Theodora’s Tea Shop

by Christy Anne Jones

A richly imagined, dark and dazzling cosy fantasy about learning to love ourselves by wondrous new Australian novelist, Christy Anne Jones

Dorothy Louise Walcott should have died when she was fourteen. Instead, she grew into a timid young woman, frugal, ill, over-educated, and dreaming ceaselessly of running away to learn magic. When she hears of a woman who might apprentice her, she sets off on a journey to Alliaster, a city where spirits play cards with kings. Dot is determined to find the witch Theodora—empress of an underground syndicate peddling magic from the quaint façade of her tea shop. Theodora is everything Dot wants to be: beautiful, witty, confident.

However, Dot’s arrival heralds the unearthing of Theodora’s eldritch secrets, threatening to topple the witch’s empire and take them both with it.

Theodora’s Tea Shop is an atmospheric 1920s-inspired fantasy novel about magic, friendship and, of course, tea. It features twists and turns, found families, monstrous women, many heartfelt and cosy moments, and a creepy daemon who owns a department store. If you love Howl’s Moving Castle, you will adore this book.

Genres: Fantasy, Cozy, Cozy Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adult, Witches

Paperback

Expected publication July 28, 2026

About the author

Christy Anne Jones is an Australian writer, illustrator and video-maker from Adelaide.

Reviews

[Ricarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always I was summoned by the words "for fans of Howl's Moving Castle", expecting a magical and cozy read. Consider my surprise when I started reading this book and found myself not quite enjoying my time. I just wasn't clicking with the writing style and found the entire story to be all over the place. I'm not familiar with the author who apparently vlogged her writing journey for this book over multiple years, so I basically had no prior knowledge about this world. While that's true for most of the books that I'm reading, here I had the feeling that there are more explanations and introductions to everyone and everything than I'm actually getting on page. It's hard to explain, but this book just feels like it was in the works for a long time. Like things were added halfway through, like everything was written and rewritten multiple times. The entire book felt so convoluted to me that I wondered what was going on for the entire first half of the book and then just wanted it to be over in the second half. And all of that in a book that actually sounds like it was written just for me. It's the story of Dorothy who leaves her life in a seaside town to try her luck in the brimming city of Alliaster. She's convinced that she has the proclivity for magic and wants to apprentice under a witch named Theodora who she only ever heard rumors about and whose teashop is nowhere to be found. She felt incredibly naïve to me and I know that this a story of her finding her place in the world and learning to love herself, but she can be glad that she didn't straight up die in the first 50 pages. She has no plan, she spends all of her money without even trying to make more but also doesn't want to return to the family that lowkey hates her and ultimately has no place to stay. Fortunately she stumbles right into a magician who is being hunted by three witches and then ends up in the teashop she's been looking for all along. Ok, fine. As long as I get a magical teashop I can't complain. But there is just so much more going on to the point where this was hardly a cozy fantasy as stressful as this was at times. My biggest problem by far was that there was so much stuff crammed into this book. There are the three evil witches, and Dorothy is starting to grow lethal scales on her hand, and Theodora is in life-threatening debt to a salamander, and absolutely no one is over this girl who died ten years ago and absolutely everyone has a trauma to unpack. I'm sure that the author was going for a found family dynamic with the magicians and some cute house spirits, but I didn't really care about anyone. There are plenty of cool ideas in this book and I also love it for the chronic illness rep, but overall I was happiest when I finally finished reading. Other arc readers seem to be pretty thrilled about this novel without having similar problems as I did. Maybe I just picked this book up at the wrong time and would like it more upon re-read, but I doubt that I will find out anytime soon.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Headline / Wildfire for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Mira ♡(Semi-hiatus (◕ᴗ◕✿) ♪♫)]

UPDATE: Guys the cover is too gorgeous!!! I CAN'TTTT ✨️✨️✨️

Finally Project Teacup is up, soon to be released ☕!!! I've been waiting for this book for ages... patiently following Christy's writing process on YouTube as she tackled setbacks and refused for her rejections to diminish her. Kudos to you girl for everything till now and everything here after<333

[Brend]

you don't get it, man; this is my personal friend Christy Anne Jones (she doesn't know me; I watch her on booktube)

[Hanaaax]

the way i genuinely let out a squeal when she revealed the news. have been following the author's writing journey for so long and it's always been inspiring how she never let her rejections stop her. genuinely so excited for this book

[Dorc]

can't wait for this one 🥹 After years of watching Christy's videos of endless hours and love poured into this book sometimes at the break of dawn, sometimes in the dead of night, on the couch, on the floor, in cafes and libraries, it's finally coming.

