
Member Reviews

This book was cosy and magical. Its all about the unfairness of law and how sometimes life requires rebellion in order to keep those you love safe and to live.
This book went by in a blur it was so easy to enjoy!

Well what can I say!?
I loved it and i devoured it.
Its about a librarian and her assistant(who FYI is a sentient spider plant!) , who are working in a library and when the library is attacked they gather some (spell)books and leave.
They head for the island the MC was born on to lay low and protect the books. They find the MCs parents house and restore it then decide to make jam to earn a living.
The MC realises the island isnt as healthy as it once was and starts researching ways to maybe help...
This book was amazing, you have a girl trying to make a new life and home for herself, an island of people willing to help, we have merpeople, merhorses(loved that) oh and cant forget winged cats (awesome)...
What more could you want?

I adored this book. 4.5 stars rounded up!
This is book follows a librarian Keila (and Caz, her leafy assistant) as they Escape a volatile rebellion in Empire and settle back on the Island of her birth .
The writing is wonderfully descriptive. The author has a way that makes you feel as if you’re right there with Keila as she goes about her business. Caz is a treasure. He’s funny, wise and the most loyal friend anyone could wish for. I dare say he stole the show.
The plot is low stakes, and the pacing is quite slow, though I believe that adds to this type of storytelling.
Now, as far as characters go they’re all wonderful. Though Keila starts off a little ornery, especially with Larren, and truth be told a little unlikable, you can understand why. . She’s a multidimensional character and I loved watching her slowly become softer and willing to let people in.
Larran is a sweetheart from the get go. Just a genuinely nice person, if a little awkward albeit in a very charming way.
Being the island of Keika’s birth, there are a lot of nostalgic feelings and old memories brought up and it’s interesting to see how Keila deals with this. Also, lots and lots of magical and fantastical creatures that are fascinating and on occasion adorable.
Overall this is a very charming book with surprising depth and a satisfying conclusion. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who likes cozy, low stakes fantasy and interesting, relatable characters.
Notes for the puplisher exclusively. Spoilers!
There is a part in the book where Leila and Caz are moving the crates to hide them from Radanne where Keila alludes to hiding Caz as well before Radanne finds him and see’s he is unnatural and they eventually agree that it is a good idea. However, Radanne has already met Caz at Larrans house when Keila saves Sian from poisoning. I think this needs to be addressed before release to avoid confusion.
Also,
There are a lot of instances that use the word ‘and’ that I feel are unnecessary and confusing. Perhaps One more editing pass would help.
Thank you to PanMacmillan and NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions here are my own and I am sharing them voluntarily. Will post to my Goodreads and instagram .

Sarah said she wanted to write a book that felt like a warm hug... and she really did succeed!
I did not stop smiling all the way through, and crying in some parts, it filled me with such joy, it was so pure and full of hope.
Normally, I prefer fantasy books filled with emotional turmoil, you know the ones that leave you a wreck, but this was a breath of fresh air, low stakes, HIGH fantasy, perfect for fans of Legends and Lattes and till death do us bard.
I adored the world building, I could see Keilas cottage and the town so vividly, and the views, coastal, cliff side, all of it, I felt like I was melting into this world, becoming a part of it.
Every character was a delight, I especially loved Cas the sentient spider plant! And the vast array of creatures that appeared throughout, it even had a unicorn.
Literally, some part of my inner child has been healed by this story.
Thank you so much for my advance reading copy.

I absolutely loved this book - I went in hoping it would be sweet, cosy fantasy (which it is) and just got swept away by the brilliant cast of characters, the mix of cottage core and fantasy and the general setting/plot lines making me want to sit under a tree eating jam from the jar.
You can feel this beautiful setting, the sea and the cliffs and the barely contained garden in the forest. The way the magical creatures blend into this story makes you half expect to see them on your next walk through the woods and I couldn't help but want to move to this adorable little village.
The main plot line is a jam making front for an illegal sorcerer trying to help out the locals and one of the protagonists is a sentient - and talking - spider plant.
I messaged so many people that they needed this one, I hope its the start of a series.

I loved this book so much!
Exactly what it days on the tin - a cozy romantasy. The perfect book I needed as a palette cleanser between all the full on fantasy I've been reading.
This book just made me so happy, and I related to the main character a lot! The romance was super cute too.
I NEED a lot more books like this!

I have enjoyed Sarah's past books, so I was curious to read this one as well. The Spellshop is a cozy fantasy story, with low stakes and likable characters, and in the end I liked it. Maybe it wasn't what I expected, and sometimes the pacing was too slow, but it was a good cottagecore book.

