soups, and I was fully hooked.
Unfortunately, Augusta’s adult life was more stressful than anything. Instead of having any semblance of mature conversations, Augusta and her childhood friends acted even worse than they had as teenagers. Shirley and Jackie were fun reprieves, but the majority of this timeline was agonizingly slow.
Overall, this is the fall version of a beach read. It’s a quick enough read, very cozy, and has a few touches of magic.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the free advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!