The Littlest Tea Shop in Lower

by J. Lofton

Eirny Tea’s.

A wish passed down through the generations of women who have came before me, I’m told. A dream. A treasure. A piece of hope nestled in 7th Ring, the last, and often overlooked, tier of my city. I feel the pull of the tea shop, but the blinding white buildings of the Uppers call out to me as well.

The decision to follow my heart and explore clashes with the need to stay where I belong, surrounded by the love of my family. Should I go and see what awaits me, or should I stay, nestled in the warmth of the littlest tea shop in Lower?

Genres: Fantasy

164 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2023

Reviews

[Bethanys_books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely beautiful! The story follows a family’s magical tea shop that is passed down through the generations of women. The youngest is torn between stepping into this role that has been set since birth and going off to chase her own dreams. The family dynamics of this book were beautiful - I think everyone will be able to relate to the strained relationships but also see the beauty of them being tied back together. I loved this book so much! Another incredible read by an incredible author

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this cozy fantasy! The tea shop was such a clever combination of the innate comfort of tea mixed with a little magic. The family relationships were wonderfully heartwarming, while remaining realistic and flawed. I especially enjoyed the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter and reading each point of view. The world building was just enough to let me jump in without being overwhelming. If you love a quick immersive read, pick this up!

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given an ARC copy from the author for an honest review.

While reading, I felt transported to Lower, to Eirny's Teas with Galena and the rest of her family. It captured the process of growing up while trying to follow one's own path in what they want in life. Even with the tensions high between Upper and Lower, there was an avid sense of family love in how it can help ease any obstacles in the way. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy cozy reads and brilliant fantasy worldbuilding.

[Jennifer Adler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Littlest Tea Shop in Lower was such a sweet and heartwarming story about family (blood and found), love, acceptance, forgiveness and sacrifice. How the tea was brewed was very unique! I loved the magical qualities each tea had and how the author described how brewing the tea had to be so detailed. Down to the cups used, tea types, temperatures, words whispered/thought while brewing, feelings of the brewer, and pots used. It was such a magical world created in so few pages! I am so impressed by how much happened in this short book! I wish more books were as detailed and concise as this one it. It was a quick but very enjoyable read that left you feeling warm inside. I loved the granddaughter - grandmother relationship. I am always a sucker for those types of stories. I highly recommend!!!

[Haley Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a cute story about family, but I don’t like the writing style of this author. I couldn’t get into the book or interested in the plot at all.

[rein · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was everything, but also nothing.

it has so much potential. the author has so much ideas, that it feels messy to include everything into one short book. i feel like a duology or a trilogy would be better to enjoy all the ideas.

i love the magic of teas, and i can see the idea of what the author was trying to do. so, i wish they would consider including more history or random facts about teas instead of just brewing and how it sparkles. author's writing style is also... not the best to describe the magical teas. and i feel weird about grandmother suddenly talks about ancestors towards the end.

plus, they included some monarchy fae politics into the plot. which. it's fine. and it makes it more interesting. since it's added into the story, i wish there's more. maybe we can get a chapter or two of the pov from ethana to describe this war... yet, we only get snippets? from storytelling? so much potential here.

even the fight towards the end feels so incomplete and short. the ending feels abrupt, like the author reached a word limit.

i did enjoy the book, and I'm just disappointed that it feels so incomplete. i hope there's a longer and revised version of this story.

hence, 3 stars of the potential of what it could've been.

[Emily Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a beautiful journey into a cozy yet flawed world that made me feel right at home in the pages.

When I first started reading, I felt as though I was slowly being drawn into this world full of tea magic, family traditions, and political unrest. I loved the dynamic between Galena and her grandmother and the way the book was written with chapters from both of their perspectives.

The author did a beautiful job of demonstrating the importance of tradition and change and how they both play a vital role in shaping the future generation and their perspectives and actions in this world.

This book was short, and as I turned each page and moved towards the ending, I kept wishing and wanting more of the story. The ending felt complete to me, and the characters are taking up space in my thoughts a couple of days after finishing.

This is a cozy, quick read, and I definitely recommend this story to anyone that wants to immerse themselves in a beautiful, flawed family full of love and magic.