This book is just special. And now that I've read the blurb, July 2026 can't come quick enough.

[Autum]

PROJECT TEA CUP 😭😭 IM CRYING SO PROUD

[justine ⊹ ࣪ ˖ (slump era)]

𓍢ִ໋🫖✧˚ ༘ ⋆

pre-read : STOP bc i have been seated since Project Teacup in June 2025, and now i got the arc brb crying 𐔌՞ ܸ.ˬ.ܸ՞𐦯

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free digital copy of this book.
I really wanted to love this, because the premise sounds so cool and also because I have watched Christy‘s videos for years and I was so excited to finally read “Project tea cup”. Unfortunately this book didn’t really work for me. While I loved a lot of elements I feel like the first part was very overwritten and the second one extremely convoluted and all over the place, Since I did read an arc of this I think some of the issues with scenes feeling quite choppy and phrases being repeated a million times might be edited for the the published version. It was by no means bad but just didn’t do it for me.

[ahya | ahyascottage · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you so much headline and wildfire books for this physical ARC🥹🍵

as a long-term fan of Christy’s, i still can’t believe that i managed to get my hands on this early copy of Theodora’s Tea Shop😭🤍

there were so many parts of this book that i adored: the found family, the strong messages of love, friendship and kindness, the warmth of tea, and of course, the magical spirits and witches/wizards that are reminiscent of Howl’s Moving Castle!! (as a ghibli lover, i can definitely see the inspiration from howl’s moving castle, but Christy seems to have created her own equally wonderfully strange and magical universe~)

it’s definitely not a ‘cosy’ story in the sense that the stakes are very high and each character faces their fair share of emotionally + physically challenging moments, but the friendship they find in this teahouse and the teahouse setting all contributed to the cosy atmosphere that i loved reading.

the world and plot was a little confusing to me at times and i felt a little lost at some parts of the story, but it’s definitely one that i can see becoming another comfort book for me - the tea, the magic, the found family aka my favourite things!!✨

i can’t wait for you all to read this🥹🐦‍⬛🍵

[Ju]

Howl's Moving Castle if Howl was a mysterious and confident woman? I need it.

[Bianca]

SO HAPPY FOR CHRISTY!!! Have been following the journey of this book on her channel for a while now and I am so genuinely happy that her book will be available to read next year. Add it your TBR!!!

[Victoriaaaa]

Ahh Christy congrats! I’ve watch so many of your videos working on Project Teacup and I can’t wait to read this 💜 great job!

[Shu Wei Chin]

One of my favourite YouTubers (Australian too!), the compassionate, cozy, mindful Christy Anne Jones, is going to debut in July 2026.

I am beyond excited, does the synopsis not sound so unique and atmospheric?

[Claudia Feneley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theodora's Tea Shop was gripping and enjoyable with the perfect balance of adventure and cosy fantasy vibes. While the stakes were a bit too high to be a true cosy fantasy, which may be what some readers are expecting due to the marketing, I still really enjoyed this book. The world-building and character development were amazing. I was shocked when I realised that this is a debut novel. I really appreciated how the author gradually introduced us to the background of each character in a way that fit the narrative, rather than through a lot of distracting info dumping. The plot was incredibly engaging, although a bit slow to start. If you are someone who finds cosy fantasy a bit too cosy and yearn for a bit of adventure sprinkled in, then Theodora's Tea Shop is the perfect read.

[Mela · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we follow Dot as she runs away from home to look for Theodora, a very famous witch. In her search she stumbles upon Lio who’s running away from evil witches and they get saved by Theodora. Will Dot learn magic?

