I found great delight in this book. Kiela, a librarian, finds herself amidst an uprising and flees the library with her faithful companion, Caz the plant, and a handful of cherished books. Seeking refuge on her birth island, she discovers it in turmoil, its people on the brink of starvation due to the depletion of magic by the world's sorcerers, leaving the land barren. However, Kiela holds a secret: the spellbooks she salvaged. With them, she embarks on a mission to restore the island's vitality, one spell at a time. Yet, her actions attract unwanted attention, as an Imperial investigator arrives, determined to uncover the source of the unauthorized magic.

This tale is a delightful blend of magic and adventure, and I found myself thoroughly engrossed in its pages.

Whimsical and enchanting, like a great big hug for the soul. This book brought me right in to the cover, which is absolutely fantastic.

While cosy fantasy is not usually a genre I read, I had a fun time with this story about a woman and her talking spider plant having to try and build a new life for themselves in the village her parents left when she was a young girl. All they have is an abandoned cottage, an old cookbook and a few crates full of illegal spellbooks. There's some brief peril here, but mostly resolved quickly for a calm novel about someone finding their sense of community. The protagonist's initial isolationist attitude and self deprecation can get a little grating, but it's otherwise a sweet story.

I really enjoyed this book. Kiela is a librarian, there is an uprising and Kiela escaped the library with her pet plant caz, some of her precious books and escapes to the island where she was born.

When she gets there the island is in disarray, the people are on the verge of starving because the worlds sorcerers have depeleted the island of magic and as a result nothing grows. Kiela has a secret though, the books that she took from the library are spellbooks and so she starts to heal the island one spell at a time. However that draws attention and an imperial ship arrives with an Imperial investigator determined to find the cause of the illegal spell casting.

I thought this was a lot of fun, magic shall we say, and i really enjoyed reading it.

I absolutely loved The Spellshop!
Cozy fantasy has become one of my favourite genres recently and I just can't get enough of reading it! I almost always love every one I've read and The Spellshop was no exception!
It's probably one of my new favourites.of the genre as well!

This writing was amazing and I'll definitely be reading more by Sarah Beth Durst. I actually recentlynfound one of her books on my shelves (The Bone Maker) and I'm really excited to read it.
The plot had great pacing which was great as some cozy fantasy books can be a little slow.
I really loved all the characters though Caz was my favourite! I also really liked the romance though I wish we had more of it!

I definitely highly recommend this book especially to any fan of cozy fantasy!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

The writer says in her acknowledgments that she wanted to write a book that felt like a warm hug. I definitely think she succeeded in that.

I ate this cozy fantasy book up. I loved the atmosphere of the island and how the characters all had their quirks.

The thing why I wouldn’t give this five stars is that the plot in the end felt like it was an and and. It could have ended with the first villain but that an other comes immediately after felt like a bit much. But the rest of the plot I really enjoyed.

This book is a good match for people who liked legends and lattes or flowerheart.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a nice cosy mystery and with magic too!
I found the book to be well written with a good steady plot. The world building was fantastic and I loved learning about the unique magic system, the rules and the politics that were hinted at too!
I really enjoyed all characters and found that they had good depths to them. I especially loved the side characters and the plants too!! This was one of those books where once you start you can’t stop reading for wanting more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Tor for an advanced copy of The Spell Shop.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is cosy fantasy mixed, with light academia and romance mixed in for good measure.

I thought the world building was really great and it really immersed me into the world for the time I was reading the story. I thought that Kiela with Caz as her botanical sidekick, made a wonderful duo and their love for each other was a beautiful constant throughout. And the addition of Meep was hilarious!

The themes of friendship and camaraderie really shone through and I would love to hear what the Pinecone Coven get up to in future books.

This is the perfect story to snuggle up with and enjoy with a 'mug of hot chocolate', as the author says!

I loved this a whole lot. So cosy and fun. Highly recommend this fun adventure. I had a great reading experience. Everything was just so sweet.

4,5*
Thank you Pan MacMillan, Tor and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

The Spellshop is the first book written by Sarah Beth Durst that I’ve read by this author. I have one of her other books Race the sands on my shelves and after reading The spellshop, I’m definitely going to read that soon.

We follow Kiela as our FMC who escapes a coup and a big fire in the Great Library where she works and lives with her Spider plant friend Caz. They decide to return to the island where Kiera grew up and start a shop; selling jam and spells to help the islanders living on this island because they have difficulty now the sorcerers don’t come to the island.

First of all, I loved, loved, loved the world building and every creature living in it. It is really an one of a kind world building and I loved living in it while reading this book. The writer was creative and wonderful in creating it and this alone makes me recommend this book!
The characters were divers and lovely. From the beginning of the story I felt a connection with Kiera as a main character and the journey she went on. Almost all the characters in this book were nice and developed and the character I didn’t like in this book, didn’t stick around so that cleaned up nicely.

The spellshop is a cozy, heart warming, romantasy book with all the elements you’re looking for when you want to sit on the couch, a warm drink in your hand, getting lost and found in the world building, laughing out loud and swoon with the romance that is just lovely to read.

