An incredible book for any collection. I would definitely buy this for my library and recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction.

Such a sweet - and bittersweet - love story! Mix in a touch of herbalism and you have a delightful read that will bring lots of feelings - happy, sad, frustrated, intrigued…

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Augusta Stern is eighty and freshly (although against her will) retired. She has moved to Rallentando Spring, a senior living facility, in Florida. There she runs into another retiree, Irving Rivkin, the man who broke her heart sixty years ago. As she learns to be around him again, she looks back on her life as a pharmacist's daughter, the niece of a healer, and the love and ultimate heartbreak she suffered with Irving. Facing the hurt, Augusta must learn to forgive but can she forget?

I love the way Lynda Cohen Loigman writes. She tells heartwarming stories of love and forgiveness. August and Irving are characters you can't help but love and root for throughout the story. This is told in a dual timeline between Augusta's past and present. We learn what Augusta has been through, her love for Irving, and her sadness at the death of her Aunt Esther, the neighborhood healer. The story makes you smile and laugh and at the end, you will be so happy that you read it.

3.5 stars
Told over two timelines, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is the story of an elderly woman who gets a second chance at happiness.

In 1987, 79 year-old Augusta is a recently retired pharmacist who leaves New York City to move into a retirement residence in South Florida and discovers that one of the other residents is Irving Rivkin who was a delivery boy at her father's pharmacy in 1920s Brooklyn. In the '20s timeline, Augusta is a young teenager who has recently lost her mother and her great-aunt Esther moves in to the family home above the pharmacy to help out. Aunt Esther is a healer and the women in the neighbourhood are soon coming to her for her unconventional remedies and potions. Augusta is fascinated by Esther and wants to learn how to make her aunt's elixirs but also wants to follow in her father's footsteps and become a pharmacist.

When her father hires Irving, the two become friends and later romantically involved but something happened to tear them apart leaving Augusta heartbroken and confused about what went wrong. Augusta never married as she was busy with her career and never truly got over Irving but when it becomes clear that Irving also still has feelings for her after all these years, Augusta must decide if she can forgive him for what happened 60 years earlier and take a chance on love.

A charming and delightful story about second chances that also touches on the roles and expectations of women in the 1920s and beyond. Both amusing and touching at times, this is a feel good story with a message that it's never too late for love and happiness.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

A story that spans over sixty years and two different timelines, we get to meet Augusta both as an 80 year old woman living in a retirement community in Florida, and as a young teen living in 1920’s Brooklyn where she works at her dad’s pharmacy.

It was such a beautiful story that pulled me in easily. The characters had so much depth and I really enjoyed seeing where they started and what led them to their current situation sixty years later. I loved getting lost in this book.

Also, this book made me crave my grandma’s chicken soup like crazy.

Unique and sweet story with a bit of magic thrown in. This is the second book I’ve read by the author. Having enjoyed The Matchmaker’s Gift, I was excited to read this. I did see some parallels between the two books.
Told in two timelines, this is a story of love and unfortunate circumstances that keep two people from being together. Augusta is a young girl/woman in the 1920’s. Working for her father who runs his own pharmacy, she grows to love the work. Irving Rivkin is a young man hired by her father to make deliveries to customers. He and Augusta become friends, but could they be more? Augusta’s Aunt Ethel enters into their lives. Ethel has an “unconventional” (what we now consider homeopathic ) way of healing and helping people. Augusta is enthralled by this. In time, she realizes things can awry, not always working the way we want them to. Secrets arise and complications cause Augusta from having the life she anticipated. Fast forward 60 years to the late 1980’s. Augusta is 80 years old and moves to Florida. This second timeline explains what has happened since the first and brings people back into her life. Secrets are revealed and we find out what happened and what changes can or can’t be made.
I enjoyed this charming story and the relationships within. I only wish that Augusta and Irving were about 20 years younger when they reconnect. I feel like it would be very doable and make for a slightly better story.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

To ease the pain of those who suffer
To repair the bodies of those who are ill
To restore the minds of those in need

"You can't give up something that brings you joy just because it is difficult."

I don't even know where to start. I loved this beautiful, and delightful story. Magical, witty book that made me laugh and cry. It was a book that I was unable to put down.
This story is set between two timelines, 1920's Brooklyn, NY and 1980's Florida.
Brownsville, Brooklyn in the 1920's as Augusta was growing up. Her mother has passed away. She works in her father's pharmacy during her teenage years, and falling in love with the delivery boy who works for her father.
Mysterious Aunt Esther has arrived to help the family. Her holistic medical practices or should I say magical practices are unconventional.
1980's and Augusta a pharmacist finally at 80 years old has retired. She moves to a retirement community in Florida. She discovers two childhood friends living there and life gets interesting.
Aunt Esther's chicken soup and other foods from my childhood had me remember ing my grandmothers cooking. How I miss all those wonderful meals.
A truly unforgettable and heartwarming story.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this delightful book.

