Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I am, unfortunately, going to echo a lot of other reviewers. The cozy classification and comparison to Legends & Lattes is a bit of a disservice to this book. The stakes are a little too high to be considered cozy, and yet I was still bored at times.

Ultimately, it’s still an enjoyable fantasy read, but with the correct expectations.

I like this book but didn't love it. I feel like it was trying to be a cozy fantasy but also high stakes fantasy. I feel like at some points I was like wait how did we get here. I loved the characters but I feel like maybe I was just hoping for something different. I am not sure if I will pick up the second book.

This was a really enjoyable read. I like the characters and the setting. Cozy fantasy is my jam and this one delivered. The audio narrator did a good job bringing life to the situations.

3.25⭐️

ARC kindly provided by publisher via NetGally for an honest review.


A cute, fun, and cozy type fantasy story. While the couple of the story are opening a store with tea and books, the stakes are a bit too high for it to be a true cozy fantasy. I was very invested in our FMCs and their adventures within their new town and hoping nothing but the best for them the entire time.

Amazing! I loved this and being able to listen to the audio book throughout my day was really fun. I think the narrator has a great voice for this book and I find that the characters are brought to life in a great way

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for allowing me to listen to this ARC for free.
I did enjoy this book very much! I was able to listen to the whole book through. I will say there were times I got very bored with the storyline. It is advertised as a "cozy fantasy". However, I don't think it is cozy. I can't say if it is similar to legends and lattes as I have not read it. I still enjoyed this book but think it is described incorrectly.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the e-arc!
This is one of my absolute favorite sapphic romances! This definitely falls into cozy vibes with the perfect amount of stakes and angst to keep the plot going and keep me entertained. I love that it focuses mainly on the romance and the atmosphere of the world! It is definitely a cozy and beautiful story with a nice plot.
Reyna and Kianthe are amazing! Their romance is so cute and secure. I loved the scenes where we get to see them banter and be silly. But I also loved the scenes where we see them insecure or nervous about their future or relationship. It really shows that the relationship is built on so much trust and that they make the choice to do and be better everyday.

I’ve waited several days since listening to the audio (provided by Netgalley and Macmillan Audio, narrated by Jessica Threet: available 5/7/24) to write my review of Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne. I was so excited to receive an advance review copy of this audio because I’ve heard this book compared to Legends and Lattes, and I was in the mood for a similar cozy vibe.

First off, let me say that the narrator is incredible! I think I enjoyed it more as an audio than I would have trying to read a physical copy because of her.

This is a romantic, sapphic fantasy with an already established pair of lovers named Reyna and Kianthe. I like both of the main characters and think that their banter is a lot of fun and sometimes really sweet.

The plot is just OK. I think this is what held up my review for a little while… the story is not really “sticking to my ribs”, so to speak. That is to say, it’s a bit forgettable. I would like for the world building and magic system to be a little more fully developed. Also, characters facing near death perils kind of negates the “cozy” designation. I’m not going to get too hung up on that because fantasy adventure is fun to me, but if you want true cozy, you don’t let -not one, but both!- your main characters almost give up the ghost in the first book in a series.

All in all, I thought it was a pretty fun book, but it’s not going to be a favorite. If I have time, I will try to read the second one later this year, but if I have to pass I won’t feel bad about it.

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!