Sarah Beth Durst has long been an author whose books I will pick up no matter what and The Spellshop did not disappoint.

The Spellshop is perfect if you've dreamed of escaping to a small village and living your best life in a cute cottage surrounded by magical creatures and nature. If you're looking for a read that feels like a hug filled with found family, magic and self discovery, this is it. With a heroine whose love of books and determination will win your heart and a spider plant who not only talks but will constantly put a smile on your face this book is utterly delightful.

With a focus on self-discovery and the everyday moments in life, The Spellshop is a slower paced read but it was never a bore. I loved reading about our MC discovering not only more about herself and her wants, but just how it is to survive in a land filled with magic in an home which has sat abandoned for years.

This was a gorgeous cosy fantasy romance, full of heart and warmth. I loved everything from the sentient spider plant to the gruff love interest - it was just all so readable and filled with hope. Absolutely gorgeous!

I absolutely loved this book! I loved the cozy fantasy, the talking plant, the adventure and ofcourse the slowly growing love between the FMC en MMC. I loved that there were things at stake, but in the end everyone pulled through and the FMC really was able to find her place in a changing world.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It had so many wonderful, original things in it. I would definitely recommend reading this.

The sweetest, most cozy book I have read.
Such a comforting fantasy book.
And god how I wish I could live in this book with the shop, the jam, the man, the books, the plants.
Everything!

I adored The Spellshop, it was the right book at the right time. I was feeling low and this book distracted me and cheered me up without my noticing it until near the end.

World-building was good but the characters are where this book shone. I hope there are more in this universe so I can revisit the world and the feelings it stirred in me again!

Absolutely autumnal!

"The Spellshop" is a magical and autumnal story by Sarah Beth Durst and tells the story of Kiela.

Kiela, a librarian, loses her job and her home after a fire set by revolutionaries. Together with her companion, the talking plant Caz, the young woman finds her way back to the home she left as a child years later.

The cover alone invites you into a cozy story. And this time the cover lives up to its promise.

The immersion into the world was fantastic! I found the author's writing style very vivid, which made it easy for me to immerse myself in the world. And I immediately fell in love with Caltrey and its inhabitants.

Kiela is a very introverted person who finds it difficult to socialize properly with others. Her only friend is Caz and I found it heartwarming how she opened up to Larran and the other residents.

Even though the story has cozy vibes, I had to put it aside from time to time due to its small lengths in the plot. Nevertheless, I had some really enjoyable reading hours.

I give "The Spellshop" by Sara Beth Durst 4 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

The author of The Spellshop wrote she wanted to write a book that reads like a warm hug, and she succeeded exactly in that.

I could barely put this book down. The Spellshop is a cozy, lovely, bright and fantastical story about rebuilding a home, about pastries, magical creatures. About a found family and accepting help even when you’re certain you can do it on your own.

I loved the characters, the relationships, how high the stakes felt while at the same time keeping that cozy feel. The banter was great, the magic was magical, and I’m sad I finished the book when I did.

Highly recommended for people looking for a cozy fantasy book.

Very cosy lowstakes fantasy, which I've discovered is maybe not my thing. I found it a bit too long, a bit too slow and I just found I wasn't that connected to the characters overall.

I did enjoy Caz and the overall message it was conveying was good. I think cosy fantasy fans will love it but it failed to engage me in the way I hoped it would.

Every home needs a little magic . . .

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, Kiela and Caz steal whatever books they can and flee to the faraway island where she grew up. But to her dismay, in addition to a nosy – and very handsome – neighbour, she finds the town in disarray.

The empire has slowly been draining power from the island, and now Kiela is determined to make things right. But opening up her own spellshop comes with its own risks – the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela starts to make a place for herself among the townspeople, she realizes she must break down the walls she has kept so high . . .

