I unfortunately was not very invested in this story. It was a little slow for me and just not very engaging. I DNF @68%

The narrators did an excellent job though!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Rebecca Thorne for the complementary audio copy in exchange for my honest review! 💕💖

This definitely fits the bill of cozy fantasy. The lesbian main characters are fun & likable, if a bit underdeveloped. The danger scenes are quickly resolved without leaving you panicked or stressed for long periods.

The world isn’t super complex but is pleasant with solvable problems. The romance portions are closed door so that makes this a decent option for a younger audience or those who prefer to keep their heat levels mild.

The narrator of the audio is fantastic.

I received an audio ARC from NetGalley for this title.

I would have loved this had I not read Legends and Lattes first. This was like a sad attempt to be as good as that. I couldn't get into the full-on fantasy vibe or cozy fantasy vibe because the book was trying to be both things.

The premise is there, and the relationship between the main characters is fun. I was sucked into the first few chapters. This book IS a fun read - I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't read Legends and Lattes already, lol

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

This was a fun addition to the world of cozy fantasies! This one was basically just girlfriends flirting with eachother for 300 pages. JK there is a nice plotline in this one, and the already established sapphic relationship is very sweet. I do wish the tea/bookshop renovations took longer, since they were done by half way through! The “treason” part of the book was interesting and definitely worked for me, it was juuust enough plot to keep me going, but never stressed me out at any point. Would recommend if you like cozy fantasies!

A very solid 4 stars.

🌈Queer rep: FF main relationship, secondary nonbinary characters, M/NB couple, mention of a MM couple.

I had such a good time with this book! It was fun and super cozy. The stakes did get a bit high which definitely kept me invested. Reyna & Kianthe were wonderful & I really enjoyed their already established relationship! I fell in love with the little town & the side characters too! The audiobook was fantastic & I’m so happy I went this route. The narrator had different voices for each character and that really helped me remember who was who!

5/5⭐️
Cozy, Sapphic fantasy? Count me in!

Can’t Spell Treason without Tea is a cozy, sapphic fantasy. By no means does cozy translate to boring or simplistic. Rebecca Thorne weaves an intriguing plot together with excellent storytelling to create a book that captured my full attention from the first page. I couldn’t put it down and loved every minute of it. While the healthy sapphic relationship is central to the story, CSTWT is not a romance. We learn in the opening scene that the relationship between Reyna and Kianthe is already well established and secure. I loved the Griffins and all of the supporting characters, especially Matild, and only wish I could have read more about them. Hopefully we will get more of them in the next book.

I listened to the audiobook of Can’t Spell Treason without Tea. Jessica Threet gives an excellent narration, with distinctive, easy to follow voices for each character. Her performance kept me fully immersed in the story. As a frequent audio listener, I normally think a dual point of view story benefits greatly from dual narrators, but this is the first time I’d make an exception. Jessica Threet covered it all beautifully.

This version includes a new bonus one shot story at the end, “Meet and Greet”. I loved it and am so glad it was added for this trad release.

Thorne’s story and Threet’s narration left me eager to listen to the next book in the series. I’m glad I won’t have to wait long for A Pirates Life for Tea.

Thank you NetGalley, Bramble, and Macmillan Audio for sending an early copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. I’ve now purchased my own special edition physical copy and cannot wait for it to arrive.

Thank you Bramble and Tor Publicity for the physical ARC and NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

Sometimes, cozy fantasy makes me a little bit anxious. The premise will sound interesting but something about the actual content has a tendency to not work for me, perhaps because my default reader setting is “mother, I crave violence.” I know that it won’t hurt me with angst and trauma, but I do fear that my little brain will wander and I’ll get bored (if anything, I gravitate towards dark fantasy, grimdark, fantasy horror, and “oh, there’s some surprise cannibalism” for books). If I am going to pick up something categorized as cozy, it’ll probably be a novella, because I start to hit my limit at around 150 pages. But I do like to be charmed, and I like dragons and tea and sapphic stories, and I had heard this one had a touch more action, so here we are.

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea probably bumps up against my personal limit for how cozy I can get in a full length novel, but I did enjoy it. I do think that for a lot of people, this won’t be as cozy as they had been anticipating—the stakes are much higher than, say, Psalm for the Wild-Built, but their resolutions are what I’d call cozy. There was enough action here to keep my attention (dragon attacks! being hunted by the crown!), but again, I don’t tend to gravitate towards low stakes cozy things. Still, I thought it was fun and sweet, and I was thoroughly charmed with Thorne’s world. I did actually like that Reyna and Kianthe’s relationship was already established; I thought it was neat to see a relationship that has already been “lived in,” so to speak. This was a nice change of pace from what I normally read. The extra short story at the end was a cute addition.

