4 ⭐️! this was the perfect autumnal book! harvest festivals, soups, carousels, mazes… you name it, this book was everything! and a time loop?!? obsessed! 😍 and sirena and gus were too cute! i loved how they worked together and grew together to help each other out. and don’t get me started on the spice 😏 let’s just say the slow burn was burning 🥵🔥

i thought that the narrators (Marissa Hampton & Christopher Hampton) were great and i enjoyed the pacing as well! I will say that his part seemed to be just a tiny bit slower than hers, but it was able to find a good speed to listen; so overall I really enjoyed it!

thank you so much to forever, netgalley and hachette audio for this alc! 🩷

Honestly, I'm having trouble rating this. There wasn't really anything about the characters that I connected with. I felt the plot was pretty flat and now that I'm writing this two days later, I can't remember any of the side characters. I don't even think it was all together that cozy. There's nothing that I really disliked about the book. I just couldn't connect to it.

Overall, probably fine for a weekend read if you're looking for something with fall vibes. I just didn't find it memorable.

Thank you so much to the author, netgalley, and forever publishing for the opportunity to review this audio ARC. I am leaving my review honestly and voluntarily.

This audio was so good! I haven’t read the first 2 books in the series but it read well as a standalone and I will definitely the reading the other two asap!

This has perfect small town cozy vibes and will make a great addition to everyone’s spooky season tbr’s!! And I love all sorts of second chances!!

Thanks to Forever for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Sirena is a kitchen witch whose powers aren’t working so well. In fact, everything in the month of October seems to be going wrong. Just before midnight on Halloween, she makes a wish. When she wakes up the next morning, she realizes she’s been given a second chance and is reliving the entire month of October. The only person who realizes that something strange is going on is Gus, a former magician who has a secret crush on Sirena.

This book was a really cozy fall read, complete with an adorable small town and magic. It’s the third book in the Elemental Love series, but reads perfectly as a standalone. This book had everything I wanted in a witchy fall themed book and there were lots of delicious foods described so well that I could almost taste them! The romance between Gus and Sirena was cute, but I wasn’t overly invested in their relationship. It was definitely a slow burn, and I was really just in it for the cozy fall vibes.

I listened to the audio and the narrators were absolutely fantastic and really did add to the cozy feels of the story. The male narrator did speak at a much slower pace, so I did change the listening speed based on which character’s POV I was listening to.

Many thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy!

This third book in Martin's Elemental Love series can definitely be read as a standalone and is full of cozy small town vibes, features two paranormal Black characters caught up in a magical time loop as they try to fill wishes made the previous year. Good on audio and a perfect, feel-good, spicy, spookyseason read! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

🎧 +📙 : Deja Brew-Elemental Love Book #3

✍️ By: Celestine Martin-I read Wishful Thinking & Kiss and Spell and gave them 3.5/4 ⭐

🗣️ Narrator: Marissa Hampton and Christopher Hampton voice the characters. The narrators' voices fit the characters with standouts Sirena, Gus, and Diana. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along with the eBook and audio.

🏃🏾‍♀️Run Time: 9:55

📃 Page Count: 356 eBook

🗓️ Publication Date: 10-1-24 | Read: 9-29-24

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Rom-Com, AA Interests. Mystery

Tropes: fated mates/kindred, small town, witches/vampires/gnomes, magic, Halloween, fantasy, time travel, plus size h/body positivity, slow burn romance

🙏🏾 Thanks to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Hachette Audio, and Celestine Martin for this ARC and ALC 🎃! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are mine alone.

🌏Setting: Freya Grove, NJ

POV: dual H/h, 3rd person

💭 Summary 💭 Sirena needs a reset on her life because October was disastrous. She lost her job at Ad Astra and sabotaged her interview for a new job at Lighthouse Restaurant with her non-working magic. Gus runs into Sirena who he always had a crush on as he heals his broken heart. They make a deal for Gus to help Sirena rediscover fun and her magic if she helps him understand a mysterious cookbook sent to the historical society.

🚺Heroine: Sirena Caraway-a chef and kitchen witch. Has a cat- Shadow

🚹Hero: August "Gus" Dearworth- 33, a former reality star and magician, steward of Freya Grove Historical Society. He is divorced, left family business because he didn't like his personality as "Good Time Gus." Has a black cat-Cinder.

