Acorn Library

This is a book review of the cozy fantasy book ‚The Spellshop‘ by Sarah Beth Durst

Author	Sarah Beth Durst
Published	July 9, 2024
Genre	Fantasy Romance Cozy
Series	Standalone
Format	Paperback
Length	376 pages

Synopsis

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 spell shop.

My Review

The Book certainly has great parts. Caz and Kiela’s banter is really good but I wanted more winged cats…sadly they were just decoration. What this book is actually about though is ‚Merhorses‘ and how they do or do not reproduce. They were not my cup of tea creatures and put me a little bit off the rest of the story. And I get that this is of the new ‚cozy‘ genre but everything went ridiculously well and wrapped up far too easily, which would have been fine if it had made sense.
Fantastic vibes though. Would have lived on this island if not for the Merhorses.^^

Rating

3.75 Stars