AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY AND INDIE BESTSELLER A #1 LibraryReads pick An Indie Next pick
EXCLUSIVE DELUXE EDITION--a gorgeous hardcover edition featuring beautiful lavender sprayed edges 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.
THIS was the cute, delightful, lighthearted, and sweet read I needed for my summertime. Nothing overly serious, villians who aren't always villians, lovely little world with sweet magic that sometimes just goes off-track, and fully developed characters with lovely dialogue, and an awkward, believable little first love..
Mmmmm, my little black heart. 🫶
This book felt like someone took light-hearted fantasy, mashed it with a Hallmark return-home romance, but then added fun, usually inanimate objects as characters with quirky dialogue. Very Diana Wynne Jones flavored, honestly, which may be why I really enjoyed it. A sentient plant with snappy, irreverent dialogue and quirky neighbors who give the best advice was straight out of one of her novels, and I loved every piece of it.
Five star ratings are kinda rare for me, but this book was so delicious. Not to mention the cover art and the purple page sprays were absolutely gorgeous.
Lovely.
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