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 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, Fiction, Cozy Fantasy, Cozy, Historical Fiction, Adult, Witches

457 pages, Kindle Edition

First published 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.

[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)

[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

[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

[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. The found family element felt extremely forced as well. 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.

[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

[Maeve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this one. I've followed Christy Anne Jones on YouTube and Patreon for years, watching "Project Teacup" evolve from scattered updates into an actual novel I could hold in my hands. There's also something extra invested about cheering on a fellow Aussie creative, wanting the book to land not just for you as a reader but for them as an artist you've been rooting for from a distance. So finally reading it should have felt like a payoff. Instead, it was the weirdly deflating experience of realising a book that sounded tailor-made for me just, well, wasn't.

Small note on format: I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator gasps audibly between what feels like every other sentence. Is everything really that shocking? After I noticed, I couldn't ignore it, and I started counting gasps instead of following the story. Not the book's fault, but worth flagging if you were considering the audiobook.

The story follows Dot, a young woman who leaves her small, suffocating seaside town in search of the elusive witch Theodora, hoping to be taken on as an apprentice. Along the way, she stumbles into Lio, gets pulled into a much larger conflict involving forbidden magic and some very dangerous witches, and discovers that the tea shop is only a tiny piece of a very messy puzzle.

Quick thing on marketing, because I think it matters: this is NOT a cozy fantasy. I know it has been marketed and pitched that way in some corners, and I get why (witches, tea, apprenticeship, hints of found family), but the actual book is far darker and more chaotic than that label suggests. If you come in expecting cottagecore, you will get whiplash, and to be clear: the darkness itself wasn't my problem. I read a lot of dark fantasy, and I'm perfectly happy sitting in the murk.

My issues were elsewhere, and the biggest one was pacing. The first half is overwritten in a way that makes scenes linger well past their point, while the second half swings hard the other way and starts flinging plot threads at the wall to see what sticks: three evil witches, dot growing lethal scales on her hand, Theodora in life-threatening debt to a salamander, a girl who died ten years ago that no one has moved on from, political intrigue, a magical Institute gatekeeping who's allowed to practice, chronic illness, found family, and ancient trauma, to name a few. Any two or three of these could carry a novel. All of them at once meant nothing quite got the room it needed to land.

I also never really connected with the characters. Dot has the shape of a great protagonist, a naïve girl leaving home with no plan, no money, and mostly vibes. Honestly, it's a small miracle she doesn't find herself in more trouble within the first fifty pages. That kind of setup should have hooked me into her growth. It didn't. The found family, which I expected to be the emotional anchor, never quite formed either. Everyone feels like they're off carrying their own private novel, and the group never coheres into something greater than the sum of its individually traumatised parts.

That said, there's plenty I admired. The world-building is genuinely imaginative, and it's clear how much thought has gone into it over the years. The magic system has some cool ideas, even where the rules stay blurry, and I really appreciated the chronic illness representation, which felt woven in rather than tacked on.

Ultimately this is a "good, but not for me" situation, and the sting of that is basically proportional to how excited I was going in. I've been rooting for this book for a long time, and I'm genuinely glad it's finding readers who click with it. I just wasn't one of them.

[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🥹🐦‍⬛🍵

[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

[Lyssa McB · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of my first fantasy reads, after I’ve become as exhausted as this protagonist with reading contemporaries.

I’m loathe to rate a debut author poorly but this book did not impress and I DNFed after a few chapters. The editing was bad, to my surprise – or maybe not. I’ve heard publishing houses don’t bother with editing anymore, which isn’t good news for debut authors. For example:

-The word “little” appears 9 times in the prologue and 6 times in chapter 1.
-We have a “sharp thud” (thuds are by definition not sharp) and “guillotine branches” (a guillotine is a machine for cutting paper and necks, nothing to do with branches - even metaphorically).
-There are multiple “she thought” and “she knew” when we’re in close 3rd POV.
-Random switches to omniscient POV.
-Misuse of semicolons (ironic because Dot’s father lectures her sister on this subject).
-Overuse of “had” in past perfect paragraphs. (Ugh, stop!)
-And my least favorite thing: in line 1 of the prologue, the little girl is “not yet eleven”. She’s TEN. Just say she’s ten. (There’s an odd obsession with giving us the exact age of every character, including from events in their past. Readers don’t want to log countless numbers in our brains when the numbers don’t matter.)