I thought I was going to love this, because cozy fantasy is one of my favorite subgenres. However this did not feel cozy at all. There is always something chaotic going on and we don’t see much about the shop. I personally also didn’t love the found family because everybody was kind of working for themselves so the dynamics between them didn’t feel super deep. My biggest problem was the pacing because I feel like there was so much going on but at the same time it felt like I wasn’t moving at all. This was just not the cozy fantasy that I usually love.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

[☆ piupiu ☆]

i'm so sat. the book store employees are scared and asking me to leave because it hasn't been released yet but i'm simply too sat. we love u project teacup

[Maria P · Rating 4 out of 5]

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓛;𝓓𝓡 ✧˖°
A beautifully descriptive cosy fantasy perfect for readers looking for a vivid magical setting, a found family of faults and friendship, and tender characters that can pack a punch!

° ˖✧ 𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 ✧˖°
4 ⭐
0 🌶️

° ˖✧ 𝓠𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
'Lio's asking a lot of questions.'
'The answer to every one of them is, "No, you dandyish twit."'

'I think that people who are hurt in similar ways have a tendency to find each other. Perhaps, we can only understand our own tragedies by seeing them through the lens of another.'

'Theodora, you do not need to be a scholar and a minister and a painter and a Magician and every possible thing you can imagine, in order to simply be enough.'

'You could not be loved, so you wanted to be magic.'

° ˖✧ 𝓢𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂 ✧˖°
Chronically ill Dot dreams of studying magic, but she’s unlicensed, and her parents wouldn’t allow it. When she hears of a witch that may apprentice her, Dot flees home to a tea shop in Alliaster, unaware of the dark secrets that await.

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
🫶 Found Family
✨ Hidden Power
🪪 Hidden Identity
❤️‍🩹 Chronic Illness Rep
🎓 Mentor & Apprentice
🔐 Secrets & Betrayal
🏘️ Small Town vs Big City

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 ✧˖°
🪦 Death & Grief
🩸 Mild Violence
🆘 Abusive Homes
🧠 Manipulation

° ˖✧ 𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
+ Beautiful Prose fits the story
+ Vivid, Magical World
+ FMC's Emotional Journey
+ Found Family Dynamic
+ Heavy Themes Handled Well
+ Realistic Ending

° ˖✧ 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
- Sometimes the Prose obscured the Plot
- Slower Pacing due to Exposition
- Some Predictability but still Satisfying
- Lots of Moving Parts made Twists confusing at times

° ˖✧ 𝓜𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼 ✧˖°
I'd been so excited to pick up Theodora's Tea Shop after following Christy's author journey for years online!

The thing that stood out to me most in this book was the prose - it's very poetic and mystical and really fits the overall vibe of the story! However, there were times where the flowery language made it a bit harder for me to follow exactly where the plot was going.

I loved Dot's exploration of Alliaster after being in a seaside town all her life. You can really sense the wonder, naivety, and despair. This is a desperate, last ditch effort from Dot to finally do something for herself and fortunately it eventually pays off.

She meets an eclectic cast of characters that get her into all sorts of trouble and most don't really like her to begin with either. Dot doesn't really care so long as she can learn magic, and the found family trope is central focus of the story for how it ever so slowly improves her relationships over time. By the end of the book we're invested in her friends and it makes certain scenes all the punchier.

While some elements of the story felt predictable, they were no less satisfying. However, there were so many moving parts in Dot and Theodora's story that some of the "aha" moments did feel a bit more sudden and confusing. There's a lot packed into this story for good and bad!

This story has some heavy topics despite being a cosy fantasy, and I felt like they were executed well with enough conflict to make them seem authentic. I liked that everything wasn't all neatly tied up with a happily ever after, and that there were instead shades of grey in the story resolution.

Thank you to Christy Anne Jones and Headline, Wildfire for the opportunity to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was trying to think of a word to sum up this book and I think enchanting is the one. Truly enchanting and utterly magical (and addicting).

It’s one of those that you can sink into and let it envelop you as it whisks you away to a whole new world. It was dark and tumultuous, hopeful and in a way, cosy and adorable. The found family trope is one I adore and towards the end of the book, I was left happily fuzzy and heart warmed!

The characters were all strong and really well developed and each one I understood, could sympathise with and rooted for in their own ways. I read chunks of this book at a time and I’m sad it’s over!

Thank you to the author and publisher for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.

[Emma vanGrieken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christy Anne Jones is an author who's work and love for her craft bleeds into everything she does. Upon seeing that this novel went into a 3-way international auction, I, along with hundreds of thousands of others, was overjoyed.

