This is a cozy cottagecore romantasy book, in the same vein as Legends and Lattes. I listened to the audiobook and it made me feel like it was written and narrated by Rapunzel from Tangled, it definitely added to the whimsy of the story. I felt like this was a little bit higher stakes than the average cozy fantasy but there’s still a happily ever after. The side characters were great, especially the plants which again added to the Disney vibes. There’s also found family and a bit of humour so overall really we’ll rounded in terms of theme. I think there’s enough characters that they could get a spin off but I’m not sure what the plot would be since it seems like most things were resolved. I would pick this up if your looking for your next fun cozy fantasy book

Thanks to NetGalley, Sarah Beth Durst and Macmillan Audio for this ALC

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for my free audiobook for review.

Audio narration review:
The audio narration by Caitlin Davies truly brought this story to life for me. Her skillful performance made it easy to distinguish between the different characters and vividly conveyed the underlying tensions and emotions they were experiencing. I felt immersed in the narrative, able to tangibly sense the impending peril the protagonists faced. The narrator's expressive delivery amplified the visceral impact of the dramatic events unfolding. Listening to this audiobook provided an enriching, multi-sensory experience that enhanced my overall enjoyment and engagement with the intricate web of relationships and the captivating world-building. Caitlin Davies' talented narration was a highlight that elevated my appreciation for this compelling work.

Book review:
The characters in this enchanting tale are undeniably endearing, captivating the heart with their irresistible charm. The bond between Keila, the spirited protagonist, and Caz, the enchanting spider plant, unfurls into heartwarming and often humorous moments, adding depth and warmth to the narrative.

Set against the backdrop of a quaint island, where an eclectic mix of whimsical characters—both human and magical beings—reside, the ambiance exudes an irresistible sense of magic. The close-knit community fosters a profound feeling of belonging, while the presence of a grumpy character amidst the amiable ones adds a touch of delightful complexity.

This delightful fantasy offers readers a cozy refuge, offering a warm embrace. Each character is multifaceted, contributing to a delightful love story and a heartwarming tale of found family. Above all, it is a narrative of new beginnings and the discovery of unexpected kindness in the most unlikely places.

Sarah Beth Durst’s "The Spellshop" is a beautifully crafted romantasy debut that weaves together elements of cottagecore charm, whimsical magic, and heartfelt romance. I adore the premise of this book! The writing is evocative and engaging, drawing readers into a world where magic is real, and love is as sweet as homemade jam. The Spellshop is a heartwarming and enchanting read that will leave readers with a smile on their faces and a craving for more. I would recommend this book to fans of romantasy and cottagecore aesthetics. It’s a tale of love, magic, and self-discovery that promises to heal your heart and feed your soul.

Amid violent political upheaval, a librarian and her companion sentient plant task themselves with saving as many books as possible. When the library burns, the two sail their boat full of books to the one place Kiela can think of as safe: a remote pastoral island. She intends to hide among the books in her family's old cottage and become a hermit, but she isn't prepared for the warmth and community she finds on the island. But despite the friendly residents, all is not well on the island, and despite her aversion to illegal spellcasting, Kiela realizes that she must do whatever it takes to help the people who are willing to make her feel at home.

This book gives major small town romance vibes, but it also has a fine collection of magical awe-inspiring moments and beautiful writing. It's cozy, but it's also episodic with adventure after adventure popping up. I love the gentle style of this book, and while I think the pacing was a little too rushed toward the end, I was truly touched by the delightful characters and their insistence on doing what's right. I particularly appreciate the depth of character in Caz, our clever sentient plant sidekick. This book is currently at the top of my list for "what fictional world would you like to visit?" and I hope there will be more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

What's an anti-social librarian to do when rebels overthrow the king (literally) and set fire to her beloved library? Why, save the books, of course. Or as many as possible. These aren't just any books, but magical tomes containing all the spells known across the kingdom and forbidden to any but the select few. Kiela, along with her trusty assistant, a talking spider plant named Caz, absconds with as many magic tomes as possible and sets sail to the secluded island where she'd lived as a child, hoping to protect the magical knowledge until the time comes to share it once again. With luck, the new regime would give more than just the elite magicians access to the magic once again. While she considers that she was saving priceless knowledge, the powers that be would consider it theft, and merely being in possession of the forbidden spells was a capital offense.

Her plan to stay sequestered in her old family cottage along with her precious books backfires almost from the start when a handsome neighbor with more good intentions than respect for personal space comes crashing into her hideaway, upending everything she thought she knew about her past, her present, and her future.