I do think that this fell short at times because it felt like things happened a little too easily or just in a way that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, though this might also just be the point. I didn’t find the voices to differentiate from each other all that much, and so sometimes it was difficult to keep Reyna and Kianthe straight. I really liked the audiobook and thought Jessica Threet did a really good job with it, and I feel like it contributed positively to my reading experience.

All in all, things labeled as cozy are a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I did like this one and I thought it was cute. I liked experiencing Reyna and Kianthe’s journey into owning a bookshop, and the level of action/stakes was just right for me. There are definitely flaws here that will probably be more noticeable depending on what your personal preferences are and your reading expectations for something labeled as cozy fantasy, but ultimately I had fun!

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (a cozy fantasy steeped with love) is indeed a cozy fantasy, sapphic romance, with a touch of adventure!

Reyna is one of the queen’s private guards and Kianthe is the most powerful mage making it difficult for them to find peace and comfort in their love. After Reyna is taken hostage, Kianthe decides she wants a new life-they both do. They just want to have a cute little tea shop with books and plants. But leaving their existing lives is not an easy task. The stakes are a bit high for cozy fantasy but I throughly enjoyed this story and all of the characters.

This audiobook was narrated by Jessica Threet. I really enjoyed how she read these characters!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Rebecca Thorne, and Macmillan Audio for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I can’t wait for everyone else to read this on May 7th!

I have posted my review on Goodreads, in my Facebook book club, and will post a Tiktok review within the week before it releases.

This is the perfect cozy fantasy book! There is enough action and adventure for it to keep me interest but maintained the cozy vibes. Some people may think that this is too high stakes to be considered cozy, but I think the level is appropriate for the book and gives it a perfect balance.

I adored the characters and the sapphic romance. Kianthe and Reyna are great individual characters and amazing as a couple. This is one of the best depictions of a realistic, healthy relationship.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and to be honest, I did not like this narrator. She had an inconsistent voice inflection which felt somewhat robotic. The narrator improved as the book progressed, but I think the main issue for me was that her voice for Kianthe’s character was too similar to the narrative voice, making it a bit confusing when I was listening to Reyne’s POV. This book would have been 5 stasrts for me but the narrator knocked off a star.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I originally read this when the book was published independently. I jumped at the chance to listen to it on audiobook and can confirm both formats make for a great experience. The narrator is a perfect voice for the characters and this was truly a fun, stress free book perfect to get lost within.

Pros:

Great character development draws you in and allows you to see people working through their personal traumas/issues with varied degrees of success.

I love seeing a happy, healthy female couple interacting with all sorts of people without issue and would love to see it in more books. It was nice that not every character had to be something unique or special other than who they are.

Cons:

While I appreciate having character able to give their pronouns having an individual referred to as they/them in text format can be confusing when switching between discussing the individual and an entire village. It’s not terribly off putting but does require a little more attention at times. ** In audiobook this was much easier to adjust to because of tonal cues and familiarity with the story.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea is the first book in Rebecca Thorne's Tomes & Tea cozy fantasy series. It follows two women that have been secretly dating for two years. Reyna decides she has had enough of serving as an assassin the dangerous Queen and decides to run away with Kianthe. They decide to open a bookshop that also serves tea together. I really enjoyed following their journey in opening the bookshop. The world building was really strong and I loved all of the characters. There was a nice balance of cozy with some action packed scenes thrown in. I look forward to reading the next book.

I really loved the audio version of this book! Jessica Threet did a great job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

While I agree with some of the other reviewers that this is not quite a cozy fantasy, there are indeed some high stakes here for our main characters, Reyna and Kianthe, my opinion does have to diverge there, in that I really enjoyed it. Despite being thrown into the wrong genre, "Can't Spell Treason Without Tea," was a sweet love story, with a hint of dragons and a cozy bookstore/tea shoppe.
I enjoyed the world that was created, though I look forward to seeing where these two continue on their adventures, and hopefully more about the dragons!

As a huge Rebecca Thorne fan it should come as no surprise that I found Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea delightful. Kianthe and Reyna come to life on the page and are so well thought out and the supporting characters are just as endearing.
Additionally Jessica Threet did an outstanding job with her narriation! I loved the different accents and it really helped keep who was who clear in my head. I know this is going to be added to my list of comfort read audiobooks.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is my favorite read of 2024 to date!! The cozy atmosphere was so comforting. I LOVED the diversity of all of the characters. Sometimes, I can be a bit picky with narrators, but I had no issues with this one. I thought she brought each of the characters to life and made them very distinctive. Definietly a great read for someone intimidated by high fantasy or for a beginner fantasy read. I will absolutely be continuing on with this series! The audiobook will release on May 7th and is narrated by Jessica Threet. Absolutely a treat to listen to it, even if you have already read the physical copy.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ So this book was adorable I was given this audiobook through netgalley which I'm thankful for I thought this was so sweet and I'm definitely in my cozy fantasy era now due to this book it was like the L word meets legends and lattes. I thought the relationships were really cute and I found the characters very lovable if you would like to know more about this book you can check it out Now and audiobook comes out May7th . #comfycozy #cozyfantasy #lgbtqia+ #romantasy #reading #bookstagram

2.5 rounded up.

