The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

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.

Review

5 cozy stars

« I wanted to write a book that felt like a warm hug.”

That’s what you find in the author’s note at the end of your read and that sums up perfectly what The Spellshop is!

That story is cozy, delightful, feels like drinking hot chocolate and will have you shed some tears when reading about how a certain sentient plant was created!

Let’s present some of the cast. You will find:

-an anxiety prone sentient spider plant rolled into librarian assistant: Caz.

-a sky blue skinned, dark blue haired recluse librarian forced to socialize and to discover a more reckless part of herself: Kiela;

-a handsome, helpful yet nosy neighbor who just has a deep caring streak. Maybe he is suffering from savior syndrome too: Larran;

-a cheerful and supportive baker who makes the best cinnamon roll in the whole island: Bryn.

And you will also have a moving and talking cacti named “Meep” going by “they”, “them”, centaurs, merhorses, mermaids, people wearing antlers and sometimes wings and the infamous winged cats. A lone unicorn might be thrown into the mix as well…

The tropes are a melting pot of:

-found family (the biggest trope and my favorite);

-climate changes but make it the magic version (people of the empire are keeping all the magic for themselves creating climate unbalance as sorcerers don’t replenish spells in the outer islands anymore);

-self-growth (Kiela will have a huge growth morphing from hermit librarian to island’s magic helper);

-slow burn romance but that could also qualify as friends to lovers or childhood sweethearts.

The story is also filled with enchanting scenes that will you make think of a Studio Ghibli movie: racing a merhorse, raining flowers, sights of a fisherman village at sunset etc.

The Spellshop is a cozy fantasy where Kiela will discover her new calling, unable to resist her caring nature, and gain a new family in the process. Villains are more curmudgeons than real evil and the angst level is fairly low, just enough to keep us invested in the story. It’s charming, very easy to read and it will leave you content and happy.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie