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Title: The Folklore of ForeverAuthor: Sarah HogleGenre: Romantasy, Contemporary FictionWhere I Got It: New York Public Library Buy it here: Amazon or borrow from your local library Recommend: No⭐️ Rating: 1/5
Synopsis
Paranormal skeptic Zelda Tempest is hoping for a much-needed creativity boost for a new paranormal mystery novel. But despite the alleged magic of her hometown, Moonville, Ohio, she’s as stuck as ever.
With two witch sisters, not believing in magic is strange for a Tempest, but no one is more disappointed than Morgan Angelopoulos, the charming man next door. To cure her of her writer's block and her skepticism, Morgan ropes her into a ghost-hunting romp, only for Zelda to discover something else entirely: bizarre, never-before-seen creatures that appear as ordinary pets to everyone else.
Curious about what else might be lurking in Moonville's woods, Zelda and Morgan embark on a quest to uncover the true magic that lies in their midst . . . and perhaps, just maybe, they will find that the magic they're searching for has been with them all along.
With two witch sisters, not believing in magic is strange for a Tempest, but no one is more disappointed than Morgan Angelopoulos, the charming man next door. To cure her of her writer's block and her skepticism, Morgan ropes her into a ghost-hunting romp, only for Zelda to discover something else entirely: bizarre, never-before-seen creatures that appear as ordinary pets to everyone else.
Curious about what else might be lurking in Moonville's woods, Zelda and Morgan embark on a quest to uncover the true magic that lies in their midst . . . and perhaps, just maybe, they will find that the magic they're searching for has been with them all along.
Characters
Morgan Angelopoulos
Morgan’s personality is what makes him annoying, not his optimism. His constant positivity isn’t the problem—it’s that he treats everything like a punchline. He deflects tension with humor, refuses to sit with discomfort, and never quite reads the room. Morgan is genuinely helpful in moments of crisis and often means well, but he still doesn’t get it. He doesn’t fully understand Zelda, her skepticism, or why his approach to life can feel dismissive instead of comforting. Most frustratingly, he doesn’t meaningfully grow; he stays largely the same from beginning to end.
Zelda Tempest
Zelda is practical, skeptical, and grounded. As a journalist, she relies on facts, logic, and evidence, which puts her at odds with Morgan’s belief-driven worldview. She’s emotionally reserved, observant, and slow to trust anything that doesn’t make sense on the surface. Zelda’s journey is internal rather than dramatic, centered on how she processes uncertainty while staying true to who she is.
My Thoughts
We’re introduced to The Folklore of Forever by meeting Zelda first, which honestly felt like the right call. Zelda is a writer who’s returned to Moonville to be close to her sisters and regroup creatively. She’s stuck, both emotionally and professionally, and that frustration drives a lot of the early story. Enter Morgan, a self-proclaimed magic enthusiast who works for the local paper and somehow operates out of Zelda and her sisters’ café. From the jump, the setup promises cozy small-town magic, mystery in the woods, and a slow-burn unraveling of folklore versus reality. On paper, that sounds solid. In execution, though, the plot never really locks in. Things happen, but they don’t always feel connected or earned, which made large stretches of the story blur together for me.
The central mystery revolves around strange occurrences in the forest and a folkloric figure tied to altered animals and unseen magic. Zelda and Morgan repeatedly venture back into the woods, circling the same questions, poking at the same clues, and relying on Morgan’s book knowledge and Zelda’s latent instincts. The problem is that the story keeps introducing ideas without fully committing to them. Threads are dropped, explanations feel half-formed, and the pacing is wildly inconsistent. Zelda’s arc—especially her shifting relationship with belief, intuition, and the forest—is the only part that feels like it’s actually going somewhere. Morgan, on the other hand, stays exactly the same: overly jokey, oddly motivated, and frustratingly shallow in his emotional reasoning. The romance suffers because of this. Instead of building naturally alongside the mystery, it shows up abruptly and feels more like a checkbox than a payoff.
By the end, I was left feeling like this book had all the ingredients for something genuinely charming but never bothered to assemble them properly. The story lacks focus, the emotional beats don’t land, and too much happens at random without enough narrative patience. Zelda deserved a stronger framework around her growth, and the plot needed far more discipline. For me, this landed at one star—not because the concept was bad, but because the execution never rose to meet its own potential.