This is cozy fantasy romance at its peak! Also winged kittens eeeekkkk. I think that the imagery used in this book was perfect for setting that cottagecore scene and honestly it just made me feel super warm inside! I think this was the perfect character driven fantasy but the reason why it wasn’t 5 stars was because I wish the plot was a bit more high stakes. However I did think the slow burn romance was executed perfectly.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am a lover of cozy things and so, I love reading cozy books as well. But “The spellshop” did not do the thing for me. While I got excited about the idea and the plot, I got bored quickly. The plot dragged so so much, I had to skip some pages and that’s when I know I won’t like the book.

The plot is all over the place and it annoyed me. I didn’t know what I should expect next, but in a bad way. It has so many twists, it’s very political and it didn’t give me those cozy vibes because it wasn’t cozy. The characters drink tea, but I feel like that’s the only cozy thing they did. The real problems in this world took over the vibe of the book and I felt like I was reading a “normal” novel where the main character must save the world.

I couldn’t care about the characters. I found Keila really annoying for the first 50% of the book, I loved Caz, the male character didn’t shine for me. Also, I feel like it was insta love for him?
If the book was a cozy romance set in a small village, I would’ve liked it more. But the dangers of the world and the trauma behind these characters made me feel like I was reading an adult fantasy or something around that.

Loved the world building, with all the creatures and people and the vibes of the book. I loved the village and the villagers, but it wasn’t enough for me.

It was an ok book, easy to read when you don’t know what to start next. The atmosphere of the island is lovely and the small village is magical, everything that you need in a fantasy setting.

I loved everything about this book! The concept, the characters, the plot, the romance - just everything! One of my favourite reads of the year so far.

This was really good, I really enjoyed it and it definitely felt like a true cosy fantasy.

I would say if you liked legends & lattes you would enjoy this, however, I think a lot of people will not find the main character very likable, especially towards the beginning. But I found her extremely relatable and as long as you're happy to go along on the journey I think you'll be happy with it.

Her love of books is very obvious and great to see but it also wasn't her whole personality and the baking and love of nature was also great to read about.

Caz the spider plant was a great character and definitely had his own personality and felt so flushed out, <spoiler> the addition of meep was so unexpected and so fun, it was great to see them start to grow and develop who they are.</spoiler>

The friendships were great I really enjoyed everyone, the baker, the cloud bears, the plants, and everyone else too.

The sprinkle of romance was a nice addition and it was great the Laddon was a full person with his own things going on.

A little slow to start, and i didn;t love the cuteness of the ending but overall a solid 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Pan Macmillan for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This endearing romantasy surprised me. Despite the simple formulas that Durst implies, this was a book that had me completely hooked. There's nothing brilliant or new about the story or the characters (save for a certain plant), and yet I couldn't put it down. I've seen this likened to a Disney movie, but in my experience, Disney movies have a much more defined villain. While there are antagonists, I don't feel like they are particularly bad or evil.

Overall, this was a sweet read in an intriguing universe, and I loved that the characters were all different species.

Such a wonderfully charming romantasy read! Definitely lies on the line between cozy and not-so cozy fantasy! Perfect for fans of Emily Wilde, Can't Spell Tea without Treason, The Phoenix Keeper or Laurie Gilmore books! An easy read with Studio Ghibli vibes with such brilliant characters and creatures- including the best sentient house plant you'll ever meet!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was waiting for the right mood and season to read this book and the moment came this Fall when I'm being sick and so in need of something sweet, cozy and whimsical for my hurting body and soul. This story made me feel good and I loved being in this fantastic and magical world with Kiela and Caz who was the funniest sentient spider plant I've ever read about!

This is how cozy fantasy must be and I got a great time while reading it without any moment of boredom. I'm also happy that there is no sequel because it should stop where it ended, the author wasn't greedy.

I adored this book, truely the epitomy of cosy fantasy. Every secvond was a delight, the perfect amount of cosyness, story telling and excitement.
I hope this author writes 100 more cosy fantasy books, really truely comforting and feels like a hug in a book. I have recommended this to everyone and I will continue to do so.
Also this made me learn how to make jam!

