I've recently developed a real taste for all things cosy - whether mystery, romance or fantasy - maybe because of how utterly full-on real life has been in these past few months, maybe because they feel safe and comforting and leave me buzzing with warm, fuzzy, positive feelings. Or maybe both. Regardless, when I read the blurb for Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, I immediately knew I had to read it, because it sounded exactly like the type of book I would love. Perhaps that's why the disappointment I felt over this book stung worse than others, but it was probably the worst let-down of the year so far.

For starters, I feel this was mislabelled as cosy fantasy. The fact that the main characters drop everything to open a bookstore and tea room in a remote town is not enough for this to be a cosy fantasy: the main plot lines are rife with danger and the stakes are high - life-threatening even - involving both a vengeful royal and dragons, whereas everything related to Reyna and Kianthe's new life is so easy and conflict-free it would almost be laughable if it weren't boring. This is, essentially, a fantasy with some cosy elements and, in truth, not even a great one at that.

The worldbuilding is insufficiently developed, and when we do get any information it's usually through exposition, either in dialogue or in one of the main characters' internal monologue - of which there is a lot. I was also incredibly annoyed by the blatant attempts to be "woke" and diverse by continuously drawing attention to any elements pointing in that direction, some of which frankly made no sense in the context of a semi-medieval-feeling world. One clear example is a lengthy passage in which the use of pronoun pins by a very minor non-binary character is discussed. Pronoun pins, seriously?? Couldn't characters just, you know, use the correct pronouns? But perhaps was that too radical a choice for a fantasy world…

The main characters also came across as really bland. Any conflict between them is immediately resolved with a lengthy conversation and the use of great communication tactics, which of course comes with a side of commentary on just how good they are at communicating and a detailed list of all the things they do to keep such a good level of communication between them. The book is told in alternating POVs and, at least in theory, we're told just how different these two characters' personalities are but, in practice, I sometimes had trouble distinguishing between the two voicesand forgot whose POV I was supposed to be following at that moment. I did like the idea of them having a pre-existing relationship, but I didn't really feel as if I got to see them being in love - though I was repeatedly told just how much they loved each other and how good they were together.

This was, essentially, the main flaw of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea for me: everything was told, nothing (or very little) was shown. The overarching storylines are not even resolved in this book, leaving everything hanging in anticipation for the next one, while the cosy fantasy plot is solved even too quickly: everyone in town immediately loves Kianthe and Reyna, including the local lords; the shop is magically fixed in one afternoon; suppliers are secured with one trip to the neighbouring city.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and I did like the narrator: Jessica Threet did a great job at trying to infuse some life in these characters and differentiating between them in some way, but she couldn't fix everything else that just didn't work here. It was a real shame as I was truly looking forward to this book and I think it had great potential, but it just ended up not working for me.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. Part of the problem is that if you’re adding a romantic sub plot to your cosy fantasy novel, you’re starting at a distinct disadvantage if your MCs are already together. Even if you’re writing 2nd chance romance, the MCs should not be together at the start – that’s romance 101. In which case, it needs to occupy a back seat to the rest of the story or things get dull. That was not the choice made here. In addition, this was a fresh start story – great – with zero tension or suspense – not so good. All obstacles were easily overcome without effort; everything just went right. Added to which, I prefer deeper world building. So overall, I just didn’t like this as much as I wanted to.

Whimsical, heartwarming, adventurous. It's such a wonderful book and the narrator was so good!

We follow Reyna and Kianthe as they strive to build a life together in a land ruled by a self-centred Queen. Both escaping their roles as the queen's guard (Reyna) and the most powerful mage in existence (Kiathne) they struggle and strive under new identities to build the cosiest bookshop and tea room in the land.
Through mishaps and danger we follow the love between the two women solidify and grow into something beautiful, and cosy,

I feel that this book took me a while to get into but once i started to understand the characters and their relationships more I began to enjoy every moment i spent with them. Reyna & Kianthe dynamic was so fun to witness, their love was palpable and every time they bantered i was mesmerized by them.
I really liked seeing the story evolve the more into the world we got, it felt very natural as would being a newcomer in a small and slowly getting the trust of the townfolk and discovering the gossip and community that comes with it.

I really enjoyed the narrator's voice, it made the getting into the story very fun.

This was a cozy fun queer read focusing on an already established relationship, which was a relief. There was no build-up to some grand final battle, instead the story gently sailed along, which made it easy and enjoyable to read!

Such a fun romantic sapphic romance. I really loved getting to know the characters and them building their life together. Such a cosy and comforting read I will highly recommend to everyone!

This is a wonderful sapphic cozy romantasy!

I found it refreshing that this book did not focus on the meet cute or even the initial dating phase of the relationship between the protagonists, but rather on the deepening of this bond after the first phase of falling in love is already over.