Regarding the writing, I balked at some odd turns of phrase, such as:
-A sound from the next room is the “aural cues of sleep committed by her mother or father”. Wins the prize for Oddest Description of a Snore.
-She overhears a professor talking to a “colleague” (who subsequently is referred to as a “friend”) about Theodora’s tea shop. When the professor notices Dot, the two professors leave and “never again returned.” Did they vanish from the teaching staff? Because that’s a hella dramatic way to say they walked out of the library.
-Dot has to “squint” to see the purple carpets at the entrance of the cathedral because they’re “so obscured by the silhouettes of thousands of tourists and spirits…” There are thousands of people at the cathedral entry right now? There are thousands of invisible people casting silhouettes?? I think she means the carpets are worn away by the footsteps of past visitors… right?
-”Where her hands should have been was only air.” I thought we were about to be introduced to some magical appendages made of air, but no, the woman simply has no hands.
-Lio “threw each foot to the gravel, vaulting himself forward.” So, he was running in a normal manner?

But my main problem is with Dot. Dot is absolutely pathetic, and not just because we’re told she’s weak, constantly fainting, exhausted, fatigued, dowdy, irritable, lonely… Or because she sees ugliness everywhere - the city and its inhabitants are tatty, dismal, gaunt, drooping, opium-addled, dirty... (Alliaster sounds disgusting.)

No, it’s because she is 23 years old and went to university with the option of being a teacher or a clerk, but instead she’s washing dishes in a diner in her hometown and living with her abhorrent family. Why? Makes no sense.

And it’s because she arrives in Alliaster and doesn’t look for a job for weeks as her money dwindles, but instead searches for Theodora’s tea shop in the most incomprehensible way, as we will see:

Dot suspects she has magic powers. Beyond this we aren’t given a reason why she wants to learn magic. Dot has a goal but not a motivation. She wants to be “beautiful, witty, confident” like Theodora – this is out of left field because Dot (1) makes no effort to be these things, and (2) I thought she wanted to learn magic, not be pretty and witty. Dot has collected “clues” about Theodora’s tea shop from city customers while working at the diner. She doesn’t tell us what these clues are - and the only info she seems to have, when she finally runs away to Alliaster, is a photo and the overheard professor’s comment that it’s “on the corner”.

As we follow her search for the tea shop, it’s clear she’s not a smart person. She has the photo showing arched windows and stone steps, and knows it’s on a corner, yet spends weeks not only looking at random restaurants that don’t match the photo and aren’t on corners, but going inside and ordering food - wasting her money when she could plainly see from the outside that the place doesn’t match the photo.

You would think that when she finally finds a shop that “closely” matches the photo in every respect, this scene would be a hopeful, joyful climax to her search. But no, it happens off page in a throwaway line - that she visited the place, it was closed, and there’s no indication it matched the photo. Only when Dot returns to the same shop on another day do we get the information that it matches the photo, and we get no interior thoughts or feelings from Dot about this. She immediately gives up trying to get inside. Doesn’t ask questions. Doesn’t stake the place out. Just leaves, continues checking out random non-matching places not on corners for a while, then runs out of money and decides to go home.

Lio, another POV character, is even more frustrating due to the confusing way he and his backstory are introduced. We meet him jumping through a series of portals to escape three witches. At one point he lands in an olive grove where a farmhand responds to his arrival with a yelled “Ah!” So… is the farmhand afraid? Surprised? Was that a greeting? “Ah!” is not a word. It means nothing.

Lio uses all his remaining magic to cast just one more portal. But then… immediately casts lots more. Where did all the extra magic come from? Finally, in a crowded market he draws a complex rune on the ground to open a portal, which would take minutes, but nobody interrupts him or comments or seems to notice at all.

Maybe the movie playing in my head is just too nitpicky, but these things don’t make sense to me.

Back to Dot for a minute: she’s on a tram and doesn’t want to remove her coat because the other passengers will see her sweaty back… but we were just told she’s sitting at the back. Nobody’s gonna see, love. And on that tram Dot specifically describes the only other passengers, all three of them. But also, the tram “spewed forth passengers and swallowed up more” along the journey, indicating a constant change in passengers. The movie ain’t moving.

Returning to Lio: His backstory is given out of order and out of context, making it exhausting (again) to piece together. He was a childhood classmate of Theodora, then called Opal, and loves her although their friendship is described in explicitly mundane terms. She is in a grave in the forest where they studied illegal magic together, but also alive and wrote him a letter that took him to Alliaster to find her. He found her tea shop on day one (we don’t know how, when Dot had so much trouble) but it magically threw him out, then chased her all over the city as she switched names and professions. She instantly vanishes each time he finds her (again, we don’t know how he keeps finding her or what timeline this covers). She must be furious with him for making her constantly change identities, yet never tries to stop him.

That might all sound understandable to you, but I had to back-engineer it from his introductory chapters where the information was completely out of order and I couldn’t tell if things were happening now or at some point in the past, and no context was given for any of it. While I appreciate the idea that some things will be revealed later, if those things aren’t currently a mystery to the POV character, they shouldn’t currently be a mystery (or a confusing mess) to the reader.

