This story has an interesting premise, but it fell flat for me. I actually picked this up and tried to read a few times, but even though I ended up finishing it, ultimately, I didn't connect with the main characters, and the romance didn't have the spark I was looking for. I did like the magical elements, but Morgan was so unlikable and kind of immature, and I hate that his initial purpose was to use Zelda. I didn't love her either. The first book in the series had more romantic elements, whereas this one felt like it focused more on the plot and world/magic than it did the characters and love story.

Folklore of Forever by Sarah Hogle is overflowing with creativity and imagination, making for a whimsical and inventive read. I loved Old Flames and New Fortunes, and while this book maintains Hogle’s signature charm, the balance between romance and fantasy shifted in a way that didn’t quite work for me. There was so much happening that I sometimes found it confusing, and I missed the more grounded romcom feel of the first book. That said, Hogle’s writing is as enchanting as ever, and readers who enjoy a heavier dose of fantasy in their love stories will likely be swept away.

THIS WAS THE CUTEST BOOK!

I love magical realism, and this book did it so well! I loved the small town, I loved the characters, and the style of writing itself is the definition of cozy and feel-good. It just made me feel great.

At first, I thought the humor was subtle, but this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. I really loved and appreciated the distinct personalities of the main characters and the townspeople. I enjoyed every second I spent in Moonville.

Zelda is such a relatable heroine. She acknowledges her awkwardness and her weird standing within the town and life. She’s honest, but also curious and shy in a way that was so refreshing for a black cat FMC. She’s very distinguishable. Also… I relate to her so much that I may have cried a lot, especially when she was describing being on the outside looking in, wishing she had the ability to have lost memories. I sobbed like a baby out of nowhere.

She was the perfect ying to Morgan’s yang. I love that he was the believer of magic between the two, this ‘cool’ guy with tons of confidence. He was a lot quirkier than his reputation led him to be, which I absolutely loved. He was such a dork for the paranormal, and then such a dork for Zelda, it made me extremely giddy. I was kicking my feet during all of their interactions.

Anyway, this is the most humorous and magical book I’ve read in a long time. Every scene from their adventure in the forest is going to be stamped inside my brain for a long time. I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for more of this series moving forward.

Started out very very meh but gets better as you get into the more overtly magical segments. 3 stars. tysm for the arc.

Look, I like magic, I like romance, I like books

But this....just did not deliver. I think this would have been a better read during like Halloween or something, but this kind of interupped the flow of my dark romance reads right now and not that I didn't like it, but I didn't love it either :(

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the arc!

A lot of reviewers gave up way too soon on Morgan and Zelda. You’ve got to let Sarah Hogle cook on this one. Morgan and Zelda are both silly, soft, and quirky in their own ways and grow to deeply respect and understand each other, but it is a s l o w burn. Sarah Hogle is one of my very favorite authors and the first in this series was a HUGE 5 star for me, this one fell a little flat only because I felt like the focus on witchcraft was overpowering the romance. Not a bad thing for everyone, but I was expecting a true rom com, and this is more of a women’s fiction w/ a side of romance. Still really well written, funny, and I loved the main characters, flaws and all. Can’t wait to read Luna’s book!

I spent a lot of time thinking about this review. I won't get too much into the plot here - as usual, the publisher's description does a perfectly adequate job of laying out the basics of the plot. There's more to it, of course, but that's for you to read and find out. On a certain base level, I definitely enjoyed reading this. Zelda (and her sisters and neice and the rest of the town) are quite charming, Zelda herself is often laugh-out-loud hilarious and I quite enjoyed the entire concept of the "paranimals" as they're laid out. There is a larger mystery in it which both does and doesn't pay off, of course. But I quite liked the nature of magic in this world and it manages to be both modern and "witchy" at the same time.

That said, I feel one's enjoyment of this book is going to come down solidly in two camps: those who buy into everything Morgan (our MMC), and those who don't. I, speaking personally, couldn't stand him. Which is weird because I feel like I'm a lot like him (but older, of course). But for a multitude of reasons he really came off as either obnoxious, rude, "waaaay too much" or just smarmy. There's a whole attempt at an enemies-to-lovers vibe here that didn't work (honestly, I think it might have worked way better if Morgan was a best friend - the relationship would have clicked better). He's also written in such a scattershot way (at one time super sultry, at another desperately dorky; at one point confident, at another point shy. It just never worked for me. I never once believed in their future and that is the lynchpin on which the novel hangs.