There is no real story ark or sense of urgency, but that was not necessary in my opinion. Rather, this reads a bit like a feel-good TV show that has different side quests, but it is ultimately about character and relationship building and giving a cozy atmosphere to its readers. The small-town vibes, with the tearoom/ bookstore/ plant nursery, definitely made for a cozy atmosphere. I feel like this is a book/ audiobook (I recommend the audiobook production) you can return to whenever you want to feel cozy and safe! I am looking forward to any other parts of this series that may come in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan UK Audio for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

4.5 stars. Really liked this one. Not as cosy as I expected but I really did enjoy anyway. I really liked the characters and the fact their relationship was already established was unusual and I really appreciated it.

So cosy and I love a found family storyline!

The narrator was perfect for this audiobook, so well matched to the characters and the general vibe of the story.

Keeping this vague to avoid any spoilers.

This was the coziest found family I have read for a long time. The way the community came together as one to help heal and rebuild after the disaster was so heartwarming. I am such a sucker for a secret relationship that becomes the entire world.

Cannot recommend this enough

A wholesome, cosy and lovely fantasy audiobook story! I enjoyed this book it made me feel warm and relaxed and I loved the romance between the two main characters and the inclusive world!

This book is often comp'd to Legends & Lattes, but I thought this was SO much better. There's actual plot, actual stakes, the characters have depth and a chemistry that is at once soft and realistic and fierce. It also helps that it's written by an actually sapphic woman.

Thorne balances the cosy fantasy genre with just enough action to keep the plot interesting, while engaging realistically with the idea of shop-owning and tea-distributing as a 'happy' ending. There's well-rounded side characters, a really cool magic system, an exploration of relationships versus building a life with a partner - and there's dragons!!

Overall, would highly recommend this book as an introduction to the cosy fantasy genre.

The narrator of the audiobook has a great voice, with a good differentiation between character voices and narration which is easy to listen to!

The moment I started reading this book, I KNEW it was going to be brilliant! I mean, hello? It opens with an attempted assassination, I was hooked immediately and by the second chapter I knew I was going to have such a good time reading it based off of the general vibes and entertaining narrative voices!

I also LOVED the narrator, they did such an excellent job of making each character sound so distinct and keeping the story engaging with their storytelling even during the quieter parts!

I just fell in love with the characters, both Reyna and Kianthe had such fun personalities that played off each other so well and they were both so gloriously snarky it made for a really humorous narrative regardless of whose pov you were reading!

Kianthe might not be a sword wielding badass like Reyna is BUT she’s a super powerful mage and kind of a Big Deal because of it so she’s a badass in her own way! She also hates the Queen that Reyna works for so much, it’s hilarious and I lowkey feel like she’s way more rash than Reyna even if Reyna was the one to just suddenly leave her post to start a new life.

Speaking of Reyna, she’s such a mood. I LOVED her, I mean…who amongst us hasn’t wearied of life and dreamt of fleeing to a new place to start all over again? Perhaps with the additional daydream of opening your own bookshop? We’ve ALL been there to some degree, so Reyna was super relatable in that regard and she truly lives out that dream for all of us!

The romance was sweet and also a little unique in that they’ve been together for a while and could be considered to have an established relationship, however they were long-distance, as it were and so when they start their new life together it’s their first time actually being together, if that makes sense? Like all day every day instead of the odd day here or there, so their relationship was both old and new and they had a few resulting issues to work out but I really enjoyed it tbh! It’s perhaps one of the most healthy relationships I’ve read and was relatively realistic!

HOWEVER, cosy as this fantasy is…the sheer nerves I felt waiting to see if the unhinged Queen would track her down! I wouldn’t say this is a low stakes fantasy, it’s more…mid stakes? Yes you’ve got the slice of life, opening a bookstore kind of vibes and general town shenanigans, but you’ve also got tension courtesy of Reyna’s colleagues hunting her down AND Kianthe’s, to an extent! Then there’s the bandits running around AND the dragons who like to go on a fiery attack rampage now and then!

I know a lot of people were disappointed that this wasn’t technically low stakes, but I actually really liked the suspense this brought, as well as the mystery of the dragon eggs! I also loved the fact that I spotted a side ship that’s enemies or at least annoyances to lovers!

All in all, this had such immaculate vibes! It might have been a little slow in places, but the writing style was fun and easy to read so I had no problem sitting and binge reading this in a couple of sittings! The romance was cute and realistic, with a side ship on the horizon that promises to be fun, the characters were witty and entertaining AND there’s magic! So much magic! Not to mention the Griffons, as well as the dragons and bandits! I genuinely had a lot of fun reading this one and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Queer cozy fantasies is a niche on the rise, and I'm absolutely here for every bit of it. Can't Spell Treason Withour Tea was another cozy banger. Our sapphic MCs run away together to escape a terrible queen, and to live out our dreams- they open a Book and Tea shop, and wrangle the local vagrants into becoming their minions.

This book was wonderful. Cosy and comforting with books and tea and just the right amount of danger. This is the sort of book to fall in love with. Reading this book as an audiobook was a delight and made it ten times more cosy. I would also definitely recommend curling up with a blanket and a cup of tea while reading in whatever format you pick.