Thtough many years of sharing her journey online, Christy has cultivated an audience who know they will be dazzled by this project, despite knowing so little about the project itself. Christy is a talent and I truly cannot wait to read this book!

[Ieva U. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have been following Christy’s YouTube channel for years and I’m so incredibly happy for her. Cannot wait to read this book as soon as it’s out 🤗🎉

[Rana Safi]

NO ONE has any idea how excited I am for this book. I've been watching Christy draft this book for YEARS. Project teacup is something I've been so excited for to get picked up and now that it is, that it's real, I'm SO happy for her! I actually shed a few tears as if I am happy for a real friend.

Can't wait genuinely.

[Matilda Furness · Rating 5 out of 5]

can't wait to read this book, a whole year away for Christys book to come. 🤩🤩 been following her on Youtube for years!

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, despite having "Tea Shop" in the title and a somewhat cozyesque cover, and claiming to be cozy in the blurb (as at time of review), this book is not, in my opinion, remotely cozy. It's far too dark for that. Yes, it also says "dark" in the blurb, and I should have picked up on those mixed signals and avoided it.

Taking place largely in a city doesn't disqualify it from being cozy, per se, though it doesn't help, especially since the city is grimy and dystopian in places and the seat of a corrupt, hypocritical government; also not helping is the fact that the small town where the main character starts out, rather than being an idealised rural cottagecore fantasy, is claustrophobic and small-minded and depressing in the style of a fishing village in the north of England. There's one fairly minor character who's warm and helpful (which is how the majority of people in a cozy usually are), and pretty much everyone else is either a damaged person making bad decisions that have tragic consequences or a cruel exploiter murdering innocents as a means to power. The "found family" is less dysfunctional than the characters' families of origin, but only because that's an incredibly low bar.

The closest thing to a cute familiar is a sinister raven, which plays a more minor role than the cover would suggest (as far as I read, at least); and far from a supportive and wholesome love interest, the protagonist falls, against her better judgement, for someone with more red flags than a May Day parade, who's still hung up on his first love and barely knows the protagonist is alive. Nobody has a functional romantic relationship, nobody has a functional family relationship, and there's barely even a functional friendship to be seen (while there are at least two very dysfunctional friendships). Add to that: body horror.

It's just not what people who read the cozy genre are typically looking for, and marketing it to them feels like a bait-and-switch, an instance of picking something currently popular and claiming your thing is that, even though it isn't. I'd expect this strategy to backfire. It certainly did with me.

At its heart (and not mentioned in the blurb) is a version of the Oppressed Mages trope, which I consider seriously overused, implausible and potentially harmful. People are only allowed to practice magic if they can afford to go to the Royal Institute, which few can, and if you practice without a license you can be maimed or killed. Now, fine, that's about elite access to/control of power, and one reason that the law's in place is that a foreign power has defeated the country in war (though they kept a previously existing law imposed for a less credible reason), but... read the article I linked to, it explains far better than I can why "oppressed mages" is still not a great trope.

The worldbuilding is certainly richer than practically any cozy fantasy I've read, and although that's also an extremely low bar, this book clears it comfortably; at the same time, the magic system isn't particularly well defined in terms of what it can and can't do or how it operates.

The witch Theodora (not her real name) runs a tea shop as a front for distributing illegal magic, even though she says in as many words that she hates tea. She somehow manages to keep up seven different false identities, including ones that you would think would require some qualifications and background, such as a professor at the Royal Institute, the king's personal sorcerer and a Member of Parliament, and nobody seems to notice that each of these well-known people is only ever around for an average of a day a week. (They don't notice that they're all the same person because of magic.)

So: very not cozy, characters and events practically bordering on grimdark, implausible elements, toxic trope. Was there anything about it I thought was good?

It is well written. People who like dark fantasy, unlike me, will probably enjoy it considerably. Sure, there are some vocabulary issues (which I'll mention to the publisher; I had a pre-publication version via Netgalley, so there's still the chance of fixing those), and the extremely common issue of excess commas between pairs of adjectives, but hardly anyone notices those things. The plot is adequately complex, as are the characters, as is the world. It falls firmly into my "good, but not for me" category.