🎭Side cast:

* Lucinda "Lucy" Caraway-Sirena's oldest sister, a tea witch, marrying Alex

*Callie Caraway-Sirena's youngest sister, an event planner

*Diana Dearworth-Gus's sister, an actress who works at Freya Grove Playhouse

*Zeke-Gus's friend, a newly discovered empath

*Jessalyn Clarke-Gus's ex-wife, a singer, getting re-married to vampire Igor.

*Anais + Peter Dearworth -Gus's parents who work a magical act in Vegas and have a reality TV show "Dealing with the Dearworths. "

🤔 My Thoughts: This definitely got me into the Halloween spirit. The cover was beautiful and the reason I requested it. I loved the African American representation in this paranormal romance between Sirena and Gus. They didn't play games with each other, but Sirena had doubts about getting serious. She was so focused on her career that she couldn't see his love was more important. Gus's mother was overbearing about him rejoining the family business. Gus hated who he was while on the TV show and moved to Freya Grove to reinvent himself. It was nice seeing the past couples Lucy and Alex & Ursula and Xavier as well as possible couples- Zeke and Diana maybe?

🌶️: Spice 3/5
🎧: Narration 5/5
😭: Emotion 4/5
❤️: Couple 4/5
⭐️: Rating 5/5

This is the perfect read for fall and witchy vibes! I love the representation of a real woman! Real women have curves. Period. I am obsessed with all things witchy and loved hearing about different kinds of witches and spells. It took me back to my visit to Salem, MA! I curled up with a blanket and tea on a rainy day to read this one-the perfect way to spend a Saturday in my opinion!

Thank you @readforeverpub for the audiobook ARC of this delightful fall romance about a wish gone wrong! Deja Brew publishes on 10/1 which is just perfect because Sirena wishes for a second chance and relives October. In her journey to fix her magic, she falls in love with a magician who is also trying to start over. I need to go back and read the other two in this series. Perfect for fans of the Ex-Hex (which I am!!). And I love an audiobook with dual narrators!

This was definitely fluffy and I had a decent enough time.

I think my issue was that the plot was trying to do a lot of things, and somethings got lost in the sauce on the way. Besides the plot being hazey at times, there were some times where I wanted them to move a little faster. It was relatively low stakes, and I think if there were a few more, I'd have been a little more invested in their relationship.

The narrators did a really good job of brining the characters to life, and I had a good time listening to it.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for an e-copy.

It was fun to be back at Freya Grove, a town full of magical people. We have Sirena a cooking witch with her magical powers on the fritz and Gus, a famous magician.

I love the totally cozy vibes of the story. Both of the POV was great and the added family complexity made this story so good. I love their connection and banter and of course the steam in the story.

Marissa Hampton and Christopher Hampton did a wonderful job with the narration.

Thank you @readforeverpub @hachetteaudio @netgalley for ALC.

Objectively as a fall, magical, cozy read.. this was fine. It was fun, quick and creative. I enjoyed the idea of the book - i liked the different powers / magic and the time loop element.

The narration was done very well, i actually really loved the female narrator. She had such a soothing voice.

I liked the dual POV. It was giving slow burn romance, friends to lovers, paranormal romance.

While i enjoyed it, I just didn’t feel connected to any of the characters which made it hard to be invested in the overall story. Due to that it felt lack luster for me and forgettable.

Overall, I would still recommend this to my peers and would absolutely read more by this author! This particular one just didn’t land for me.

This book was immediately such a great time! It was definitely giving off fall, witchy, cozy vibe, and I really need to read the other books in this series after reading this one.

I love our characters a lot. They had chemistry from the moment I saw them interact on page, even before they knew each other that well. I loved how quickly they became and felt familiar with each other. It wasn’t necessarily a slow burn, but it still felt really natural for them. It was a very real life way to write it. Two people who orbited around each other for a while, but never really quite connected, coming together at the right time. Finding out that there was a magical tether pulling them together added to that feeling.

The family relationships and bonds in this book are very sweet. It feels genuinely written and extremely realistic in nature.