This is a cute little fantasy that many will enjoy. I would not necessarily describe it as cozy, but I think many people who are fans of cozy fantasy will enjoy it, so long as they know what they are getting into.

The main romance in this is not a new romance, but an established one. I thought this was a nice change of pace, as I have experienced very few books where an established romantic relationship is a main aspect of the story. The couple was very sweet and I really enjoyed their banter.

I would not describe this as cozy. Yes, the couple open up a tea/book shop together, but one of the women is an assassin and there are extremely high stakes as the book goes on. I think that people who like cozy fantasies will very much enjoy this if they're looking for a higher stakes cozy-adjacent fantasy, but if you are picking this up solely for cozy vibes, I would not recommend!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an advanced listener copy of the audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Note: If you bought this book previously before its re-release, there is a noticeable difference between the two. The second book has some added scenes and other minor changes.

Notes about the audio version: The narrator was great, and she added to the story overall. I found the audio version more enjoyable to listen to than reading the text alone.

This book seats itself pleasantly in the category made popular by Travis Baldree - cozy fantasy. The author states very clearly in the acknowledgements that she was inspired by "Legends and Lattes", and thus mental comparisons between the two were unavoidable. I do enjoy this niche genre immensely, and this book is very cozy. There was moments that are incredibly charming and sweet, and the conflict's story-arch is well-written.

However, the general pacing was off. We would have moments that felt incredibly slow, and those would be buttressed with scenes that went quickly, given that they held value to the overall story. I think some tightening up could have been done.

The romance in the novel is also very cutesy, which is not my favorite type of romance. If that's not for you either, you have been warned.

I came so close to dnfing this one early on. The characters were constantly laughing and chuckling and giggling and snickering and smirking... *all* of them. And every single one was tagged in the dialogue AND the narrator would act out with a breathy "ahahaha" which was the most annoying thing I've encountered in an audiobook in a LONG time.

The characters were cardboard cutouts. We were told what they were feeling, what they were thinking, how good they were at communicating... but we didn't see any of it. We were just told.

Everything happens instantly. They go to a town, decide to stay based on... I dunno really. Find an abandoned barn and magically get permission to use it in one day. They then complete all the repairs, off-page, in a few days. They have communication breakdowns (despite how 'good' they supposedly are at communicating), then resolve everything within a paragraph. They meet someone new and are instantly besties. It was infuriating.

There are all these plot threads that get dropped. Like oh no! Gotta find those dragon eggs stat or the dragons will destroy the town. Next day: eh, dragons live a long time they probably won't be fussed for a while we'll do it later. Like ???

Also, can someone explain to me how the hell how Raina's plan with the bandits worked? Like... ok, they want the barn that was previously a bandit hideout. And it's fine, until one shows up. But Raina's just like, *wink* I got this. And she convinces him, in a few sentences, that the store is a front for this mysterious bandit organization and now they have to come in and pay two coins for an 'assignment' (which is like, go take care of the problem this neighboring town has) and they give her the money and go away and... who is paying them for these supposed 'jobs'? Raina certainly isn't. How does this scheme work exactly? It makes zero sense.

I stuck it out to the end because I had been looking forward to it and it was so highly recommended and... it was ok I guess? But really it was time I won't get back that I could have spent reading an actually good book.

I see comparisons to Legends & Lattes everywhere and this book is not it. Legends & Lattes was well-written and made sense and things built gradually and I loved it. This was all plot holes and flat characters that are hard to tell apart and telling telling telling and I do not recommend.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

I was drawn to this audio by the cover, title and the fact that it's listed as a cozy fantasy. I tried to get into it but I found that I couldn't. The beginning was very slow for me and I just didn't get pulled in. I listened to it over the span of a few days but sadly this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I think the characters had a lot of potential and for a couple of them that potential was realized, there's LGBTQIA+ representation and multiple different characters in the mix. The plot and pacing were largely what didn't work for me but the narrator does a great job with the different voices and accents and is easy to listen to. It did feel like a cozy read so if you enjoy books that are a bit slower and with some action later on this might be a good fit for you.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the digital ALC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

- This is such a great addition to the cozy fantasy genre! The vibes were so good, and the plot has enough action to keep the book moving without feeling too high stakes.
- At the beginning, I was a little worried by how similar it was to Legends and Lattes, but it quickly distinguished itself!
- I think cozy fantasy relies on strong MCs and an interesting cast of side characters, and this one delivers!! I loved getting to see their relationships develop throughout the book, and I really want to read more about the little town!
- The world-building, especially of the different countries and the Queen, was so interesting!
- Since cozy fantasy tends to be slower paced, I love audio for the genre. The narrator did a great job with the different voices/accents for the characters, and it felt so easy to fall into the story.