Book Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Escape into a cozy little fantasy, complete with magic and tasty jam.
What a cute, quick little read! This was ultra cozy. It felt like a warm hug, honestly, which is exactly what I needed.
Almost like falling into a cozy farm game where you’re given a small, fixer-upper house and have to figure out how to plant food and raise animals and somehow make money. Also there’s secret magic involved and light romance.
"It wasn't that she didn't like people. It was only that she liked books more."
The pacing toward the end (maybe last 30%) felt a bit fast bouncing from one stressful situation to another, but otherwise it was well-paced.
I loved how this story turned out for Keila, her character arc is really beautiful. Loved her development. And some of the dialogue had me laughing out loud, it was witty and charming.
Rating: ★★★★
Book Summary
- Title: The Spellshop
- Author: Sarah Beth Durst
- Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Cozy
- Who Should Read It? Anyone looking to be swept away into a cozy little fantasy.
Synopsis: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people, and as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.
She and her assistant, Caz, a sentient spider plant, have spent most of the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s precious spellbooks, protecting the magic for the city’s elite. But a revolution is brewing and when the library goes up in flames, she and Caz steal whatever books they can and flee to the faraway island where she grew up. She’s hoping to lay low and figure out a way to survive before the revolution comes looking for her. To her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town in disarray.
The empire with its magic spellbooks has slowly been draining power from the island, something that Kiela is indirectly responsible for, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right. Opening up a spell shop comes with its own risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the quirky townspeople, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must break down the walls she has kept so high.