Filled with mythical creatures, fierce storms, imperial dangers, and the magic of friendship, Sarah Beth Durst's _The Spellshop_ wraps the reader in the warmth of homecoming and finding your place in the world.

The Spellshop is the epitome of cosy fantasy. After being introduced to Caz, a sentient spider plant, I was transfixed.

The story follows Kiela and Caz as they escape a city due to unrest and begin a new life on the faraway island where she was born. When she arrives, she find that the town is suffering with magical storms and dying trees, and we follow Kiela as she settles into her new life and integrates herself into this tight-knit community.

The characters in this are delightful and Caz may be one of my favourite characters ever. There are so many wholesome and funny moments between the characters that really made me wish I lived there. This book has everything I could want from cosy fantasy: found family, a cute non-human character, low(ish) stakes and a remote setting. I love all of the nature in The Spellshop, I could really imagine it like I was there.

There is a romance in this book but it's very slow burn and not a main focus of the plot. I was very happy about that and enjoyed seeing the friendship between the two characters grow which seemed much more realistic than if it was romance-heavy.

Overall I loved this book, and it's definitely one of the best cosy fantasy books I've read.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No spice
5⭐️ narrator

This was a great standalone cozy fantasy with a super sweet romance subplot. The world building was done really well, there was a lot of magic and magical creatures but nothing felt over explained.

I loved the obvious character growth with the FMC. She starts out so introverted and happy with just her books and sentient spider plant (I love Caz so much!) and slowly starts to let people in until she realizes she has a whole family. All the side characters were great, Caz and Meep were so cute!

I usually read books with broody morally grey MMCs, it was a nice change of pace to get a sweet cinnamon roll MMC who’s basically a walking green flag. The romance was a super sweet slow burn but he was obviously enamored with her from the start.

Overall I loved the book and would read more from the author in the future

I wanted to love it, but it did not work for me. The cover is gorgeous, and the narration was excellent. All the different creatures ang magic were interesting but I was bored a lot with this. It felt very young and repetitive. I wanted more romance, and it just wasn’t there.

The cover caught my attention and I went ahead and took a gamble on this after reading the blurb.
Cozy fantasy isn’t for me. I’m glad I read this one but it’s not one that I would like to reread. I prefer reads that have more action and a much quicker pace so this is why the book didn’t work for me. The narrator,
Caitlin Davies did a great job portraying all of the characters. I really enjoyed the island and it seemed so dang dreamy.
If you love cozy fantasy with a dash of romance and a lovable character named Caz, then this book is for you.

I've always enjoyed Sarah Beth Durst's stories and this was no exception. This whimsical cozy fantasy was so adorable. I loved the atmosphere and the cottagecore vibes. The sentient plant friends and the fantastical creatures were so charming. Loved the awkward book nerd fmc and the cinnamon roll hero. The audio narration was great. The cover is so beautiful. About the only thing that kept this from being a 5 star was the fact our fmc could be unintenionally rude sometimes so I didn't feel the chemistry between her and the hero super strongly. Overall though this was so cute and I loved the story.

Love this spellbinding piece of work!! I was totally invested as soon as the author described her main character and her relationship with books and her need to protect them! I love her journey back to where she grew up and developing new relationships! Will definitely be recommending it to friends!

𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚.

When I saw that Sarah Beth Durst was making her romantasy debut, I knew I wanted to give it a go. My kids have loved her middle grade books, and I thought this would be the perfect way for me to introduce myself to her work.

After Keila makes a daring escape from the burning library she calls home (during a rebellion, no less) she takes as many spellbooks as she and her best friend, Caz (a sentient spider plant) can carry, and make the journey to the island where she grew up.

I’m going to be honest. I WANT to love cozy fantasy, but more often than not I just find myself underwhelmed. But, finally! Not this time! It took a minute for me to really get invested in these characters, but just around 20% it happened, and I loved all the whimsical, cozy, cottage core, small island community vibes. 🥰

I loved how introverted Keila was so awkward while meeting so many new people on the island, especially after all that time secluded in the library.

The romance was definitely slow burn, and I would say that it did feel more like a side plot than the main focus of the story, but Larren was very cute and devoted to Keila, and I loved watching her open up to him more and more as the story progressed.

The town friendships were also a great highlight to the story, and Caz will definitely be a favorite of many readers. I also really enjoyed the conflict of the story; it was just high stakes enough to keep it exciting, but not so high it took away from the cozy vibes.