By 66%, no coziness had eventuated, and I had to ask myself: Do I want to spend another two hours with these characters just to say that I've finished it, and find out what Theodora's plan to fix everything is and how it works, when nobody's plan has ever done anything but make things worse up to this point? I decided I did not want to spend more time with the characters, and in fact I disliked it enough that I'm giving it two stars.

It will have an audience, but that isn't me.

[Jada De Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been following Christy’s journey writing Theodora’s Tea Shop since she uploaded the first writing vlog for it four years ago, and I have been a subscriber to her channel for double the amount of time, so to say that Theodora’s Tea Shop was my most anticipated book of 2026 was an understatement. Thank you to Hachette for providing me with an ARC copy!

This novel was a unique experience that unique to contemporary readers in the digital age, as Christy documented the entire writing, editing and publishing process of this novel (which was formerly referred to as Project Teacup) from beginning to end. Being able to witness over so many years how the sapling of an idea grew into such a charming and delightful novel was such a joy!

Theodora’s Tea Shop has been marketed towards “fans of Howl’s Moving Castle,” which I read and reviewed two books out of the trilogy in February. In Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie’s journey reminds us to give ourselves permission to love, experience, and create magic, but for Dorothy Louise Walcott in Theodora’s Tea Shop, readers are faced with higher stakes and far more serious themes, including how we process grief, the imperfections of found family, healing from abuse, and the strength of those that have chronic illnesses.

As a reader and writer that is chronically ill, the perseverance and tenacity of Dot was encouraging and refreshing. It was a massive comfort to read about a chronically ill main character in a fantasy setting, which surprised and really resonated with me personally. In particular, the following passage struck very close to home:

“Dot pushed through the throng of people, her vision smeared by a flurry of tears, until she found a concrete step at the edge of the square and sat down. She opened up her bag and, fingers tremoring, tried to pick out the shattered glass. Two of her blouses were ripped. She mopped up the tonic as best she could with her bath towel. Tiny insects swarmed the lampposts. The smell of pastry, pistachios and clotted cream wafted from a nearby street vendor. But Dot’s groaning stomach was tempered by humiliation.”

This scene reminded me of the day my chronic illness flared up in Rome, my phone’s signal failed and there was nowhere to properly rest, and so I hopped between churches, crying in the pews to collect myself before moving onwards, wondering if I should give up the day and return to my accomodation or keep going. I decided to keep going, and that tenacity meant I stumbled upon some Picasso and Caravaggio paintings; an experience I wouldn’t have gotten if I had just given up.

Another aspect of Theodora’s Tea Shop I enjoyed was the questions regarding identity– who do we choose to be, who we think we should be, or who we really want to be? Theodora’s character was a complex and intricate exploration of self preservation and survival, which made me question all of the times I’ve fragmented myself to survive:

“A thousand Theodoras lived in this room: a thousand hobbies and tasks and costumes abandoned partway through for something or someone else.”

The worldbuilding and magic system, laden with spirits, packet spells, sigils drawn in chalk, and a capital city infused with religious and magical history was colourful and vibrant:

“Four religions had been practised under the cathedral’s great dome. Incense had changed to idols and then to beads and then to silver. Four times, conquered. With each tumble of the crown, the great cathedral had absorbed the influence of its new inhabitants, along with the rest of the melting pot city.”

A brilliant and imaginative debut novel from a fellow Aussie writer, to which I applaud after years of hard work!

Rating: ✷ ✷ ✷ ✷ (4 stars)

Read this if you enjoy Ghibli movies but want to read a higher-stakes, gothic fantasy. Whether you like the salt spray of the sea or the many sights and sounds of a booming city, Theodora’s Tea Shop reminds us that found family, and our own independence, must be fought for.

Books I’d recommend with found family and magic: Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianne Wynne Jones, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J Klune

(Originally posted on https://jadadeluca.substack.com/p/may...)

[Dotti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

Theodora’s Tea Shop is a fantasy novel following Dot, a young woman in search of a better life who becomes the apprentice to a flamboyant, enigmatic witch. But all is not what it seems at the tea shop, and Dot learns that the stakes of magic are higher than they appeared.

