Sarah Beth Durst – dinipandareads

The Spellshop (Spellshop #1)
Publisher: Bramble
Pub Date: 9 July 2024
Genre: Cosy Fantasy

Panda Rating:

_{(3.5 pandas)}

📖 SYNOPSIS

The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Domestic abuse (recounted), death of parents (recounted)

I buddy read this with Charlotte @ Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads and I’m so glad we did cos I loved our discussions about this (and thanks for patiently allowing me to bombard you with questions, lol)! 💜

TL;DR: The Spellshop is a whimsical and magical cosy fantasy that many readers have loved and I know many readers will continue to love. Unfortunately, while I liked it, I didn’t wind up loving it the way I thought I would. The best parts of this cosy fantasy are the descriptions of the lush verdant greenery of the island, especially the area surrounding our MC’s cottage in the forest, the magical creatures, and Caz, the sassy sentient magical plant.

It’s the first Monday of a new month and we’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.

This week’s book is The Queen of Blood (The Queens of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst. This book is #321 on my list and although I have absolutely zero recollection of having done so, I apparently added it to my TBR in May 2018. 😅 I’m not surprised that I don’t remember adding this YA fantasy to my list because I have close to 1k books on there. Do I maybe have a problem with compulsively adding books that sound good to my list without a second thought? Pssh, of course not!

An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first book of a mesmerizing epic fantasy series, filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure.
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow… But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.
With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land…before it’s bathed in blood.

Why do I want to read it?

While reading the blurb didn’t cause me to recall how I came across this book and subsequently adding this to my list last year, I’m really liking the sound of this story. Nature spirits that are full of evil and want to kill all the humans (tbh not that I’d blame them because I mean, what are we doing to mama earth)? People with the ability to control these nature spirits to prevent humans from perishing (I’m getting the impression that it’s only females that can control them too)? Plus there’s no mention at all of some kind of romance that has contorted itself into the story at any point, so color me curious! Scrolling quickly through who’s read this, I saw one of my favorite book reviewers, Emily May, rated it 4-stars, so I don’t doubt that’s perhaps one reason why I wanted to read it. But also, can we give some appreciation to that book cover? It’s giving some serious Rivendell vibes and I’m here for it!