Move over, <i>Legends & Lattes</i>, there’s a new sheriff in—

<b>*record scratch*</b>

Just kidding. But you could really tell this was inspired by <i>Legends & Lattes</i>, or at least had a lot of coincidental similarities. It features an FMC who leaves behind a dangerous <s>life of crime</s> palace overrun by rebels and starts a new life in a small town where she opens a <s>cafe</s> jam shop by renovating an abandoned <s>stable</s> home that used to belong to her parents. Along the way, she enlists the help of the cast of characters in the small town she finds herself in, who slowly but surely form the bedrock of her new found family. She even finds love.

<b>Really, these two are ridiculously similar at the start.</b>

As much as this may seem like I’m dunking on <i>The Spellshop</i>, I have to say that I really enjoyed it! Low-key and cozy, it’s got the found family with a dash of romance that I really enjoy in these lower-stakes fantasy novels. If you take it at its surface, you’ll love this as long as you’re into that kind of book.

However, I did notice a few things I want to critique.


<b>World Building</b>

Kiela, our FMC, has blue skin and hair. Okay, fine. This is a fantasy story with magic, so whatever. I can handle that. Except in the latter half of the story, Kiela needs to find ingredients for a spell, and one of them is the spit of a human, which she provides. After being introduced to a world full of centaurs, sentient spider plants, and a blue-skinned FMC, I didn’t really expect to see the word “human” pop up in the story. Not only that, but I absolutely didn’t understand how blue-haired, blue-skinned, purple-freckled Kiela is a human. Someone plz explain because your girl is confused.

The politics also felt very surface level. We are thrust en media res, where a rebellion has wrested control of the palace. Kiela is there, in the library, grabbing several spell books and fleeing with her assistant, the aforementioned sentient spider plant, Caz (speaking of whom—how does he even see or speak?? He’s just a plant???). They commandeer a vessel and sail to Kiela’s birthplace, a small island she hasn’t returned to since she was a child.

At this point in the story, we are given nothing of the world except that there is a rebellion, only some people can practice magic, and the royal family hoarded spell books for themselves. Thus, Kiela taking the spell books would definitely be deemed a crime. However, it’s never explicitly stated at the start whether everyone is capable of doing magic (it turns out they are), or how the laziness of one generation relying on others in power to do magic for them would conceivably wipe out the skill from every other generation going forward (you’re telling me not ONE layperson kept practicing?). Somehow, those in power then managed to outlaw everyone but a select few from performing magic. But how are they certain that all spell books have been captured and hoarded away in the royal library? Sure, they have inquisitors to investigate unlawful use of magic, but literally what even are the limitations of this magic? There’s a spell somewhat close to invisibility in this book; who’s to say there isn’t one for actual invisibility somewhere that could keep a practicing magic user hidden? And even if the rebels didn’t have access to magic, how did they manage to defeat actual magic users? How does magic exist but the islands don’t know what’s happening politically on the mainland? If they don’t have magical means of messaging, do they not have boats that carry news? Or messenger birds? Literally how did we go so long without ever getting confirmation of whether the rebellion succeeded?

When held up to scrutiny, Durst’s world literally begins to fall apart. As a result, this facet of her storytelling feels like it belongs in a middle-grade book. And I hate saying that because there are some fantastic worlds crafted in many middle-grade series. However, the overly simplistic way in which the building of this world was approached lends itself to a more immature tone and genre that didn’t quite fit the vibes of what I thought was an adult cozy fantasy.

This is where <i>Legends & Lattes</i> triumphs; <i>L&L</i> is like a middle-grade fantasy aged up for adults. It doesn’t shy away from a sturdily-built world or some adult themes, but it maintains the cozy, low-stakes energy that many middle-grades exude. <i>The Spellshop</i>, by comparison, flounders. The world feels so underbaked that I couldn’t take it seriously until I started skimming past certain sections of world building and tried to put some tidbits out of my mind altogether (human = blue-skinned, blue-haired? Time to pretend I didn’t read that!).


<b>Imagery</b>

I have to say, I really struggled picturing a lot of the characters in this book. Durst is one of those writers that describes a character once, and then good luck to you if you don’t remember, because you’re getting literally nothing else going forward. This happened with the love interest, Larran. We get one vague description of him at the start of the novel when we meet him (tall, strong, and “he wasn’t what she’d call handsome”), and then literally nothing else afterward except that he’s built like a brick house. This doesn’t lend itself to very clear imagery. Quite the opposite, actually. When I was trying to picture Larran in my head, all I could conjure up was a grayscale blob man with a massive muscled Gaston body. This was especially frustrating because we kept being reminded of Kiela’s blue hair, blue skin, and purple freckles. But we don’t even get Larran’s hair color. What gives?