First of all: the description for this book explicitly says that this is a cozy fantasy. It is not. One of the early chapters involves a man’s severed eye used for scrying as the man writhes on the ground below, and that tone continues. There are deaths and dismemberments and betrayals and enslavement and abuse and life-ending, world-destroying stakes. This book should be marketed as a traditional fantasy novel instead of a cozy fantasy novel. As a lover of cozy fantasy, I often found myself exclaiming to whoever was next to me about what violent detail in the particular scene made the book ill-fitting for the cozy fantasy genre.

The plot of this book feels long, and the pacing feels slow for the first third or so. It’s hard to describe without giving things away, because the plot escalates so far beyond Dot’s initial desire to apprentice under Theodora. I felt like I was gearing up for the finale and realized I was only halfway through. It feels like the book would have been better served as a duology, splitting the narrative and ending on a cliffhanger in the middle.

The prose in this book had excellent descriptions, using vivid metaphors that cleverly captured our setting and characters. The worldbuilding felt well-thought out, with interwoven layers of politics and history coming together in ways that had real effects on our characters. The magic system in this book was detailed and interesting, and the author created compelling consequences for our characters that grew as the story built.

Altogether, this was a very engaging fantasy novel with high stakes, solid character development and vivid prose. The pacing in the book is somewhat off-kilter, and the story feels long. But this is not a cozy book, and I wish the marketing would have better reflected that.

Thank you to Headline, Christy Ann Jones and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy!

[Lady Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Reader,
I’ve just sat down to figure out the right words for recommending Theodora’s Tea Shop. The beginning of this story starts off cozy and absolutely makes me nostalgic for Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle. Dot is Sophie, underestimated and yearning for adventure, and Theodora is Howl, messy and magnetic. But this book has darker elements and events even with similar themes of war, which alone are well-done, but perhaps because I fell fast for our characters (as Dot might:), I didn’t want to watch them go through what they did. I would’ve happily continued to read their found family wholesomeness. This thread does continue, but is in high contrast to the blood magic and the severity of consequences the characters experience for their actions. It caught me a bit off-guard. What I will say though, is that this may be one of the book’s messages, that there are lovely little moments tucked in all the bad. Life often does leave us in disbelief and in need of comfort.

This book’s unique offering (in my humble opinion) is that it beautifully captures from many angles through all the main characters, outgrowing one’s own family. It will make your heart ache, but it will also make it feel seen. For that alone it is worth reading, but the whimsical descriptions, the charming spirits and the tidbits of humour will make you stay. This book is also an unexpected love letter to the ocean.

A few of my favorite quotes to entice you (please note that these may be different from the published version):
“I said to her, Maria–you’ll enjoy this-I said, ‘Sofia, we would love to be the kind of family who owned a hatstand, but we simply aren’t there yet’”
“Tea is the warmth one brings to another who has none to give themselves”
“I think that people who are hurt in similar ways… have a tendency to find each other”
“Sometimes, I think the bravest thing a person can be is themselves”

This book would go best with chamomile tea and cockles. I hope you enjoy this read.
Yours ever,
Lady J

P.S. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC

[Nocturne Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theodora’s Tea Shop is a debut fantasy novel written by Christy Anne Jones and is set to release on July 28th, 2026. Thank you Netgalley and Headline Books for this opportunity. Truly, I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd get this ARC. I have followed Christy on YouTube, following her writing journey with this book since the beginning. Her journey inspired me to write myself, so holding this ebook EARLY in my hands like this is astounding to me still. I cried starting this book, just because I feel like I've been there for every point cheering the author on in her dreams to make this novel a reality. The writing is simply gorgeous. It's so visceral. It perfectly wrapped up how the imagination of children can turn from sugary sweet to worst case scenario in just a change of light. Sometimes, the scenario comes to life. What else could you ask for as a little one than magic? All in the expanse of the PROLOGUE. Christy has managed to fit so much emotion into such tiny sections in relation to the thoughts being shared with the reader. Childhood thoughts, adult thoughts, isn't it all just the same thoughts and dreams but different cultivation? Different circumstances? Along with sharing the spectacular wisps of magic portrayed, this book also shows the hardships of chronic illness and how conquering your own obstacles to obtain those long sought-after dreams make the taste so much sweeter when, if, you can get it. My one note would be to make Lio’s dialogue a bit more mature sounding. He sounds a little too young for his age. Dot I get because of her circumstances, but Lio seems too juvenile for his age set in the novel in the first section. I NEED a physical copy in my hands. The TWISTS. I don't think I expected one of them. I didn't expect to sob either. Christy, why? It made me feel like I was family. Like I was home. 5 ⭐ 

[Yaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theodora’s Tea Shop - I really enjoyed this and stayed up late to finish it!

