The Spellshop

In this book I learned that when the stakes are lowest, they're also the highest when there's people involved. And the most important messages in this book are to stand with each other, and to share knowledge and not abuse power.
I wanted to state this simply to show that this is not just the coziest of cozy fantasies (which it is) or a slow burning romance (which it is) or a story about love is love (which it is), but also an important statement against oppression and pro taking everyone as they are, open communication and community.
It took me a little while to warm up to the characters of Kiela and Caz, but once I did they invaded my heart and now live there rent-free. All the other characters are just as lovely (except those who aren't), but I'm not gonna lie: Meep is my favorite, my spirit animal...uh...plant.
This book is like eating a cinnamon roll while being hugged by a warm blanket. The writing style is so vivid, I have all of Caltrey in my head as if I've been there. And the inevitable conflicts are solved in ways that are unique and stem from everything I mentioned above.
This book works perfectly as a standalone, though I'd visit the island and its people again anytime.

Hurray to Pine Cone Coven!

5/5 jars of jam

Thank you @netgalley and @panmacmillan and @sarahbethdurst for the eARC !

#Spellshop #PineConeCoven #Netgalley #Bookstagram

This is a lovely cozy fantasy, with delightful characters. There is a delicious romantic vibe too. It's such an easy read, I felt so warm and snuggly reading it.

4,5*
Thank you Pan MacMillan, Tor and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

The Spellshop is the first book written by Sarah Beth Durst that I’ve read by this author. I have one of her other books Race the sands on my shelves and after reading The spellshop, I’m definitely going to read that soon.

We follow Kiela as our FMC who escapes a coup and a big fire in the Great Library where she works and lives with her Spider plant friend Caz. They decide to return to the island where Kiera grew up and start a shop; selling jam and spells to help the islanders living on this island because they have difficulty now the sorcerers don’t come to the island.

First of all, I loved, loved, loved the world building and every creature living in it. It is really an one of a kind world building and I loved living in it while reading this book. The writer was creative and wonderful in creating it and this alone makes me recommend this book!
The characters were divers and lovely. From the beginning of the story I felt a connection with Kiera as a main character and the journey she went on. Almost all the characters in this book were nice and developed and the character I didn’t like in this book, didn’t stick around so that cleaned up nicely.

The spellshop is a cozy, heart warming, romantasy book with all the elements you’re looking for when you want to sit on the couch, a warm drink in your hand, getting lost and found in the world building, laughing out loud and swoon with the romance that is just lovely to read.

I loved this a whole lot. So cosy and fun. Highly recommend this fun adventure. I had a great reading experience. Everything was just so sweet.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a nice cosy mystery and with magic too!
I found the book to be well written with a good steady plot. The world building was fantastic and I loved learning about the unique magic system, the rules and the politics that were hinted at too!
I really enjoyed all characters and found that they had good depths to them. I especially loved the side characters and the plants too!! This was one of those books where once you start you can’t stop reading for wanting more.

I absolutely loved The Spellshop!
Cozy fantasy has become one of my favourite genres recently and I just can't get enough of reading it! I almost always love every one I've read and The Spellshop was no exception!
It's probably one of my new favourites.of the genre as well!

This writing was amazing and I'll definitely be reading more by Sarah Beth Durst. I actually recentlynfound one of her books on my shelves (The Bone Maker) and I'm really excited to read it.
The plot had great pacing which was great as some cozy fantasy books can be a little slow.
I really loved all the characters though Caz was my favourite! I also really liked the romance though I wish we had more of it!

I definitely highly recommend this book especially to any fan of cozy fantasy!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

I don’t know what I was expecting from this when I asked for it but gardening, cottage decoration and renovation, jam making, baking, magic, and romance was what I got. Oh and an enchanted sentient spider plant.

Cozy fantasy was a genre I didn’t realise I needed, but this book is like one big gentle hug with enough peril and romantic suspense to keep you interested in the story.

Keila, a librarian with a passionate love and respect for books, and a sentient spider plant assistant called Caz who escape from the Imperial Library during a revolution make their way back to Keila’s home island.

So far so fantasy, but on the island they find her parent’s old cottage in good enough condition to start making it a place to live and hide the spell books they rescued (or if being unkind, stole). A lot of the book is taken up with making this cottage a home, and there are lots of descriptions of homey spaces which is just so comfortable to read.

They meet so many kind people on the island, especially Larran… We watch as relationships flourish around common grounds of cinnamon buns and raspberry jam.

There was some peril but these were perils that gave a reason for people to work together to show that kindness begets kindness and that it is rare for people to be downright ornery.

The main peril is that Keila decides to use magic from the spell books to help the island and islanders who have fallen on hard times, but this is a crime against Imperial law, but does the Empire still exist, does the law still exist, after all there has been a revolution!

I really liked this take on storytelling and it has given us a great world that we could return to again and again as it is set in an ‘Empire’ of islands.

Oh and there are flying cats!

I received this book from NetGalley and Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

*thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an arc!*

The Spellshop is like a cup of hot chocolate or a freshly baked bread with raspberry jam. A cozy fantasy with low stakes, a charming, bookish heroine, and her faithful friend, a talking plant. Written in the same vein as Legends and Lattes, and The House in The Cerulean Sea, this story is a must for lovers of cozy fantasy. Forced to start over, Kiela arrives at the peaceful island she grew up at with nothing but a stack of illegal spell books and Caz, her best friend- who just so happens to be a plant too.
On the island, Kiela is forced to do something incredibly dangerous… talking to people. Once a librarian, talking to people is not what she’s best at, and her first meeting with her new neighbor Larran, is awkward to say the least.
In her parent’s old cottage, Kiela starts a jam shop- at least that is what she tells everyone- and slowly, she discovers that perhaps it is possible to start over after all.

Well, I absolutely loved this. The Spellshop had super cosy vibes and a low stake storyline that moved consistently. The characters were all saccharine sweet in the best of ways and the romance was slow, gentle and lovely.

The main character Kiela is a plant loving bookworm/entrepreneur with a penchant for gardening and turning her crop into jams so I couldn't relate to her more if I tried. I loved her character so much; tough and resourceful but kind with a heart of gold. Even if this book didn't have a story, I would have just loved reading about the idyllic cottage life she carved out for herself.

I would definitely recommend this for anyone who loves a cosy, easy reader. It reminded me of Legends and Lattes, both in how well written it was and how it made me want to curl up with warm baked goods and my book.

I received an early e-copy of this book via Netalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was like a hug in a book! I loved it so much! Cozy fantasy is strongly becoming one of my favourite genres, and this book is a stunning example of this genre.
Kiela is such a relatable character. She is a librarian who prefers the company of books to people (don't we all!) and her best friend is a sentient spider plant named Caz. She flees back to the island where she grew up when her library burns, taking five crates of illegal spell books with her, with the intention of hiding away in her family's old cottage. But the island has other plans, and she quickly becomes part of the community and befriends a whole host of colourful characters.
The characters and relationships is what really made this book for me! I love Kiela's journey from shy loner to a central part of the community. Every character is so unique and well developed. I especially loved Caz, Larran and Bryn. The story was lovely, and it had the perfect amount of low-stakes peril, without me worrying too much for the characters.
I believe this is a stand-alone, but the world building was so fabulous that I would love for the author to return to this world, and these characters in a future book.

This is probably my favourite book I've read so far this year, and I can't wait to read more from this author :)