[Michelle Gaskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasantly surprising book, rather hard to get into at first as I didn’t quite understand where it was going, but once I got the gist I flew through it. Fantasy, family, and political unsettle in this coming of age novel about Galena and her half fae - half human family. Would love to read more but maybe part of the charm is the fact that it’s so short and we have to read between the lines towards the end. It’s very subtle and almost has you second guessing what actually happened in the end. Definitely would recommend.

[Bug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the premise a lot, and was really enjoying it at the beginning! the magic system is interesting & I love the family dynamics. My only issues were I think it was overwritten in a lot of ways and also under-edited. There were times where words were repeated many times in the same or consecutive sentences, and the structuring was a little confusing at times. I think this is an independent author so I don’t want to be too harsh or discouraging, I just think more proofreading is needed :) Loved the concept though! A very interesting take on Fae & Tea based magic :)

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The generation to generation, female to female passing of the tea shop is the sweetest and I enjoyed reading about the family’s overall growth. I also liked how the world building was intertwined into the story so the reader understood where the tea shop stood in this world. Galena and her grandmother’s relationship was the cutest. Several twists I did not see coming! Highly recommend to everyone!!🤗🤗
ARC review and all opinions/thoughts above are my own!

[Deborah Ortega]

This was an interesting read about a family who brewed a Magical cup of Tea for each individual person and infused it with what was needed. There also was another plot of High Elves ruling the Kingdom from the center of Seven Rings, a war having been fought and a peace in place. The setting is in the Seventh ring the lowest ring and how the Daughter of an Elf and a Human fits in and deals with her family and the pure blood Elves hatred for her and her family.

[Staceyann2007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 rounded down. I enjoyed this book. It is only 136 pages long and I was shocked at how much depth was captured in that time. Enjoyed the magic of the teas and the dual POV of the grandmother and granddaughter. I thought the mystery of Galena’s father was very good, and the 7 rings of the towns was intriguing. If the book was a bit longer it could have expanded on these things more, but it was good.

[Ana Arellano · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so sorry, I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't bring myself to. I found there were nice elements to it, like the importance of family, plus tea magic (thought that was cool) but I just couldn't get into it. It felt like there were long stretches of nothing in between important scenes, and the characters were just sort of flat and one dimensional. It is quite short so it's a very quick and easy read but for me it just did not do it. The cover is beautiful though!

[Robert Foland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Littlest Tea Shop in Lower is a delightful read. Amazing world-crafting. A great cast of characters. J. Lofton interweaves a magical, segregated world with characters of charm and conflict. A world within a world is created in the little teashop itself. An incredible reading adventure!

I received and advance copy for free and leave my voluntary review.

[Veronica Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had potential

This book had the potential to be so amazing. There simply was not enough. Not enough story / plot, background, or character development. The concept of the story was incredible. Sadly, the execution and writing didn’t measure up to idea behind the plot in my opinion.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cozy fantasy about a family tea shop that has been passed through generations. This is a quick read with a nice ending; overall it was slow-paced and didn’t leave me with much anticipation of what would happen next.

[Sophia Kotsalidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Cozy fantasy. Quick read, feel good coming of age. You have to fill in the world for yourself, which is fine because there's enough detail to get you there given the length of this book. A sweet, cozy, magical, political, coming of age, happy ending story.

[Mae Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute quick little story focused mainly on the granddaughter-grandmother relationship between the two pov characters. i think the only thing that stopped me rating this higher was the ending as it felt a little rushed. it also left me wanting more but i suppose it was still satisfying to a degree.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think this type of story was for me. I think it had potential, but of course only so much could happen with how short the book was. I enjoyed the setting of a tea shop and the focus on family connection.

[Courtney Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful and poetic. Loved this story so much. Highly recommend!!

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adored this read! Loved that the magical tea shop is passed down through the generations of women in the family.

[Callie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curling up with this cozy fantasy was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but I’m giving it 3.5 stars for the lack of proofreading. Honestly, a quick final read-through for grammar and typos never hurt anyone!

[KP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good summer read, I love how it flowed and was easy to follow a long with. Loved the telling of the tea shop being passed down through generations. And the tough decisions of wanting to follow your own dreams or keep the traditions thriving. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.