Audrey Goldberg Ruoff invites you into a world of magic, love, and specialty drinks as she opens the pages of her debut novel, Hopelessly Teavoted. A hilarious and heartwarming cup of second chances laced with spice, longing, and downright cavity-inducing sweetness, all topped off with a foam of the occult and a sprinkle of grief. Sift through the history with readers as they wait for the tension between past best friends, present strangers, and wannabe (future) lovers, Azreal “Az” Ashmedai Hart and Victoria “Vickie” Starnburger, to reach scalding temperatures. Hopelessly Teavoted is not one you want to let cool before drinking in every heart-racing, palm-tingling, cheek-reddening moment.
Synopsis
Fall in love with the world of Hallowcross, as the grieving Azreal “Az” Ashmedai Hart returns to his hometown after the loss of his parents to Covid-19. When he was younger, Hallowcross was all he wanted to get away from: his parents, their family “magick”, and his unbearable life-long crush on his next-door neighbor, and spirit channeler, Victoria “Vickie” Starnburger.
Now, he’s forced to confront it all, especially as Vickie has taken over his family’s tea shop. Az is desperate to make up for past mistakes. He is presented with the perfect opportunity when Vickie is cut off from her parents and is forced to reap souls to repay a debt owed to a lesser devil in exchange for her gift. As they grow closer once again, it becomes clear that no matter how hard they try, they are drawn together by some act of destiny. The two try to fight their feelings, because — thanks to Vickie’s curse — at least one of them is guaranteed to get burned, no matter how devoted they are to each other.
A Recipe for Dealing with Grief
Grief was a strange bedfellow that rolled over in waves, sometimes wasting days in gray numbness and other times just spurts of disenchantment between twisting, bright memories of the girl he couldn’t get out of his mind now that he was back here, where he had loved her once.
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, Hopelessly Teavoted
Grief and longing play a considerable role in this novel. Not only is Az dealing with the loss of his parents, but there’s also a change to the relationship dynamics for him and his sister, Priscilla. These dynamics create a lot of tension points. As readers, you’re able to see when that grief becomes more than an internal battle he is fighting.
The way he grieves for his parents adds a layer to the romance on the page because he’s mostly remembering how much they loved him and each other, and he is longing to find that for himself. In the same way, he is also grieving the loss of his relationship with Vickie. The way Goldberg Ruoff writes this grief is beautiful. You can feel the pain in every decision he makes from his point of view. Not once is the weight of that grief sacrificed for the sake of the plot or a dramatic shift in emotion.
A Stirring Show of Second Chances
Maybe chances were like his magic, always waiting, buzzing under his skin until he got his life together and let them in.
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, Hopelessly Teavoted
In all its sadness, Goldberg Ruoff writes a story of hope displayed in the form of second chances. Second chances are needed for multiple characters throughout the book. Az wants his second chance to say goodbye to his parents, and also to mend his relationship with Priscilla, and close the distance between them that has grown since their parents’ deaths. Perhaps more centrally, there is his desire for a second chance with Vickie.
However, none of these chances feels like the author freely gave them. These chances have to be earned by the characters through growth and actual conversation. The conversations around second chances, much like the conversation around grief, are where Goldberg Ruoff truly shines. There’s such care taken with the development of these characters and their journeys, both to each other and to themselves. For a reader, just like in Az’s case, this leads to a lot of introspection and reflection on our own lives and what we would do over if we had the chance.
An Exploration of Love
There was love, real love in Hart Manor in the very beams of the house, which creaked and yawned and lived with the family that loved there.
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, Hopelessly Teavoted
As much as there is this heaviness to the storyline overall, there is also a lot of brevity, and as it is in the romantic comedy genre, love. There’s, of course, love between Az and Vickie. Along with the inner conflict, this “will they, won’t they” tension drives the main subplot of the novel. And oh, is there tension. On the one hand, the two are the main roadblock in their relationship. Goldberg Ruoff built this tension again through internal conflict. This forces the reader to lean into their relationship and see them as not just two parts of a couple, as often happens with romantic comedies, but as separate people who want to build a life together.
Romantic love is not the only form of love showcased in Hopelessly Teavoted. The other is that of familial love. The way this is demonstrated is so interesting. Goldberg Ruoff doesn’t use Az to display the weight of familial love to the audience, even though he is the main male character and half the novel is in his POV. She instead uses the opportunity to channel that love through Vickie, communicating with Az’s parents on the other side of the veil. This not only gives the audience an outside perspective but also allows more space for them to truly absorb how much love this family has for each other. Vickie is unburdened by his guilt over his decision to leave home, and therefore, she is able to see with clear eyes the truth in all their interactions. In Vickie, the audience also sees how much the lack of familial love hurts her, and how much she desperately craves the connection that he has. Having this as another layer of tension also allows more depth than you would typically find in a rom-com of this style.
An Opportunity for Closure
Azreal could help him to feel the love preserving in that grief and to find comfort in the knowledge that memory was a blessing.
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, Hopelessly Teavoted
Throughout the entirety of this book, there’s a yearning for closure. Whether it be for Az to find closure with his parents, his guilt, or even his relationship with Vickie, it is the other half of the internal conflict he faces as he moves within the plot. It leaks into every decision he makes. It is not a one-size-fits-all, band-aid wisdom on grief, either. In its current form, the closure comes slowly and in pieces. It burns bright at times, filling the audience with a sense of warmth, and at other times, closure is missing, leaving the characters and the audience fumbling around in darkness.
Goldberg Ruoff reminds us that closure is not always wrapping something up in a bow and putting it on a shelf. Sometimes it is about letting yourself feel something until one day, the feeling becomes like a distant memory. The kind of closure she writes about comes with a shaky peace offering between your past and your future, to accept your pain like a phantom limb, but not to let it paralyze you. This mindset allows the audience to feel some of the burden lifted off the characters as they close the pages.
Final Thoughts
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff made a sizzling splash with Hopelessly Teavoted. You’ll find yourself on a roller coaster of emotions. You’ll laugh, you’ll blush, you might even cry. Hopelessly Teavoted is a novel that feels like you are sitting around a dinner table, catching up with friends you haven’t heard from in a while. In her debut novel, Goldberg Ruoff writes, not just characters, but humans you want to root for. Hopelessly Teavoted will satisfy a reader’s need for an early 2000s style rom-com while also providing you with enough spice to fill a Venti Chai Latte, one you can sip on in a local tea shop, perhaps.
You’ll love Hopelessly Teavoted, if you liked:
- A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley
- The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
- The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
- Picking Daisies on Sundays by Liana Cincotti
Main Characters Fancast:
- Gavin Leatherwood as Azreal “Az” Ashmedai Hart
- Coral Humphrey as Victoria “Vickie” Starnburger
- Jenny Walser as Priscilla “Prissy” Hart
- Deva Cassel as Evelyn Vishwakumar
- Eva Green as Persephone Hart
- Rami Malek as Benedict Hart
Final Score: 4.5/5
Spice Rating: 3.5/5
If you want to add Hopelessly Teavoted to your TBR, you can preorder it on Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Amazon. Thank you to Atria Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
For more spicy romances, dive into this review of Back Handed Compliments by Katie Chandler!
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