Book Review: Old Flames and New Fortune by Sarah Hogle
September 9, 2024
I am going to start off this review in telling you that I am not a romance book reader, or so I thought. I have always claimed that they are just boring and are hard to stay focused in because they just drag on and all it really is, is dialogue. Which, in some cases, is true. But not in the case of this book. I picked this book on a whim, and I am so glad I did.
We follow the story of a young woman named Romina Tempest, who is in her late twenties. She lives in the town she grew up in with one of her two sisters and her sweet tweenages niece and her life is sweet and simple and good. Due to a nasty break up, she learned that she has magic within her, just like her grandmother Dottie had, and with her sister, Luna, they run the shop that Dottie had opened. Their business owner, Trevor, is trying to get funding from his wealthy father to help expand the business, and when his father invites him to an impromptu lunch, it feels like the perfect time to pitch their business plan! Only, upon arrival to the so-called lunch, Trevor is greeted by more than just his father, but a horde of his relatives and a blond woman on his father’s arm. It takes half a second for Romina to recognize the dazzling woman as none other than Kristin; the mother of her high school sweetheart, and the one that got away. Between a claim that she and Trevor were dating to get his cousin off his back, and both Romina and Trevor being faced with the fact that they were going to be seeing the people they both still harbored feelings for, “this business meeting” just got a whole lot messier. Will being faced with her long lost love, Alex, make her heart break all over again? Is her heart really ready to see him again, after all this time? And why is he even more devastatingly handsome than he was when they were younger?
I laughed out loud at this book. I am not sure I have ever laughed out loud at a book before. I cried and cried. I have never felt so connected to a story, but I almost feel like this book was written for me. For those of you who do not know my story, my husband and I met in elementary school, dated in middle school (then was bullied by my friends to break up with him, which was a huge mistake) and then almost dated in high school and then again in college before we finally made our way back to each other. This book spoke to a part of our story that I didn’t know that others could understand. It felt like chatting with an old friend. I am honestly wanting to make this a book I read over and over, just to be reminded of the magic of romance, and that there is magic in everything. Life and love and nature.
If I were to suggest this for a season, though, I will say it is much more of a spring read. I did see that Romina’s sister, Zelda, has her book coming out this spring and it is an autumn themed book, and I am already so excited to read it.
Big fan. Highly suggest.