A really fun cozy fantasy that I really enjoyed. The plot was more on the slower side and I feel like the book could have maybe been a bit shorter but I absolutely loved the setting and vibes! Our main character being a librarian and book lover made her really relatable from page 1 and I'm also absolutely obsessed with her sidekick, a speaking spiderplant who was serving so much comedic relief. The book was really magical and wholesome with lots of interesting characters and fantastical beings and it's just the perfect book to read on a rainy day.
But while I really did have a good time reading it, I also know that this is not a book that's going to stay with me forever. It's a good book, it really is, for me personally it just didn't have much of an emotional impact which is way I'm probably going to stop thinking about it soon. I liked the characters but did I feel a huge connection to them? Maybe because the book felt so low stakes I wasn't as invested in the story or maybe it's just me. I'm only saying this to explain my rating - which is very subjective - and not to encourage anyone to not pick this book up because I think a lot of people will love this and I honestly would recommend it.

I picked up this book on the strength of the gorgeous cover and the promise of a cozy fantasy in a similar frame to Legends and Lattes. There is no denying this book is cozy, in the way of hot chocolate in a cafe window idly watching the world go by, and will definitely appeal to readers in the market for a gentle, low stakes comfort read, though I admit it was too fluffy for my tastes. I have seen this book described as Hallmark and I have to agree that hits the nail on the head: this book is woman from the big city returns to her small hometown and finds the true meaning of home, with romance on the side. For some that will be a key selling point and rightly so, though romance readers may find that aspect a little thin on the ground.
While I loved other cozy fantasies, I admit this moved too slow for my personal taste and leans a little too hard on telling more than showing. There are tantalising glimpses of further plot out there, the opening scene has more action than the others combined, and is paced differently from the slow plod of the rest. Slow pace will work for some readers, but I found it frustrated me, as did the lack of development for the characters, despite more than enough space to do so. The romance aspect comparatively moved faster than expected, from day one on the island, and as I went in not expecting a romance at all I found this detracted from the potential of the setting and scenario more than enhanced it. Again, romance readers will certainly enjoy this!
All that said, Caz is a highlight for sure, I loved the concept of a sentient plant, and I enjoyed the other magical aspects, the varieties of species and fantasy elements aparent in the world. I just have to admit that Hallmark is not my cup of tea so I will have to leave this book to the readership it was intended for.
*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

Five stars. Six stars. All the stars.
I've been looking forward to this book ever since I saw the cover and read the blurb. I absolutely adore cozy fantasy, it's one of my favorite genres, and this did not disappoint.
This book is the ultimate cozy fantasy. It's everything warm and fuzzy and joyful. It's a warm hug, the type of book you pick up when you're having a bad day and just want to feel good. It's low stakes while still being fun and interesting. There's a talking spider plant, a sentient cactus called "Meep", books, a bakery that serves warm scones, magic, merpeople and merhorses, forest guardians in the form of cloud bears, an introverted anxiety-riddled librarian, and found family on a small island that makes you wish that you could squeeze yourself into the pages of the book and be part of the community.
The romance is sweet and heart-warming. The friendships are the type that you want in real life. The magic is the type that you desperately wish for if you have any type of love for plants and gardening.
I've already preordered a copy of this book and cleared off a space on my "cozy fantasy" shelf for it. I absolutely adored everything about this. I really hope this isn't the last we have of Caltrey and its residents.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this arc. All opinions are my own.

This tale about a librarian forced to flee with the spellbooks she protects to a village that used to be hers is not only warm, cozy fantasy that makes for a .captivating read, but also creates a world of magic and love populated with characters who had me rooting for them.
The protagonist, Kiela, is sweet, altruistic and resourceful. We are introduced to her in her native environment of the library, which then shifts to a world that she is unfamiliar with which really tests her resolve. From reconciling with people who she has left behind to creating a means of income to confronting the ideals she lived by for so long with surprising ease, watching her grow as a character is absolutely rewarding. Her plant assistant Caz is snarky and full of common sense, and provides a valuable counterpoint to Kiela's sometimes naive outlook, providing refreshing banter. The other inhabitants of the village - including her eventual love interest - were helpful and friendly. I feel like this aspect of the characters' personalities could have been developed a bit more, as it felt like the side characters mainly presented the aspect of being good people and didn't fully feel developed.
Overall, if you're looking for a cute, clean and wholesome romance, a fantasy book with a soft whimsical magic system and a happy ending, The Spellshop might just be the one to try.
Thank you to NetGalley, the writer and publisher for the ARC.