WOW! What an amazing book and an amazing story. Augusta may be one of my all-time favorite book characters now.

At 80 years old Augusta is forced into retirement when she can no longer keep her age a secret at her job. They thought she was much younger but a new software update thwarted those plans!!!

Augusta moves to a retirement community in Florida where the first person she sees at the pool is her long lost love Irving. Is she happy to see him or not???

The story is told in dual timeline and we meet all of the wonderful characters that make this book so special!

This book is funny and heartwarming and at times sad but it is also uplifting and SO much fun!!!

Five HUGE stars!!!

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the honor to read and review this book!!!

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern was one of the best love stories I've read in a long time. This was such a charming and well written story I loved that it alternated between the 1980's and the 20's this added so much to book. I loved all the characters in the novel and couldn't wait to see how all their stories would come together. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I will absolutely be recommending this book 4 stars.

Lynda Cohen Loigman's books keep getting better and better. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is absolutely delightful and I can't wait for you all to get your hands on a copy in October! Be sure to enjoy a bowl of chicken soup (preferably with kreplach) while reading this wonderful gem.

There's a nice blend of magical realism with actual reality throughout the story. I loved Esther and all her elixirs for fixing everyone's problems. It frustrated me that Augusta's father wasn't more supportive of Esther's methods and I wished he could find a way for them to work together to make his pharmacy even more successful. It was nice to have Irving's perspective in the story to see everything from his side and learn that the situation wasn't always the way Augusta saw it. I also liked going back and forth in time, even though it sometimes took me a moment to realize what timeline I was reading about.

It's funny that I read this close in time to The Goldie Standard, as there were some little similarities, such as Augusta's nickname being Goldie and a majority of the novel revolving around senior citizens. There's also the Jewish Joy factor. And both are a mix of humor and bittersweet.

I love this novel and highly recommend it!

(Trigger warning below.)

Movie casting suggestions:
Augusta (past): Sofia Rosinsky
Augusta (80): Leslie Ann Warren
Irving (past): Lucas Jade Zumann
Irving (82): Scott Glenn
Esther (past): Jeannie Berlin
Lois: Ella Rubin
Mitzi: Shoshannah Stern

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TW: death of parent (mentioned a lot)

Lynda Cohen Loigman’s touching tale is of late-in-life second chances. Turning eighty and forced to retire from her pharmaceutical career, Augusta Stem is lost in what to do next until her niece, Jackie, recommends leaving New York and moving to a senior community in southern Florida. August has lived a life of too many losses early in life and of heartbreak including one with the young man Irving Rivkin whom she fell in love with when she was in her teens in the 1920’s and who up and left one day - and who now lives in the same senior community. The story alternates from the current time (late 1980’s) to her childhood shortly after her mother’s death from diabetes in Brooklyn where her grieving father owns a pharmacy and where Augusta is determined to learn the science of medicines. Aunt Esther, a firm great aunt, comes to live with them and brings her vast knowledge of healing with compounds and words through the old ways.

The dual timeline between the two settings, the one of young Augusta with her hopes and beliefs in a bit of magic in life and the other of 80-year-old Augusta with the protective walls up about her, effectively reveal why those walls exist – the losses and disappointments and the resulting determination. The alternating timeframes also allow for Irving’s perspective and tells bit by bit what happened so long ago – and since then and his steadfast love for Augusta.

This is a tale of love, sacrifices, family, grief, determination, the power of words, accepting losses and finding a way to move on, and secrets – both keeping others’ secrets and the burden of anchoring in one’s own. It is an engaging story with moments of humor and perhaps a predictable ending. The most interesting character, Aunt Esther, is an intelligent woman held back during her time when women were blocked from careers and opportunities in the sciences. I wish there had been more about this seemingly rigid and caring character whom Augusta loves. The author does a fine job of limiting what could have been a wide net of characters. The second-chance love story is interesting, and I wanted to know more about Irving’s missing years. The beautiful passage at the end about Augusta sensitively singing the song Aunt Esther would sing while making the compounds, of Augusta very late in life breaking down the walls and believing there is a “bit of magic” left in the world – are memorable. I am five years younger than eighty-year-old Augusta. That passage was perfect and magical to me.

I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Lynda Cohen Loigman for early access to this book. This opinion is all my own.

Lynda Cohen Loigman won my readership with The Two Family House. I will read anything that she writes and The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern keeps my allegiance alive.