Let’s also sidebar real quick and talk about the “handsome” comment. Why does the synopsis reference a “very handsome” neighbor when the love interest is not supposed to be conventionally attractive? Make it make sense.


<b>The Ending</b>

I have to say, this has got to be the strangest, most meandering, never-ending ending I’ve ever read. One conflict brews in the second half of the novel. It goes on for a bit, and then it’s resolved. Now another conflict crops up, involving a new character we were just introduced to, who is shoehorned into a role in which we’re supposed to care about her safety after she behaved horribly. Resolved! But oh, wait, there’s more! (This feels like a bad infomercial.) The conflict we just resolved is no longer resolved! Now we have to address it again. Resolved! The end.

It was weird. I was looking at the percentage I had left once the first conflict was resolved and thought to myself, <i>how do I have another 20% to go?</i> Oh, boy, was I in for a treat.


<b>Final Thoughts</b>

I know this doesn’t sound like a positive review, but I had a ton of fun reading this book. It was cozy. It was adorable (hello, socially awkward cinnamon roll couple). There were actual cinnamon rolls (yum). There was gardening. There was cleaning. There was the making and jarring of jams. There was watching your hot socially awkward neighbor renovating your house and turning it into a shop. There was magical creature after magical creature (Mermaids? Check. Mermares? Check. Unicorn? Fucking check). There was methodical research. Foraging for ingredients. Spell casting. Teaching your new found family <s>illegal spell casting</s> remedies passed down from spider-plant grandpa to spider-plant grandson.

All this to say—the vibes truly were immaculate. At times, the writing was irreverent in a way that cracked me up. If any of this appeals to you, absolutely pick this up knowing that you are reading it for the vibes, the found family, the bumbling awkward yet adorably sweet romance, and honestly not much else. Trust me, you will be disappointed if you expect anything more than that.


<b>OVERALL RATING:</b> 3.5 stars (rounded up!).

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

This was the cutest and sweetest book!!! Kiela is a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium with her assistant Cas who is a talking plant. When the library is set on fire, Kiela grabs a bunch of books and flees from the rebellion to the island she was born on. Her parents' cottage is still there, and she moves in. She decides to make jam but uses a spell (which is not allowed) in order to grow the berries, as well as spells for other things to help the community. She initially doesn't want to be a part of the community, but she is slowly emersed into making friends with people in the town, including the cute man next door! I absolutely loved this book as a cozy fantasy that doesn't need tons of world building or magic systems. I want to move into this cottage, have a talking plant, a cactus that "meeps", a cute neighbor, and read! I definitely recommend this book!!!

Tropes:
Cozy Romantasy
Rogue librarian on the run
Sentient spider plant bestie
There are cats with wings!!

“A kind neighbor with a smile like the sun coming out from behind the clouds over a stormy sea.”

3⭐️
0🌶️

Staring with this book I knew I was going to enjoy, the premises sounded spectacular. Actually reading it and realizing is a cozy fantasy was even better. Let’s start that the world was gorgeous, the characters so damn realistic. Keila was a delight and her spider plant Caz I really loved his character, so well developed. There is romance but is not the main idea of the story. This book features found family, create your own village and unexpected friendships. Definitely pick it up because you would not regret it. Also the audio is superb . So worth it

This was ok, but it was just ok for me. I felt like it dragged on and could have been SEVERAL books rather than just one. There were too many conflicts, and each time one was wrapped up, another one would be introduced. I think the book would have benefitted from being broken into three books - one for each of the conflicts that were introduced. It could have been a nice cozy series if there had been more characterization and world building and fewer struggles. As it was, it felt like one of those commercials from the 90s - every time a conflict was resolved, and I was ready for a denouement, I was faced with "but wait, there's more!" It was just too much.

This was such a cozy story! The cottagecore vibes were immaculate, I mean who doesn’t want a plant as a sidekick? A lovely low stakes fantasy and a very quick read. It plucked all the right emotional cords and made me want to move to a cottage on an island with a magical garden (more than I already did)