However, I don’t know that this book works as part of an interconnected stand alone series. Stand alone books, even ones that are interconnected to other books, are meant to have the ability to be read by itself without really needing to read the other books to understand what’s happening. There are some world building aspects and parts of the magical parts that don’t really make sense if this is the only book from the series that you’re reading. I haven’t read the previous two books yet, so I was kind of just thrown into this new world without knowing anything. It was kind of confusing, and there were parts where I really was wondering more about how this universe works. I was especially confused about the whole Kindred aspect. I understand the basic premise of them being soulmates, but for their sounds to have spent previous lifetimes together seemed wild to me. I liked that they were tied together, and I found it very cute. However, we don’t really get more information than that, and it’s not until over halfway through the book that the concept of Kindred is even mentioned, so I felt it very out of left field.

Overall, I did enjoy it, and I think I’ll probably read the other two books in this series at some point!

Lovely narrator and lovely romance story. I enjoyed the fmc and mmc. A witch and a magician falling in love and brewing up their own kind of magic.

Super cute witchy love story!! Can be read as a standalone. I didn't know this was the third in the series going in but I really enjoyed this book and I felt anyone could read it and be fine getting into the series at this point!

2.5 stars rounded up. This story idea is cute in theory, but unfortunately it didn’t measure up for me in execution.

Something I really loved about the book is that there is a plus size female main character, and this is done very well where the focus is not on negativity about her body, or her disliking herself. The author deserves a huge shout out for that representation!

The plot was somewhat fun and somewhat corny, which is an experience that happens often in romance, but the balance just was not there for me. This might be because I haven’t read the others in the series. Unfortunately I just didn’t feel connected enough to the plot or to any of the characters to be interested in what was going on.

Regarding the audio format, I was a huge fan of the female narrator but the male narrator fell flat for me.

Video: https://youtu.be/gGsJi_WVaKY

A cute and cozy conclusion to this witchy romance series! This time with a time slip element...

Deja Brew is a small town, witchy romance following Sirena who left her celebrity chef job to come home and take care of family. Now everything feels like it's falling apart, but a wish gives her back the month of October to live differently. And this time, love just might be on the menu.

Gus is a former reality tv star and magician who now lives a quiet existence working for the local historical society. He thinks his love life is over since his ex-wife left him, but Sirena stays on his mint. And what better time to fall in love than in the autumn?

There are delicious food descriptions, fall festivals, steamy moments, and a really sweet and cozy romance. Perfect for the coming season! The audio narration is good, similar to the previous books in the series. I received an audio review copy via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

DEJA BREW by Celestine Martin was a nice fall read. I enjoyed the plot and I loved the characters as the journey unfolded with the series. I admired their strength and vulnerability as they overcome grief and past traumas. This book was more than just a love story. It was a story of self-love and finding one self again. I think anyone would enjoy and fall in love with this story.

This is a cute, cozy fantasy romance with all the fall vibes. Though it's book three in a series, it can be read on its own (I haven't read the first or second book, and didn't even realize this was part of a series at first). The FMC is a kitchen witch and the MMC is a magician (and in this world, magicians are actually magical). It's set in a small town in New Jersey and takes place mainly in October. There's a Groundhogs Day element to it because the FMC travels back to the beginning of October for a chance to redo it. The audiobook has two narrators and they do a great job (the guy speaks slower than the gal so I sped up his chapters more).

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the audiobook.

Wow this book was so good ! It puts you in the mind of Halloween town and my inner child was so excited! Picture this Halloween Town but BLACK 🥰 & Grown with some spice 😅! OMG when I say I
Loooooooooooovvvvvve , I swear this gave me so much life ! The character development was phenomenal , the story flowed really well & The narrators were perfect 🥰! Thank you Celestine for feeding my soul 🥰 this was so magical ! I highly recommend this book to everyone

This book is a fun autumn romance with cozy vibes that make you long for fall activities like farmer's markets and apple cider. Celestine Martin's Deja Brew features the relatable love story of Sirena and August as they navigate their identities. Their character development is realistic and heartwarming, enhanced by the charming autumn/fall festival setting - and the friends to lovers vibe was great! ...Not to mention the spice... and I don't mean pumpkin spice! :) Overall, this story is a delightful read that captures the magic of the season. I look forward to reading more by this author!