Old Flames and New Fortunes – Book Review

A steamy second-chance romance about a magical florist’s unexpected reunion with her high school sweetheart as she fake dates his soon-to-be stepbrother.

A small, magical town tucked away in rural Ohio, Moonville is the perfect place for flora fortunist Romina Tempest to expand her shop, where she uses the language of flowers to help the hopeful manifest their love lives. After giving up on her own big romance eleven years ago, at least she can bask in the promise of others’.

So, when the shop’s potential financier shares news of his wedding, Romina jumps on the opportunity to discuss buying the business. What better place to negotiate a deal than at a wedding, even if she has to fake-date her chaotic colleague Trevor to get an invitation? But all hell breaks loose when she discovers Trevor’s soon-to-be stepbrother is none other than Alex her high school sweetheart. Her greatest love. The boy who, eleven years ago, broke her heart, and who now thinks she and Trevor are dating. 

What starts as an innocent misunderstanding becomes a week-long fake dating scheme, as Romina resolves to make Alex pay for breaking her heart. The only issue? She can’t deny their still-burning connection. Caught between proving to Alex what he lost, and coming clean and risking her business, Romina must decide whether giving Alex another chance means going back on herself, or finally releasing her hold on the past.

I really like the front cover. And I thought the story is cheesy and cute. But then I was OK with this book–did enjoy the first part of the book but through the second book, it kind of felt flat for me.

In a rural part of Ohio, Romina Tempest is a florist who knows the secret language of flowers and owns a shop with her sister Luna. When the colleague Trevor announces to Romina that his father, who is the potential financier of their shop is in town, Romina and Trevor goes to meet his father–but it turns out that Trevor’s father is getting married to Kristen, who is Romina’s ex-boyfriend’s mother. Not to mention after eleven years, Romina meets her ex-boyfriend Alex again after he broke her heart all those years ago. Now Romina and Trevor fake date each other in front of Alex but Romina couldn’t help but realize that she still has feelings towards Alex even after all those years.

The story is entertaining, I like how each of the chapters in the book are named after a flower–some flower names I am not that familiar with. I do like the chemistry between Romina and Alex. I also like the plot of the story as well. However, I felt this story could have been shortened, and that it kind of went down the drain towards the end, in my opinion which lowered my rating to three stars from a four star rating. However, if you like romance with a hint of magical realism in it, then this book is one for you. Worth three stars.