The most interesting character is Dot’s carpet bag. Though never described as anything other than ordinary, it contains the following items:
-(multiple) felted skirts
-stockings
-(multiple) blouses
-(multiple) woollen jumpers
-a bath towel
-(multiple) phials of tonic
-package of ambergris and 4 more ingredients to make more tonic
-toiletries
-and additionally, “every single item she could possibly need.

Despite Dot’s intriguing Tardis carpet bag, the confusing narrative and weird writing style have killed my desire, or even the silhouette of it, to follow this woman’s story.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

I just couldn't connect with this book. Even though the premise seemed right up my alley, the author's writing is incredibly beautiful, and it has a lot in common with "Howl's Moving Castle", I found flaws in the plot that really turned me off and prevented me from empathizing with the characters.

For starters, the world-building and structure are too similar to those of Diana Wynne Jones, without quite having her spark, because they aren’t as well-developed or grounded in a solid foundation. It’s never clear to me which historical period the story is inspired by; it feels like a hodgepodge of medieval, Renaissance, 19th-century, and modern elements. The architecture seems Gothic, the society part medieval, part Dickensian, but they have trains, streetcars, and telephones—and for me, personally, this was so disorienting that I didn’t feel comfortable reading it. But that’s not the worst part: in the first half of the book, the plot lacks a clear direction. I don’t understand what motivates the characters or what their goal is—it’s as if they’re just floundering. It seems that later on, the story finds its footing, and then everything gets out of hand, creating an imbalance between the first and second halves.

The characters are well-developed, with distinct personalities that differ from one another. The author seems to be suggesting (or at least that’s how the title can be interpreted) that this is a cozy fantasy with a “found family” trope, although this is another aspect of the book that I didn’t really notice, since each character was pulling in a different direction. As a result, there isn’t enough closeness to create the bonds that would explain why they’re all working toward the same goal.

I could delve deeper into other aspects that I found confusing, but I think this already gives us a pretty good idea of why this book entertained me but won’t stick in my memory.

[D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I preordered this book and was super excited to read it, but unfortunately I did not like it at all.

I think too much focus was given to worldbuilding and not enough to character depth and plot. There were a lot of characters and relationships, but none of them felt real to me or like they had any kind of personality (apart from being humiliated and traumatized). There were so many overwritten descriptions in unimportant scenes (two paragraphs to say characters took an elevator downstairs), but in the climax of the book actual pivotal moments that were supposed to elicit an emotional reaction in the reader were over within a couple of sentences. The character actions and motivations did not make sense to me, there were too many plotlines to develop any of them properly, and there were some glaring plot holes that made the reading experience even worse.

Why were both Theodora and Lio so obsessed with Opal, who is essentially a psychopath and treated them both terribly? Why did the most important protection ward depend on either Theodora or Belchamber being inside the building? There's so many reasons why both of them would need to be out at the same time! And why would Belchamber literally tell Opal this directly? And finally, why was there soup on the bread knife?!

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but it was just doing far too much. The world building is detailed and well thought out, but is so intense it becomes oppressive. The premise is good - young girl from a small town, and a family that underestimates her, travels to the city to seek out a witch that she hopes will teach her magic. That along with the prospect of the magical tea shop sounds like a great book. But the tea shop rarely features, and is unnecessary to the plot. The magic lessons are pretty non-existent, and when they do happen are unsuccessful or cause problems, and instead we focus on a web of complex and miserable characters, hauling around their respective baggage, and not connecting with each other in any meaningful way.
I feel like there is an idea here that could have worked well, but that the book is about a hundred pages too long and focuses on the wrong things. We needed more of Dot growing as a person and a witch. We needed an end goal with a clear plot structure. We needed to ditch a huge chunk of the other characters moaning about each other. We needed some light relief for our main character. Some fun and warmth maybe? Or some humour? And then add in one of the many challenges, maybe saving the others for further books. The content could easily have carried a trilogy.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc

[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!!!

[Ril · Rating 1 out of 5]

To start off, the premise of the book and the blurb made me interested, the idea is good, however the prose and a lot of the subject matter ruins the novel for me entirely. I DNF’ed by chapter two for several reasons.

Firstly, The prose really did scream ai, even if it was not, the way that the paragraphs broke, the tone, the descriptions the overuse of long winding words where simple words suffice, that amongst other things just made me feel uneasy.

Secondly, I immediately recognised the attempt to portray Irishness and Irish stereotypes. From the Irish names to the stereotypical trope of Irish intergenerational trauma, keeping secrets and speaking without speaking. As an Irish person while this is true to some extent it is definitely not to this degree, and while the setting is fantasy I could feel the way culture was being utilised, Leigh Bardugo does this well, you can tell what culture she’s representing/using as a metaphor without it feel stereotypical.