I say all of this...and it comes across as a 3 star book. BUT...there are two sequences towards the end of the novel (between 80-90%ish) that are so beautifully written and so movingly done. A real love-letter to language, writing, books, etc. While I still didn't buy the relationship (and some of the stuff in the climax of the book just never made any sense...), I bought both of THEM. Not together, but as individuals. And I'm glad I never gave up, because the reveals in this section REALLY work. It is spoiler territory, but if you read it...you'll know what I'm talking about.

In the end...this is a classic 7. 3.5 stars. Rounding up for Goodreads because those portions at the end REALLY elevated this book beyond what I had previously thought it would end up at.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Penguin/Putnam for a chance to read an advance copy of this in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and are uncompensated. The Folklore of Forever is out April 8, 2005 and you can preorder it now!

I truly wanted to enjoy this book, as the premise sounded intriguing. A paranormal skeptic drawn into a ghost-hunting adventure with a charming, magical neighbor? It has all the ingredients for a fun enemies to lovers romantic fantasy. However, the male protagonist was soooo unlikeable and unredeemable. The romance felt forced and unrealistic and I couldn't get into it.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Set in Moonville, Ohio, Zelda Tempest is back home, working on her next book after finishing her successful vampire series. Her witch sisters run the family shop, but Zelda doesn't believe in magic. Neighbor Morgan not only believes in magic, but is determined to gain some for himself.

The author's descriptions are outrageous in the best way. It took me a minute to get back into her style, but I really enjoyed entering this world again and look forward to reading Luna's story!

I loved Zelda's love of writing and reading, plus her description of words sticking and seeing the words on the keyboard.

I did find Morgan annoying, immature, and off-putting at first. Once they find common ground, I liked that he recognized he had "cried wolf" about liking her. I do wish he'd apologized early on (which knocked the book down for me). As they embarked on their quest and I saw more of his character, I started to root for him.

Things I liked:
✨ Paranormal romance
✨ Opposites attract
✨ Slow burn
✨ Magical small town
✨ Depiction of neurodivergence (implied for MCs)
✨ Paranimals (especially Forte)

3.75 / 5 stars

Open door / low spice

Thank you to the author, Putnam, and Netgalley for this eARC!

3 - This was fun but ultimately not my cup of tea. I was looking forward to a fun, steamy enemies to lovers romantasy, and while parts of that delivered, I just didn't connect with the romance.

The Folklore of Forever follows Zelda and Morgan. Zelda needs a new idea for her paranormal mystery book and decides to take a trip into Moonville's woods for inspiration. Morgan recruits Zelda for a ghost-hunting trip as inspiration, but it soon turns out that the woods hold a lot more magical creatures than they knew.

The beginning of this book was tough to read. I really could not connect with the FMC, she felt so whimsy and all over the place. I really disliked the MMC at first, to the point where I wanted to DNF but kept going. Ultimately, the book did get better around the 35% mark and as the book went on and the author really leaned into the magical and fantasy elements of the story, I started to enjoy it more. I did really like the setting of the fantasy world! My main issue was the romantic relationship and the dynamic between the two main characters, I just couldn't buy into the romance.

Thank you to Putnam for the free book!!

I greatly enjoyed book #1 in this series by Sarah Hogle and was very excited to receive this ARC. This book really made me think outside the box in terms of how the female main character finds her magical ability. There were a few scenes in the box that the author describes in such a beautiful way, such as Aisling's birthday, however there were also scenes that just felt bizarre (Zelda and Morgan in the kitchen). In the end I found this book enjoyable but it felt disjointed at times.

Zelda may be the author of a magical book series but doesn't believe in it herself even though she is back in her "magical" hometown with her "witchy" sisters running a magic shop. When her neighbor, Morgan, learns of her skepticism, he takes her ghost hunting where they uncover things that may have Zelda leaning into the magic of Moonville.

