The Spellshop
Ratings54
Average rating4
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.
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This was a solid cozy fantasy and I thought it was absolutely adorable. It was engaging throughout and I felt very invested in Caltrey’s wellbeing. Caz was a great sidekick and has certainly set the standards bar high for my houseplants to live up to now.
This was one of the most hyped books I have been seeing around. And the hype is totally real. It is a very warm, fuzzy book. There's quite a bit of magic, there's some baking, there's a lot of ‘gardening', there's a lot of simple-village-folk kinda care, there's a heart-in-the-right-place hero and a timid-yet-courageous heroine. A lovely tale that did become a little intense at one point, but ended up all-good-and-fine in every possible way. One of the best books I've read.
When I started out, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book but as soon as Kiela and her assistant Caz, a talking walking spider plant, flee the library while it is underseige and they get on the boat and go to the island that Kiela was born and raised on, I was hooked.
The go to find safety in the home that Kiela lived in as a child. It's in disrepair after her family left it and the island isnt the place it once was. Everyone is hurting and the storms that come, full of magic, are no longer control the way they used to. Kiela uses the magical spell books that she liberated when she left to open a secret magic shop in hopes of helping the island balance itself out, while not drawing attention to the fact she is not supposed to do magic or have these books.
It was so good. I loved the dialogue and the plot was phenomenal. I want to buy a copy of the book if it comes out in a special edition hardcover because it is magnificent. Beautifully written and it will suck you into a world of greed but with the humility of people who have nothing but they will give you the shirt off your back. The protect Kiela when the revolutionists come looking for someone else who fled.
I was blown away by how much I loved this book
5 stars
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