Are you looking for a cosy cottagecore fantasy book? If the answer is yes, you found your next read! The story of Kiela and Caz is so fun to join and the side characters were amazing as well. I liked the writing style, even though the story could've been more fast paced for my liking. The whimsical world was just great and the romance very sweet.

`Delightful fantasy with a really sweet romance. Great world building, I particulary loved the side characters too!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ARC that I received in exchange for an honest review.

I had a lot of fun with this, it built enough lore for magic and the environment to make sense without getting too wordy or too far from the core cosy goals. The gentle process of character development was really pleasurable to read and I genuinely did feel warm and fuzzy at times whilst reading. Definitely recommend you pick it up when it comes out!

The author of the book says that she wanted to write a book that "felt like drinking a mug of hot chocolate" and I'd say she nailed the brief. Kiela is a librarian in the capital city of an empire in the midst of a rebellion. When the great library she works and lives at is set on fire, she and her assistant (a sentient spider plant, Caz) must flee taking as many of the magical tomes as they can carry. She decides to return to the island she was born on, in the outer reaches of the empire to escape the chaos in the capital and hopefully be left in peace with her books and plant. Well the inhabitants of the island have other ideas and gradually bring Kiela and Caz (and later Meep) into the fold and make them a real part of the community! Of course there is a smattering of romance and some mild stress where there's a worry that secrets may be uncovered but again this is all resolved by the end of the book. It's a nice cosy read that won't cause you any undue stress while reading and the side characters will stay with you after finishing - I feel like I need a lot more talking plants in books now.

This is a lovely cozy fantasy, with delightful characters. There is a delicious romantic vibe too. It's such an easy read, I felt so warm and snuggly reading it.

In this book I learned that when the stakes are lowest, they're also the highest when there's people involved. And the most important messages in this book are to stand with each other, and to share knowledge and not abuse power.
I wanted to state this simply to show that this is not just the coziest of cozy fantasies (which it is) or a slow burning romance (which it is) or a story about love is love (which it is), but also an important statement against oppression and pro taking everyone as they are, open communication and community.
It took me a little while to warm up to the characters of Kiela and Caz, but once I did they invaded my heart and now live there rent-free. All the other characters are just as lovely (except those who aren't), but I'm not gonna lie: Meep is my favorite, my spirit animal...uh...plant.
This book is like eating a cinnamon roll while being hugged by a warm blanket. The writing style is so vivid, I have all of Caltrey in my head as if I've been there. And the inevitable conflicts are solved in ways that are unique and stem from everything I mentioned above.
This book works perfectly as a standalone, though I'd visit the island and its people again anytime.

Hurray to Pine Cone Coven!

5/5 jars of jam

Thank you @netgalley and @panmacmillan and @sarahbethdurst for the eARC !

#Spellshop #PineConeCoven #Netgalley #Bookstagram

Well, this book was just a delight to read. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (coming 11th July) is a whimsical cosy fantasy set in a world of jewel-toned merhorses, ghost-like tree guardians, sass talking sentient spider-plants and elderly harp-playing centaurs all wrapped up in the sweet smell of cinnamon rolls and a pot of raspberry jam slowly bubbling on the stove.

Kiela, our blue-haired, socially awkward orphan, is forced to flee the confines of The Great Library of Alyssium (her home for over 11 years) when it's set ablaze by revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the tyrannical government who seeks to control the unauthorised use of magic. She fills her canal boat with contraband spell books and returns to the remote island that her parents used to own a cottage on before they travelled to the capital city to seek out opportunities and a better quality of life.

I loved watching Kiela slowly put down roots (pun intended) on the island by carefully renovating the cottage, restoring her garden, setting up her business and exploring the possibilities of magic with her hilarious leafy sidekick. It's a wholesome tale of unexpected friendships with a slow blossoming romance that will have you grinning from ear-to-ear. It's perfect for readers who want to lose themselves in a heartwarming, low-stake world of mythical creatures and endless possibilities. Reading The Spellshop was like receiving one big cosy hug.

What an utter delight this book was! This was such a cozy cottagecore fantasy romance with a librarian who’s running away from an uprising with spell books from the library and her journey in trying to keep them safe. There’s 2 sentient plants - a cactus called Meep and a spider plant called Caz. We’ve got a jam/spell shop setting and a beautifully tender friends to lovers romance.

A perfect, cozy, feel good read.

4.5 stars.

This is a delightful cozy cottagecore fantasy book. Perfect for some gentle low stakes reading.

Caz the sentient spider plant is the star character. He and Kiela escape from Alyssium during a revolution which sees their library burn, saving several boxes of spell books. Initially planning to remain a recluse, Kiela quickly learns that this won’t be possible and is sucked into life on the small island of Caltrey which she once called home.

The characters are well written, even if Kiela’s attitude towards people in general starts off rather cold. The romance sub plot is cute with absolutely no spice at all which is a nice change. This was a perfect brain break from high fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC.

I loved the characters and especially Caz, the sentient spider plant, and the story was good. All in all it was a very good read. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.