This was a fun return to Moonville. The town was filled with quirky and over the top characters who just kept the laughs coming. One of those quirky characters was the Tempests' neighbor, Morgan, who was hoping to gain some supernatural powers of his own. Until then, he would mine the folklore of Mooville as he searched for spirits and the Black Bear Witch.

Speaking of Moonville, this was a town built on love magic, and this second installment continues digging into their grandmother's prophecy that the three Tempest sisters would fall in love with the men they were meant to spend their lives with all within the same year.

"She said we would know it was the year when we saw a silver luna moth, and at the time we saw it, one of us would be running from love, one would be waiting for it, and the third would already be in over her head. "

But not only was Zelda a skeptic of the supernatural, she was also a skeptic of love. She had a love-em-and-leave-em history which didn't tell the whole story, and I was rooting for her to open her heart to the possibility of forever, to someone who loved her exactly how she was.

I will admit that the story seemed a bit light on romance, but Zelda's personal journey was well worth giving up some of that page time. I throughly enjoyed watching her grow, change, and embrace all parts of herself. She wasn't saved by love, but rather, she was able to love because she learned to love herself.

This was a laugh out loud celebration of sisterhood, love, and self with a touch of magic that had me flipping the pages. I am eager to return to this charming town for Luna's story which I am sure will be filled with surprises.

very sad to report that i did not like this which is so UPSETTING bc i love sarah hogle :(

i honestly did not like either of the characters, & the plot was all over the place?? morgan (mmc) is SO immature & not one time did i ever stop and think “huh he sounds hot” .. like girl?? he literally admitted he only took her on a date to use her & he had ZERO DEPTH. did not find out one thing abt him until at least 70%

the fmc zelda was in denial abt quite a few things (and not even for a good reason??) & it made the book quite boring at times. she gave me whiplash honestly. overall this book wasn’t for me, i didn’t vibe with the characters at all, but i am looking forward to the third book!

thank you to the publisher for providing this book for review via netgalley. all opinions are my own <3

This book is one huge adventure of crazy proportions! Zelda and Morgan under go so many crazy moments and each one more wild and hilarious than the last!!

I will say at times there was a lot going on but in the chaos I found laughter and a magical place I wish was real!

I really liked this book, which is surprising because I wasn’t completely enthralled with book one. Zelda presents as such a gloomy grump, which I adore. And Morgan is literally a ray of neon sunshine and fanny packs. He’s so truly bizarre and I adore him. This book has the slowest of slow burns, so be prepared for the relationship to feel a tad rushed toward the end. Thanks to Putnam for the ARC.

I really wanted to love this book so much! It definitely had elements I enjoyed but all in all felt very disjointed and all over the place. The love interest comes off as a pestering little brother type rather than someone you would actually have interest in regardless of how attractive he is meant to be. It felt like several different books mashed into one. The element of books being magic I loved and I completely agree I just wish this one had landed a bit better.

It’s just fine a typical romcom both lead annoyed me a times. I didn’t read the first book so I wasn’t totally sure who everyone was or how they were related over it was just fine

I love the Moonville series and Sarah Hogle is one of my favorite rom-com authors, so I was soe excited to get this ARC! This did not disappoint. I want to move to the dreamy, witchy town of Moonville. I love Zelda's story just as much as I loved Romina's in the first one. I love how Zelda is such a paranormal skeptic despite coming from such a witchy family and paranormal town. I love the cottagecore vibes. I want to live in Moonville! I really love that this is closed door romance.

Sarah Hogle is and always will be an immediate-read author for me! I love her style and unique stories so much.

That being said - this one didn't do it for me. I was OBSESSED with the first book in this series (Old Flames and New Fortunes) - the characters, the chemistry, the banter, the MAGIC. But I feel like this one wasn't at the same level. Don't get me wrong - it was still beautifully written with complex characters and lovely magical realism. But I didn't vibe with the MMC or the chemistry between the two MCs.

Solid 3.5 stars for me, and I'm obviously going to be reading the 3rd book!

I received an ARC of this ebook from NetGalley and Putnam Books in exchange for my honest review. This book was quirky, cute, and hilarious. The way the author writes about the supernatural and magic was perfect. My only complaint is that the romance element kind of felt forced. The main characters seemed more likely as best friends and I think the book would have been even better with a platonic love storyline.