Audiobook notes: The narrator was wonderful, and really did a great job bringing the whimsy off the page.

Thank you to @macmillan.audio for providing me an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fantastic read! I loved reading about this librarian who all she really wanted was to protect the books, and the circumstances that came up in her way to keep her from doing that. It was such a delight to read!

The laws about magic, and spellbooks, in this magical world, oh, man, I just wanted to shake those with power, because they didn't care about everyone else, no matter how affected these other people are if they aren't allowed to do small magics like they used to, and you're not sending out magicians to maintain the various magics that keep the island going. Bah!

Kiela is not a people person, she'd rather have her nose in a book. But when the revolution happened, well, going to the island where she was born, which was small and not well known, seemed like a good place to ride out the upheaval.

This cast of characters was so great, and watching Kiela find her place there, and all the various schinangans that happened, to keep the books safe, to make a home there, yeah, it was all so much fun to read! I loved how it ended, that was a good place for the future to go from here!

Love dreading this book and I can't wait to read more by Sarah Beth Durst!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

This is the exact perfect book that I needed right now. A low stakes cozy book without dead bodies. Its a delightful experience and I hope beyond all hope that it is going to be a series. Or at least have other books set in the same world. A true gem of a book that warms your heart without causing your anxiety to spike. I adore it.

"The Spellshop" is a cozy fantasy story set on a small island where everyone looks out for each other. Our main character Kiela arrives at this place, escaping the rebellion in the big city and looking for a refuge for herself, her books, and her pet plant. But she didn't expect to fall in love with this beautiful community and her sweet neighbor who keeps showing up for her.

This one was a warm hug from the very beginning. Kiela and Caz stole my heart from the moment I met them. I was very surprised to find the extent of this fantastic world, but there are mermaids, centaurs, winged cats, talking plants, merhorses, magical storms, forest spirits in the form of bears. I loved this book so much I want to reread it right now.

The romance was very sweet. Lauren is a cinnamon roll, and him with Kiela just made a lot of sense.

This book is the definition of wholesome. If you love:

- found family
- Introvert (white cat) x extrovert (golden retriever)
- Cozy fantasy but with a little bit of high stakes
- A lot of magical creatures
- A lot of spells
- Plants that will steal your heart

You need to check out this book.

I am so the ideal audience for this concept, but the execution was not for me. This felt like someone read Sorcery of Thorns or Emily Wilde and cranked it up to 15, but not in a good way. Kiela feels more like an exaggeration than a real character - every other sentence referenced back to the library. It was her only personality trait, and it started to feel sugary sweet and cheap.
Cozy romantasy is great - please keep signing it! But a little more meat on the bone would be great. Something can be sweet and still have substance.

PS: I love this narrator - Caitlin Davies is fantastic, and I've enjoyed her character work in so many other books. Please keep using her!

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst had me turning pages like a magical bookmark! The whimsical story with its stolen spellbooks, talking plants, and blue heroine felt very reminiscent of T. Kingfisher's delightful works.

However, Kiela, the heroine, was a bit of a hurdle. While I appreciate a protagonist who struggles socially and isn't afraid to be blunt, there were times her abrasiveness veered into almost cruel territory. It made it a little hard to fully root for her at times.

Despite the prickly protagonist, the story itself is charming. The romance is sweet, the island setting idyllic, and the touch of danger with the secret spellshop adds a dash of intrigue. Overall, The Spellshop gets four out of five stars. It's a perfect escape for fans of cozy fantasy with a touch of bite.

4.5

This was every single thing I wanted from the cover and summary. Wow! I had so much fun in this cozy world. I felt like we had just enough stakes to keep me invested and engaged as reader, but also everything was calm enough to give me every single cozy fantasy vibe i wanted.

Thank you, NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced audiobook. This was a sweet fantasy debut about a librarian, Kiela, and her adorable sentient spider plant, Caz, who steal/rescue spell books and hide in the woods in a run-down little cottage. Kiela tries to start over in her childhood home as a normal jam maker, but as she meets her handsome neighbor and the mystical creatures in the area, she realizes she needs to use the spells in the books to save magic while trying to stay hidden from the empire. This was an adorable story with magical creatures and a cute love story that shows you need to believe in yourself. I really enjoyed the audio version with the narrators.

I loves this book, the characters were facinating,and you get pulled into a cozy world that has political intrigue in a parish land. I loved how the main character really had so much growth that felt like it made sense and wasn't just because