The folklore of forever A novel

Hogle sweeps readers back to the mystical town of Moonville, Ohio, in the second book of her romantasy series (following Old Flames and New Fortunes, 2024). Despite being in a family of witches and authoring her own paranormal books, Zelda Tempest does not believe in magic. Her neighbor, the goofy yet insanely attractive Morgan Angelopoulos, is floored by the revelation that she's not just a skeptic, but doesn't have magic herself. He'd planned to get her to fall in love with him, thereby imbuing him with her magic. Zelda is aghast when he admits his scheme, but soon realizes that he genuinely just wants to be part of the magical world. Morgan and Zelda form an unlikely friendship as they quest to find the Black Bear Witch and learn more about the fantastical creatures Zelda has been seeing. This quirky novel combines the magic of the 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with cozy cottagecore. Light on romance, this book will have more appeal to fans of witchcraft than diehard romance readers.

Paranormal romance writer Zelda Tempest is secretly a skeptic of all things magical, while her sisters and niece, who claim to have supernatural powers, are always brewing potions and interacting with ghosts. Zelda has always believed it was a weirdly long con--one the whole town seems to be in on, drawing tourists with their claim that Moonville, OH is full of magic. Zelda's annoying and incredibly hot neighbor Morgan Angelopoulos certainly believes in the supernatural; he's a huge fan of Zelda's books and thinks they're based on a magical reality that he wants to join. When Zelda begins seeing bizarre creatures and hearing voices coming from the forest, Morgan accompanies her on a quest to find its secrets. This zany, banter-filled, paranormal rom-com borders on the ridiculous, but in the best possible way, as the protagonists, who seem so opposed at the beginning of the novel, find out they're more similar than they realized. The two have wonderful chemistry and humor-filled arguments that lead to more laughter than hurt feelings. VERDICT Readers will be turning pages long into the night, captivated by this silly, enchanting, somewhat screwball romp, a sequel to Old Flames and New Fortunes.--Heather Miller Cover