From the other reviews I gather that the author has quite a popular YT channel where she documents her writing process - but I didn't know of her before picking up this book. The beautiful cover and the intriguing blurb is what attracted me to request it on NetGalley.

First off, this wasn't quite a cosy book IMO - I feel the stakes were way too high - BUT there's most definitely a found-family element to this book which I loved.
I'm not sure any of the main characters have nice family at all (apart from Dot's Grandad and her sister) - they're all so awful and there's a certain scene in a market which hit hard, I felt so bad for this character!

For me, this felt like a story about letting go.
Letting go of horrible family members - even if deep down you just really want their love and acceptance; letting go of the past, letting go of the rosy glasses we sometimes use to view certain people, and letting go of the unjustified self-criticisms we sometimes inflict on ourselves.

All in order to allow ourselves to grow to our fullest potential, and allow new friendships (and new family!) into our lives.

The world-building and magical system was great too. It seems this is a standalone book? But I think the ending works well both as a standalone and for a potential sequel. I'd love a sequel that explores the spirits and the magical system a bit more!

This was a really immersive and gripping story (I kept dreaming about it). I was surprised to see it's a debut novel from the author! The characters are flawed, messy, emotional - in short, very human and relatable.

Thanks to the publisher Headline who provided the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. It's always great to be introduced to a new author!

[_linnslibrary_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Netgally for this early copy to read and review!
First of all I need to say how impressed I am by this being a debut novel. I could feel when I read how much work and research have been put into this book over time! The writing and the world was very whimsical and beautiful and I felt like I was in it with the characters.

I think the Prolouge and Epilogue of the book were both so beautiful, and it made the start and the end of the books so good! I am glad this was a standalone and the ending of the story was perfect in my opinion. The worldbuilding and the magic system was amazing and I really enjoyed every little new thing we learned about the magic. Also there is something special for me when magic is forbidden in a book - it makes it even more exiting when people use it!

The found family aspect must be my favorite part of the book. I loved how the diverse set of people found each other and just made their own kind of wierd family! Especially because a lot of the characters had terrible family members that where very mean to them when they did not deserve it..
I think a lot of the characters were well written and we got to know their backstories which I appreciated. There where a few characters, ecpecially one that I did not like as much and I could not really get a grip on what kind of character he was supposed to be, but he did get better in the end. Also the villain(s) in the story was well written and they where easy to hate because of the mean stuff they did. And last but not least all the emotions this book made me feel! I felt happy, love, sad, angry, hate and every different motion towards the characters and the things they did or experience.

Very thankful to get to read this early and I will keep my eyes up for more books from this author!

[Fátima Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A universe you enter and never want to leave

I've been following the author on YouTube for quite some time, and "Theodora's Tea Shop" was one of my most anticipated reads even before I knew what it was about, just because of how much the book means to her. And I'm very happy to say that my expectations were exceeded. First, I wanted to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I laughed, smiled, cried, everything a good book does to you.

I never imagined I would feel so immersed in the universe as I did. Everything seemed alive, real, enchanting. I loved the characters, even with their flaws (in fact, I think I loved them even more because of the flaws), I loved the magical world, how everything worked, and especially how the characters fit into it all. I must confess that my favorite character was Dot, and I would read thousands of other books with her. It's definitely one of my favorite books of 2026, and I'm eager to hear everyone talking about it soon.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but I wanted to say that I loved the story more and more with each chapter after 65%, and I especially loved the final chapters and the epilogue. Sometimes we feel like the epilogue wasn't necessary, but that wasn't the case here. It was perfect, and I think you'll love it. The author's writing is beautiful, and the sentences easily stick in your head after reading. In the end, when things fall into place, after a lot of plot twists and things you never would have imagined, you want to reread it to piece everything together again.

It's truly an incredible book, and I recommend it to absolutely everyone who reads fantasy. I'm eager to read more books by this author.