What can I say? I loved Augusta. She is a bit brusk. Life has not always been easy for her. But she is not going down without a fight.

Do yourself a favor and read the book. I don't think you will be sorry. Irving and Augusta will live in my heart for a long time to come.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Can that really be Irving living in the same retirement complex as Augusta?

Irving was Augusta’s first love, but he broke her heart and married another.

Augusta worked in her father‘s pharmacy, and Irving was the delivery boy.

Sixty years later even though they loved each other for that long, they never had contacted each other.

Can they rekindle their love?

We follow Irving and Augusta in two timelines. The 1920s and then the 1980s.

When Augusta knew she wanted to be with Irving after all these years, she decided to try the love elixir she and her aunt made years ago to see if it would work again.

Can she do it?

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a book that will have you missing the heartwarming characters because of Ms. Loigman’s fabulous storytelling skills.

It is not a romance but a story of decisions made, family, and the regrets of poor communication.

It is another gem you won’t want to miss, and is a “do your heart good”​ read. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was a beautifully crafted novel! I was immediately drawn into the story and enjoyed the likeable characters. I had to force myself to slow down and savor it. I cannot wait to read more books from this author!

Once again, Lynda Cohen Loigman has written a beautiful story.

This book focuses on two sides of healing a patient. We all know how doctors advise and prescribe specific medicines that are available through pharmacists. But there’s another way to treat symptoms such as coughs, congestion, skin rashes and infertility. A person trained as an apothecary prepares a special elixir of herbs and plants. The author shows both sides with two timelines from the 1920s and 1980s.

It feels like I know the characters. Augusta Stern is a young girl with aspirations in the early 1920s of becoming a pharmacist like her father, Solomon Stern. It’s a time when most women were set to get married and have children. But Augusta had more on her mind working at Stern’s Pharmacy and following her father’s career path.

Irving Rivkin was a simple, kind delivery boy in the drugstore who fell in love with Augusta. He appreciated her intelligence with science, enjoyment of poetry and constant hard work that never seemed to slow down. He also liked that she was athletic and pretty. This was the girl he was hoping to marry someday. But he kept his thoughts private.

My favorite person was Aunt Esther who became part of the family when Augusta’s mother died. She was a stern, no-nonsense, plainly dressed woman originally from Russian. She spent years studying the effects of compounds and had a gift of healing people. She went into the kitchen and mixed specific plants and hard-to-get herbs while saying positive words. Augusta watched as she created amazing elixirs for different ailments. Most people were happy however one wasn’t.

The story has been told many times before -- life doesn’t always go according to the plans. There are complications, heartbreaks and mixed messages. Yet, the author amazes me with how she does everything right: describing a handful of characters so you can visualize each one. She keeps the chapters not too long but ending with suspense that makes you want to jump ahead. More importantly, there is a good message in the plot that brings old-world charm to the pages which warms our hearts.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of October 8, 2024.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern isn’t just a story of a second chance romance, but also a story of a woman who won’t let anything come between her and her dream of a career as a pharmacist in a time when women were rarely accepted in that role. Augusta had several inspirations for her pursuit; a mother lost to diabetes before insulin was available, and a father who is a successful pharmacist and staple in their neighborhood. But the person who inspires her the most is her great aunt, Esther, a woman with extensive knowledge that didn’t have the opportunity to have a career of her own until her skills gain her a reputation for curing the ills of the women in the Stern’s New York neighborhood. The pharmacy and the Stern’s home above it serves as an anchor point for the earlier part of the story where Augusta begins falling for delivery boy Irving Rivkin, and her sister Bess has a romance of her own. But things go awry and the future Augusta and Irving seemed destined to have never happens. Years later, Bess’ daughter Jackie convinces Augusta to move to Florida after retiring from her most recent job and lo and behold who should she run into at her new community but Irving Rivkin. This sets Augusta down a path she never wanted to take but needs to, and gives her the chance to learn what happened so many years ago. When Augusta and Irving reunite Augusta is about to turn eighty, and I love how the romance is about older people. The way it’s written feels very appropriate for people of that age, while showing that you’re never too old to find love and happiness. It does feel like it gets a bit too predictable at times, and the occasional switch to Irving telling the story interrupts the story because it isn’t consistent, but it’s an enjoyable book with multiple inspiring storylines. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My goodness I loved this book! This is a dual timeline novel about Augusta Stern, in her childhood home in Brooklyn and her as an elderly woman who has just retired to Florida. August's father owns the neighborhood pharmacy and she works in his store, fascinated by everything he does for his customers. When Augusta's mother dies of diabetes (just a year before insulin becomes available on the market) and her great aunt Esther moves in, Augusta is also drawn in by Esther's ability to heal as well. Only Esther's healing doesn't have the blessing of science that her father's has. Augusta is drawn to both, and wants to learn both, even though her father doesn't approve.