If you’re looking for a relatively lighthearted, super cosy read this autumn with a sweet romance woven into it, then this is the one for you!

Like the vibes are immaculate! It’s cosy, it’s cottagecore and it’s actually also kind of small town-y too given the remote island setting with everyone really knowing everyone else, unfortunately so in some cases.

Plus it’s got some great bookish vibes with Kiela’s former job as librarian and the discussions surrounding the importance of books and sharing knowledge etc which goes quite nicely with some of the other topics threaded into the book like hoarding resources, climate change and humans causing nature to suffer.

The pages of the book are populated with so many fantastical creatures (winged cats!! Merhorses! Centaurs!!) and alongside the intriguing and nature based magic, it really made for an imaginative and fun world! Plus there’s the sentient plants! I don’t know what I was expecting for a sentient spider plant when I read the synopsis but this itty bitty, more eloquent Groot was not it! Nor the cute little sentient cactus!

Caz ended up being a favourite character for me, I won’t lie! He also had a much bigger role than I expected which I’m not mad about because he was a lot of fun like he’s Kiela’s sometimes anxious friend and the banter between the two of them was on point!

It’s safe to say I enjoyed the world building, although to be honest the conflict that had Kiela fleeing in the first place kind of feels like it’s forgotten about for most of the book until convenient to bring in some more tension towards the end, like I would have thought Kiela would have been trying to find out what happened a bit more considering how traumatic the experience was for her.

That’s the thing, the vibes are cosy and it kind of reads like a slice of life with little ‘episodes’ of conflicts popping up here and there though it does seem to follow a rom-com format when it comes to the general storyline just with a fantasy setting! BUT! Despite the cosiness, there are moments of tension and suspense throughout that kept me reading!

Like I’ll be honest, my interest was piqued by the first chapter and the hasty escape from a burning library, but things slowed down almost immediately and I did find my attention wandering for a little bit before getting hooked back in again! This was more to do with my general mood though tbh, like it was quite sedate at times and Kiela does love an internal monologue but the magic and the little conflicts here and there pulled me back in!

And the food, did I mention the food? Because this book made me hungry af courtesy of the bakery and Kiela’s jam shop like it added to the cosy vibes but also? I now crave cinnamon buns. And maybe a nice jam tart…

ANYWAY! Like I said, the romance was sweet if not a little insta-lovey but I enjoyed it anyway and Kiela had a great journey from grouchy loner to town saviour! Larran, of course, was the sunshine to her grump and he was such a sweetheart tbh!

I actually really enjoyed the cast of characters, I thought they were fun and memorable and we even got some sapphic rep thrown in there too!

Sure, things might have been a little too convenient a time or two and I might have struggled a little with getting fully invested in the beginning, but ultimately this ended up being a fun, super cosy, lighthearted and easy read with splashes of tension here and there and an entertaining cast of characters!

This is a solid 4 ⭐️ Book for me!
I‘m still rather new to cozy fantasy but this book is my favourite so far!

First of, Caz is adorable and such a great plant character, I love him!

The story was - while being somewhat predictable and nothing deep - very cozy, low stakes and easy to follow. Despite the book being almost 400 pages long, it didn’t feel to long or dragged to me and I happily returned to it every day.
I loved the Island setting, the nice islanders and the cute romance - plus the amazing and fantastical non-humans of course!

In my opinion, this is the perfect book to read when you just want to escape busy life for a little while and not having to worry about anything!

Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the e-arc in exchange for an honest opinion!

This fantasy story scores with lovable characters, great humor and delightful magical elements. For my taste the story is a bit to slow in the beginning and towards the end there are a few character developments that happend to quick. But I still had a good time with the book.

I absolutely loved the vibes of this book! It radiates whimsical, cottagecore feelings from start to finish. I loved the characters and all the coziness and the sense of magic in everyday this book brought. If I had to be picky, I would only loved a bit more world building as I think there was so much potential in it!