This was very nice and fluffy. Nothing terrible happens, all the potential antagonists turn out to be pretty decent people, and the rapid acceptance of our main character into a new life is comforting to read about, but you need to be willing to look past the unbelievable bits. Not the talking non-binary plants, centaurs, antlered winged men, goat boys, and ghost bears, I hasten to add--those were lovely bits of world-building--but the societal behaviours that depend on certain recognized patterns working in all the ways that make them good, and none of the ways that make them bad. In particular, I refer to the tendency for small-town insular societies to close ranks and look after their own. The reason for this (as I believe) is that they know exactly who their own are. They keep strict distinctions between insiders and outsiders. So it rings a bit false that a stranger to this small island would be able to benefit so quickly from the closing of ranks that such a society would give to one of its own. (But then, as I like to say about sexism, if you can imagine dragons, why can't you imagine a society without sexism?)
The effortlessly magical and chymerical properties of the beings in is this world are a lovely touch, but that led a bit to its own awkwardness. At one point the intelligence of merhorses to be described to a character in terms of dolphins, as if the character needed the 'unfamiliar magical' creature aligned with mundane animals. The reader does, of course, but I don't see why a character who has grown up on an island whose economy rather depends on using domesticated merhorses to herd fish would need to have their features explained by comparison to fully wild animals who do not even show up in the book outside this comparison. That exposition was clumsy.
Still: small quibbles, in an otherwise fluffy blanket of a book. This is a very solid installment in the cosy SF genre, and if you need something cosy and undemanding, this book will provide it.

Thank you to NetGalley, PanMacMillan and Sarah Beth Durst for this e-arc.
This is the PERFECT book to read going into Spring!! I absolutely adore the cliffside ocean setting, I almost forgot how much I love them when books are so typically set by the ocean when there's doom and gloom around. But this was completely different, cosy, magical, and almost like getting a warm hug. I am enamored by Caltrey and wish that I could live somewhere so peaceful with the people so accepting. The perfect blend of found family, unexpected romance, a little bit of mystery and some stakes but not too much that you lose sense of the surroundings. In fact, despite the low stakes, it made me feel even anxious at the prospect of the potential loss because of how incredible the people and the village, and the home were.
Can we also talk about how perfect Caz and Meep are? I need a whole book with their story please!
I adored this so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for approving me for my first ARC.
This cosy fantasy was suggested for fans of Travis Baldrees and TJ Klune. Honestly I liked this more than Legends and Lattes (doesn’t quite beat House in the Cerulean Sea but it’s up there). The pacing was better. We get plopped into the world right away and it moves quickly to where Kiela returns to her old home which is where the story begins. Did I mention it’s set on an island?
There’s similarities to L&L with setting up a new place but the stories feel very different. Caz, the spider plant, is such a wonderfully drawn character. I love sentient houses in literature but have never come across a sentient house plant. You can’t not love Caz. Plus there are some other cool creatures: merhorses, cloud bears, winged cats.
We meet sweet shy Larran early on in the novel, and it’s so tender watching their romance go. His awkwardness and her resistance to people.
This book is such a perfect cosy fantasy/cottagecore book: library, growing garden, making jam, and a talking plant. Perfect to read during spring/summer. What I call a warm sunshine of a hug novel with a dash of adventure.
I rated it 4.5/5 stars, rounded up. I wish it every success because I think there will be many fans!

This book is exquisite - the pacing is perfect, the characters are interesting and loveable (other than Fenerer who was unbearable), the setting is cosy, and the plot had me invested from start to finish.
Kiela escapes her burning library and battle frenzied city with five crates of rescued/stolen spellbooks, her best friend who is a talking plant, and a small satchel of essentials. They set sail for her hometown, and slowly begin to rebuild their lives and their hearts.
Romance wise, it's understated and built on awkward friendship and respect which is adorable and much more relatable than a love at first sight trope. I really enjoyed seeing the progress between Kiela and Larran, and the other relationships that blossom on the side are just as sweet.
I also loved how the small town vibe and magical whimsy were paired with the very real trauma Kiela and Caz have experienced, and how despite all the struggles (from a blocked chimney to devastating magical storms) both keep their spirits high. This book is just so full of positivity and quiet humour, even when the plants make murderous threats - yes, there is conflict, but the story as a whole is so feel good that you won't want to put it down. Plus, the magical creatures and atmospheric forest/seaside backdrop will leave you utterly transfixed.

