Was greatly looking for to this, but unfortunately was a miss for me.
Sounded charming, but too saccharine. I lost interest.

With thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this e-ARC.

THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC ebook to read.

Like chicken soup for the soul with a bit of magic and a dash of heartbreak along with laughter and a dose of romance sprinkled with hope. I really enjoyed this light and nostalgic read of, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern. A predictable story but entertaining.

Augusta Stern becomes a pharmacist and takes over her father’s pharmacy. Augusta’s Aunt Esther is a huge influence in her life and encourages her to dabble in herbal remedies too. Augusta Stern reluctantly retires in 1987 at the age of eighty years old and relocates to a retirement community, Rallentando Springs, in Boca Raton, Florida. Augusta bumps into an old friend, Irving Rivkin, from her hometown of Brooklyn, who was her father’s delivery boy at the pharmacy, as well as, her boyfriend. It triggers painful memories of their courtship when Irving abruptly abandoned her. The story is told in flashbacks of her youth in Brooklyn and current year 1987.

Will Augusta finally get the answers she deserves of why Irving abandoned her all those years ago? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing the part? Is it possible to recapture the lost magic of youth?

When Augusta Stern is pushed into retirement at age eighty she feels cheated, she still has a lot of good years left. Her niece Jackie, helps her to relocate from New York to Florida into a deluxe senior living community. Upon arrival, Augusta discovers there are two people living in the community with strong emotional ties to her past. This is a book about second chances with a strong theme of it never being to late to find happiness. It's a feel good story, told in two time lines. I would recommend it for someone looking for a light, breezy read, wholesome and not too complicated. The characters are from another era, easily relatable and very sweet.
Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Augusta, who is on the cusp of her 80th birthday, moves into an active senior community in southern Florida where she sees two people from her childhood, one of whom was the love of her life. Sadly, he dumped her and married someone else, without any explanation.

From there, the chapters switch back and forth between the 1920s and 1987. (I'm happy to say it worked with The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern and I liked both timelines equally!) I loved the magical realism, too.

My only complaint is that so many of Augusta's reactions felt teenager-ish to me. I hope that by the time I'm 79, I'll be at least a wee bit more mature than she!

Having said that, I delighted in the humor, heart, and hope I found in The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern and I recommend it!

Many thanks to both #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern. The expected publication date is October 8, 2024.

#HumorHeartHope

Oh, I’m saddened to say that this book fell flat for me. It has many elements that I typically devour; A feisty, soon-to-be octogenarian, told from a past/present POV, and magical realism. There was truly no magical realism. Many of the behaviors of Augusta were cringe-worthy and unbelievable that a woman of that age would act in such ways.

This was a fun cute book with some mystery and misunderstanding. I liked the back and forth between past and present, it allowed the book to flow very well. I am excited to talk about this book with other readers.

This book was very enjoyable, and I see why everyone was giving it high reviews. I loved Augusta and her story. The ending was perfect!
I will definitely recommend it to others!

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a beautiful historical fiction romance. The story moves between Brooklyn in the past when Augusta was growing up and the retirement community of Rallentando Springs in Florida in the present. I found the story delightful all the way through. Augusta grew up helping her pharmacist father in their store and learning from her great-aunt Esther, a healer. The stories melding the scientific and the naturalistic approaches to health were enjoyable to read. Following her father's footsteps, Augusta becomes a pharmacist, a job she enjoys immensely until she is forced to retire at age 80. In Rallentando Springs, Augusta runs into the man who left her without an explanation and broke her heart 60 years earlier. It was so nice to see how the author wove the story between the two timelines. The story slowly reveals the events of the past while we get to know Augusta and Irving and the people and families that surrounded their lives in the past and the present. Both timelines were equally interesting to me and I found Augusta to be an interesting and complex main character. The story is beautifully written and one I will be recommending.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy.

I love dual times in books so this worked well for me. I also really liked Lynda Cohen Loigmen`s other books. The love story was sweet. I loved all the characters so much. No matter how old you are you still have life to live.

This is a sweet story about second chances. I really enjoyed the magical realism aspect. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Augusta is turning 80, newly retired and living in a Florida retirement community when she is faced with the man she loved as a youth. The novel alternates between present day and her youth. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Lynda Cohen Loigman has done it again!

This is truly a book about 2nd chances on love and friendship! Reminds us that open communication is often the best way to prevent years of hurt, misunderstanding and often years of love, happiness and joy.

Augusta's story is told through flashbacks throughout the book. Augusta is now 80, forced into retirement as a pharmacist. Her love for healing started many years prior working as a teen alongside her father. She witnessed the power of medicine and the importance of privacy. Her aunt Esther shares her ways of healing too, which makes Augusta an absolute delight!

Pre-order your copy today as this book is set to be released later this year! In the meantime, go back and pick up her 3 previous titles, all different and all magical in their own way!