The characters truly felt like my friends by the end of it. It’s definitely the sort of book I can see myself going back to. It also looks like it’s going to be a series, so that is really exciting as well. The bookshop truly felt like a magic place as well. It really felt like somewhere I would like to go and have a cup of tea and peruse a book or two! It was perfect.

The more dangerous plots were also brilliant. The constant threat of the queen finding Reyna was always there in the background and the subplot with the dragons also gave a nice bit of action in the centre of the book.

I cannot wait for the next book and to see more from these characters.

This was so cute. Very reminiscent of Legends and Lattes, albeit the tag line for that is "high fantasy, low stakes" I would say the tagline for this one would be "high fantasy, mid stakes".

The cosiness is there for me, but the stakes are definately higher in this one which I do think takes away from the cosiness just a little bit. But I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Kianthe and Reyna are adorable, sassy and hilarious and I love them.

If you're looking for a sapphic, cosy fantasy with slightly higher stakes than L&L, this is the book for you!

Oscar Wilde said  'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.', and this kind of feels the case a little in this book, though mediocrity might be a bit unfair but this book owes so much to Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree that it feels slightly impossible to view it purely on its own worth. It also suffers, and this is probably not the authors fault, as a marketer myself I 100% believe this may have come from the marketing department – but it is wrongly described as a cozy fantasy. While the stakes are relatively low, they are higher than what one might expect from a cozy fantasy novel.

Whilst I enjoyed following Reyna and Kianthe as they embarked on a new life together in a charming, close-knit village, far from their former obligations. It was impossible not to compare it to Legends and Lattes and I just didn’t find their personalities as well created or compelling. Their journey to finally be together, while not without its risks, was fun and I liked watching the two women forge friendships and bring people together as they settled into their new home. I found that some of the risks that they encountered took me out of the cozy vibe I was expecting.

I feel that had I read this before Legends and Lattes I might have enjoyed it more, though whilst the characters were pleasant none of them dragged me in. I didn’t find I was rooting for the happily ever after. I listened to the audiobook of this and have to say I felt Jessica Threet was a good narrator and supplied different voices for the characters which were recognisable without feeling they were OTT. It may seem this is a negative review but it’s not that it was bad., it just didn’t grab me, and I can see that it might well grab others, it’s certainly not badly written rather badly sold as cozy fantasy and if you go in expecting that you might find that you are more disappointed than the book deserves.  Scenes set in a book shop or coffee/tea shop are not enough to make something cozy, it’s about the rest of the story, the stakes and the vibe, and this is the bit that didn’t fit for me. If you enjoyed Legends and Lattes you might enjoy this but you also might, like me, find it impossible to compare the two, though that could just be my failing.  If you enjoy the genre it’s worth a look, though not sure I will look out for the second book as I’m not sure it’s for me!

Initially, I found the very strong similarity to Legends & Lattes a bit disconcerting, but it didn’t take too long for the differences between the stories to surface. CSTWT is far more invested in the relationship between the two main characters, who both equally feature throughout the story. Whereas Legends & Lattes, especially in the first half of the book, is mostly about Viv.

I like how CSTWT features the vulnerabilities of each young woman and how that has impacted their ongoing relationship. We see them working through the challenges presented to them and how each of the adventures affects both of them – there is nothing Teflon-coated about these two. Although it was interesting to note that in the emergencies that happened, they didn’t ever seem to fight together – it was either one or the other that stepped up. However, I did find the banter between them, given they’re living together, was a little OTT though I did like the punning. And they didn’t have much in the way of filters when it came to flirting in front of other people. I was very relieved that Thorne kept us out of their bedroom.

They seem to be reasonably financially stable throughout – this isn’t about a fight to establish a new business with a tight budget. The problems facing them tend to be far bigger and dangerous, such as a psychotic queen and vengeful dragons. I didn’t mind the bigger stakes with the cosy backdrop – after all, fantasy generally provides life-threatening danger to its protagonists. While I don’t think it is in the same league of Legends & Lattes, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and will happily seek out the sequel in due course. Recommended for fans of feel-good fantasy adventures. While I obtained an arc of Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

For the text: Sweet and sincere, with a lot more mortal peril than appearances suggest. Very easy quick read, very open prose. It's always nice to have more sapphic fantasy and I expect a lot of our customers will come back to this as a comfort read in the future

The narrator has a lovely arch tone that handles the sarcastic asides and wry humour really nicely, excellent fit

This was such a cozy read! Definitely the best type of book to curl up with a hot tea or coffee under a cozy blanket.

Even though I loved the characters and the sapphic romance, I couldn’t help but be kind of bored for some of it.

Also it had much higher stakes than what would normally be classified as a “cozy fantasy”. A lot was going on but I couldn’t get into the story as much as I would have liked.

Overall, I loved the setting and the romance but I wish I was more interested in the plot

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook arc of this book