Until recently, ‘Romantasy’ ‘cosy fantasy’ and ‘cottagecore’ weren’t terms I was familiar with, and if I was told to read a book of those genres, I may have been a bit dubious. However, I am finding these fantasy spin off genres contain all the elements I love in a good story. There’s something very appealing about the combination of fantasy world, compelling storyline, love interest and cosy cottage existence with a business hustle thrown in! The Spell Shop’ by Sarah Beth Durst made me want to move to an island, renovate a cottage and open a small business!
The author’s world building is great; the rules of magic, island nation caught amid revolution and the descriptions of the island of Caltrey with its fantastical creatures and residents give the reader enough detail to picture and believe in the world in which the story is set and want to know more, without detracting overly from the storyline.
I especially loved the Merhorses (which aid fishermen with their catch) and the fact that Kiela is blue-skinned. The sentient plants Caz and Meep were for me however the stars of the book. Who wouldn’t want a cute sentient cactus willing to help you round the house? The range of characters, whether humanoid, animal or plant, show the author’s vivid imagination and it is great to see the exploration of LGBTQ+ themes in both humanoid and plant characters!
For me, the story contained a good mix of action, cosy cottage descriptions and romantic interest. However, it may have been nice to see more of the other islanders and their thoughts on Kiela and Caz as the newcomers. Apart from the key players (both good and bad), they seem remarkably disinterested and unbothered by their sudden appearance on the island and we don’t hear their thoughts. I am also not sure how believable it is, even in that world, that someone can survive by selling jam and a few spells, something which isn’t fully explained. However, it doesn’t detract overly from the enjoyment of the book.
Overall, a good heart-warming read with interesting themes and strong characters. It would be nice to see this world explored further in another book!

Release Date: 9 July 2024
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and editor for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion!
The Spellshop was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 since I saw its cover in early 2023. You can guess how excited I was when I saw that my request for this book had been approved!
I was immediately sucked into the story thanks to the author's great writing style which created vivid images of the scenes and characters into my mind. There was just enough plot to keep me interested for the entire book, without having the weight of, let's say, an epic fantasy plot. I was invested and thoroughly entertained for the entirety of the book and really don't have negative things to say.
The story is completed by a great cast of characters to which it's easy to grow attached. I loved the found-family and friendships aspects and the characters were interesting and well fleshed out, allowing me to have feelings towards them with one character I wasn't sad to see leaving the island. Kiela was a very relatable heroine to me because of her shyness and introverted personality. Her inability to understand social and human cues and Caz's reaction were very funny and added a human dimension to the fantasy. Caz and Larren were great secondary characters and I liked how they were supporting Kiela, being there while giving her the space to grow.
In brief: I loved this enchanting and colourful story about a librarian who ends up leading a simple life on an island and building her small business. It's an utterly cosy fantasy and just makes me want to read more of this genre. If what I said wasn't enough to convince you to pick this book, I'll add one last thing: there's a full cast of magical beings, including flying cats!
My rating: 4.5/5

I absolutely loved this book, it felt like a warm hug from cover to cover ❤️ cottagecore fantasy romance definitely seems to be a growing market in books and I wouldn't be surprised if this one did amazingly well once it's released! The cover alone is enough to sell it!

I loved this book, it is such a cozy read, imagine sitting in the garden, nice glass of wine and this book and it’s your perfect afternoon read. I am not going to give the story away but it is a must read that I would highly recommend. Please go out and get this book you will enjoy it

I'm so overwhelmed.
This was so lovely, so cozy, so delightful like this is the kind of advanced cozy fantasy read ive been craving since..... Welp forever.
Tired of reading high fantasy? Need a break? Well you've come to the right place. Come and rest at Kieras delightful cottage, where for 384 pages (that will pass in the blink of an eye) you get to :
- ride your (hot), kindhearted, and socially awkward neighbors (who might have a huge crush on you) seahorses by the sea
- see and help a mermaid- baby!
- take care of your garden ( DEFINITELY without the use of any magic! Nope. No magical garden around here!)
- transform your cottage into being capable of supporting your cozy little business shop (that JUST sells jam! No books to be found here folks! Noone is sharing any magical remedies around these places!)
- Create delicious raspberry jam (in collaboration with the villages friendly baker of course!)
- With the encouragement of your talking, low-key murderous, book loving, spider plant companion ( it's a long story) , find your own little place in the village slowly yet surely with a unique found family the friendship of which is so heartwarming to read of.
- Help the nature of the village and in turn have cloud- made bear spirits AND a unicorn show their gratitude to you.
Overall? This was excellent and at its core a story centered around the importance of sharing knowledge, appreciating / caring about books and nature, and accepting yourself as well as finding acceptance from the community around you.