As an elderly woman who has just retired as a pharmacist and moves to a south Florida retirement community, she comes across some people from her past, including Irving, who broke her hear when she was 18.

I don't want to say much more since the book isn't out yet, but I loved this book so much! I had a few minor quibbles, but nothing that really bothered me that much. I grew up in south Florida so the parts of the story set in the 80s in Florida felt so familiar. Each chapter alternates between Augusta's youth in Brooklyn in the 20s to the late 80s in Florida, as we get closer to Augusta's and Irving's real, untold story.

I thought the writing was so easy to get into, and esp the chapters set in Brooklyn, just were so evocative of the time and place. I felt I was in her Brownsville neighborhood, and in Stern's pharmacy, and Aunt Esther's kitchen, with her chicken soup simmering on the stove.

But the storyline in the 80s, I feel I related to Augusta a lot. I'm not as old as her character, but I'm also nearing retirement, and thinking about how my life has turned out, often not as I expected.

I did anticipate how the story would resolve before we got to the big reveal, but I didn't mind, and in fact, was glad, because otherwise I think I would have been mad at Irving.

This is such a terrific book about choices and second chances. I haven't read anything else by this author, but I hope to in the future.

In this dual time historical fiction novel, teenage Augusta Stern loses her mother to diabetes shortly before medical Insulin is discovered that could have saved her life. She finds herself very interested in learning how drugs work from her father the pharmacist, as well as how herbs and natural remedies can work from her Aunt Esther, who some refer to as a witch vs her preferred term of apothecary. She is also interested in the delivery boy that works at the pharmacy, until her breaks her heart.

In the more recent story line Augusta's niece encourages her to move to a retirement village in Florida, where she connects with her old flame and makes new friends as well, and we eventually learn the secrets of her past.

I found this character driven book moved very slowly, making me put it down often between reading sessions. I could not figure out why the author chose the 1920s and 1987 for her timelines as the story did not seem to specifically relate to those time periods. Although I always enjoy older protagonists and this was no exception, I did not really engage with many of these characters and at times some of them did not seem very realistic. I often enjoy character driven novels better on audio and since it is not available in that format yet it may work better for people like me in that format when it comes out.
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the e galley in exchange for an honest review.

Lynda Cohen Loigman's THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUST STERN (publishing October 8, 2024) was a disappointment after truly enjoying THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE.

In this novel, the author introduces us to Augusta Stern, whose diabetic mother passes away just months before insulin comes on the market. This ignites her passion in pharmacology on top of her father being a well-respected pharmacist in 1920s Brooklyn.

After a very long career, Augusta is being forced out of her current job in 1987. Her niece Jackie recommends a retirement community in Florida, and there Augusta runs into her old flame Irving from the 1920s, who ended up fleeing her and marrying another woman a week later. This dual timeline novel rotates between the 1920s and 1987. Parts of the 1987 storyline were interesting (a love triangle with people in their 80s!), but soon it got tedious. The 1920s storyline was more compelling, but it had it owns issues.

Things that I had problems with:
* The 1987 storyline felt very modern. If you're going to intentionally set a story in 1987, make it feel like 1987 and not 2024 without technology.
* Inconsistencies in character - At one point Augusta at 80 years old is admiring herself in the mirror in a bathing suit. In a different scene, she's afraid to look at herself in the mirror in a dress.
* Characters. Augusta as a young person had such a personality. In the 1980s she didn't have much of a personality. Esther had such hope for being an interesting character, but she ended up always being in the kitchen in a scarf mixing up a potion with a pithy saying here or there. At one point, we're teased that she's going to reveal her backstory, and it ends up only being a paragraph or two! The men (Irving and Nathaniel) dressed differently in 1987, but seemed very similar in personality. The winner of this book is Jackie.
* The plot has very uneven pacing. It's very slow for most of the book. The reader is then given the missing puzzle pieces in the last chapter.
* Very minor, but I wasn't a fan of naming a couple Bess and George. I constantly thought of Nancy Drew!

I think this will best work for a reader who is looking for a book with an older protagonist who reunites with their first love.

A duel timeline romance that keeps you on your feet.
The main character who learned medicine from her Pharmacist father and her Apothecary Aunt must decide which path is right for her. She learns a lot along the way and faces many tough decisions that cause a big misunderstanding and regret later in life. Make sure to save this to your TBR! It'll be a great Autumn read.