Eighty-year-old Augusta Stern is a retired pharmacist. She is now living in a senior community in Florida.
She runs into a man from her past, Irving Rivkin who was a delivery boy for her fathers at his pharmacy in Brooklyn, when they were younger. He broke her heart and you can imagine the shock of seeing him in her community.
When Augusta was younger, and her father Solomon owned the local pharmacy was the go-to place for all ailments. After he mother dies, her Great Aunt Esther moves in and is a healer so Augusta leans remedies from Esther.
As Augusta learns the new ways, something happens and she vows to stay away from elixirs.
After all this time, will old wounds heal? I was fascinated by this story.

3.5 stars

The dual timelines of this book worked well, even though I liked the parts of the book that took place in the 1920s a lot more than the ones in 1987 (even though the 1987 parts took place in my hometown), which felt a lot more repetitive and sometimes a little boring. I do think this well written and engaging, though sometimes a little overly detailed, and I was actually interested in reading the whole way through.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

I think this was one of my favorite reads of 2024 so far.

If you like UpLit you will absolutely love this story of the old pharmacist, Augusta, who moves into an elderly home where she ends up seeing two people from her childhood, one of whom is her teenage boyfriend (love of her life) who left her and married someone else.

This story has so much heart, so much love, so much pain. The characters are layered, funny, sweet, and so real. The way the story slowly unfolds builds your empathy, love and connection to the characters and before you know it, you are rooting for them and aching for them.

I loved the magical realism. Usually in stories like this I tend to like one character's storytelling more than the other one. Or I like one timeline more. In this case, I loved all of it. Every moment.

Wonderful story, a perfect balm for these tough days.

with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

What a sweet story that straddles historical fiction and modern day, late in life romance…. With a little bit of magic mixed in. A fun second-chance-at love that will tug at your heart strings. For lovers of Don’t Forget to Write or Cohen Loigman’s other books.

A cutesy, heartwarming, second-chance romance set in the 1920s and 1980s.

I will be honest, the only reason I picked this up is because the cover was gorgeous and I saw a hint of magic realism somewhere in the description. This is a romance-focused book with endearing characters and a completely improbable plotline (everything apart from the magic, that is). I feel like it should have been longer for me to appreciate the relationship between all the characters, but the book does pack a good (sweet?) punch in a small package. I'm not going to analyze this one much, it's fun and refreshing with a side of feminism, and it made me want to make chicken soup. 4 stars, this is for the cozy romance and magical realism readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

OMGoodness. I didn't expect to love this book so much. Not a spoiler alert: The novel is wonderful.

This reviewer typically reviews thrillers, with the occasional women's fiction or romance novel to round out my reading. I rarely read historical fiction. Almost never. And not in a long time. So, I surprised myself when I accepted the invitation to read The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern when it arrived in my mailbox. There was something about the beautiful book cover and story description that lured me, despite my having next to nothing in common with the protagonists.

Except--I'm a grandmother. And I clearly remember when my widowed grandmother met and married the love of her life at age seventy-six. Before she died at the age of eighty-two, she told me the six years of her second marriage were the happiest of her life. The vivid memories of her joyful marriage caused me to wonder if eighty-year-old protagonist Augusta Stern would find happiness too. Who couldn't love Augusta, a woman who lies about her age to delay forced retirement, claiming to be a younger woman of *seventy*. Who can resist that form of resolve and optimism?

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is told in alternating timelines of the 1920's and 1980's. The characters are so well crafted they seem real. It feels perfectly natural to care for them and cheer for them, since they endear themselves to the reader page by page. Age, geography, and cultural differences fade away with each chapter of this charming story. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is not to be missed. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing an advance copy of this book to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

I have to admit, the title, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern, was a little puzzling. But as I started reading it, I found I couldn't put it down. The story revolves around Augusta and her retirement. Upon moving to Florida, she sees her former boyfriend from 62 years ago.. That unexpected encounter is the vehicle to weaving Augusta's past in 1920's Brooklyn with her present. Toss in a Jewish household, a woman who was smart enough for college and a career, a mobster, and past hurts, and it's an very enticing plot line. All is resolved in the end - but not until the very end. The true elixir is Ms. Loigman's writing.

When we first meet Augusta she is being force to retire from her position as a pharmacist in a hospital. Having lied about her age, she finally retires
and moves to a retirement village in Florida. Imagine Augusta's surprise to find the man that broke her heart 62 years ago is also a resident. With a dual timeline we are able to see what lead to this heartbreak. And maybe just maybe she will get her answers and find love at 80.

At first I had a hard time liking Augusta, she seemed brash and stubborn. But learning about her struggles of losing a mother so young and then her
love are healing with both traditional and non-traditional methods, made me understand and appreciate her more. I loved seeing her learn about medicine, fall in love with Irving, and learn to respect her great aunt Ester.

This was truly a special book. Irving was quite the character and you couldn't help but root for him. He faced some hardships as teen and young adult that would harden just about anyone, but he really never lost his spirit and seemed to better himself.

I love Jackie's relationship with her aunt Augusta and her plotting to help Augusta forgive and heal.

Highly recommend

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.