Thirdly, this is not even an objective critique, the main character really annoys me. I understand the impact of chronic health issues on one’s mental health but in every page she’s fainting, she’s sick, she’s tired,she’s saying how weak and pathetic she is. People with chronic health issues are not weak and pathetic. If she faints another time I’m going to start calling her Raskolnikov because no one else faints as much.

I was hoping the book would pick up, I really wanted go swallow my complaints, because I love witchcraft and tea and it seemed like something I would really enjoy, but while cool ideas and plots are fun, the plot needs to be met with adequate and engaging prose to avoid the book becoming stereotypical or lacking in nuance. Dnf at character two.

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think words can do justice to the excitement and joy I felt at being approved for an early copy of this novel. I have been following Christy’s journey writing this story for years now on her youtube channel. She has been a massive inspiration in my own writing adventure. So as you can probably tell, this has been one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

First of all, I’ll start off by saying this: Christy never shared anything about the characters, the plot, the beats of this story on her channel. All of this was a completely blind discovery past the blurb. And I’m very glad that this is how she chose to do it as I had so much fun getting to know our characters, the way she intended.

This is pitched as a book for fans of Howl’s Moving Castle and a cosy read, and I’ll warn you — it’s definitely not as cosy as it seems. While there are spirits in the tea shop and a house that very much feels alive, this is where the comparisons end. Theodora’s Tea Shop is a fast-paced, action-packed novel, which I personally would not qualify as cosy at all. Dark stuff happens, constantly, and there isn’t much time to pause or rest within this story.

All that being said, I had a great time with this book. The writing style itself definitely feels cosy. The characters and their personalities jump off the page, and make you really care for them. It’s clear that Christy Anne Jones has a lot of love for the main cast, and she’s mastered the art of the found family. Of course, Dot and Theodora are my favourite characters, but I also love Belchamber, Rupert and Lio (Lio, probably the least of them all).

I only wish that we’d had more time with them all. Reading this book, I often felt that it had been edited down too much, that a chapter here or there had been removed to keep the pace up, and keep the page count down. This does the story a disservice, in my opinion, as we don’t really have time to sit with the consequences of major events throughout the narrative, we’re just thrown into the next one. And there are a lot of twists and turns, especially from 40% onwards. I would have preferred a slower pace, which would have allowed for more resting time with our characters, and would have made the book sit more firmly in this cosy category that it’s being pitched as.

Now I want to quickly touch on the magic system; it is fantastic. I can tell that Christy’s done a lot of research on different types of magic throughout history, and she weaved in her own system seamlessly. I love that each character has their own area of expertise in magic, whether that be wards, portals, packet spells, and that they don’t overpower each other. The balance there feels just right, it’s not overexplained, and it remains interesting throughout the entire narrative.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this story to fantasy lovers. But if you’re expecting Legends & Lattes levels of cosy, you will be disappointed. Do go in knowing that it will get dark quickly, and it’ll keep on getting darker all the way to the end.

I’m excited to continue following Christy’s writing journey and I can’t wait to see what she publishes next. I will be championing her work and putting into as many hands as possible. Please do pick it up if you’re into a fast read with a found family, an interesting magic system that is new but feels familiar, and fantasy in general.

With thanks to Wildfire, Hachette and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review

[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.

[Sophie]

I’ve watched Christy’s channel for years, following the progress of Project Tea Cup, but reading the book is another experience entirely. The good news is, she really can write. This is an ambitious debut novel, packed with detail, description and action. I especially loved Belchamber <3

On the other hand, it was darker than I expected, and sometimes quite shockingly graphic. Due to the delayed reveal of the different characters’ backstories, it took me a while to understand their relationships. For example, until we know why Theodora resents Lio, it seems merely as though she is bullying him, and I found this jarring. I appreciate the representation of chronic illness via Dot, but one of my pet peeves is when a main character’s ability/magic is blocked and they are consistently perceived as weak. I would have loved to see more magic from Dot.

Finally, there are some almost senselessly cruel characters in this book. I haven’t decided how I feel about this yet; is it more ‘realistic’ or insufficiently explained? At its core, Theodora’s Tea Shop seems to me to be a tale of hurt and pain over family and the people who are supposed to love you.

I have a feeling this is one worth rereading to take everything in and process more.

Well done, Christy. Writing a novel this elaborate is a massive feat, and you are without a doubt my favourite YouTuber.

[Unmolt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is realistically a 2.5/5 and I would round down but I can’t bring myself to do that. I’ve become disillusioned by recent debut novels in general, doubly so in the fantasy genre so the fact that there are many things in this novel I can appreciate is enough to make me concede the 3 star.

With that said, there is a A LOT of issues in this book, the sheer number of things happening in such a short book is kind of insane, the ending I especially disliked and there are a handful of side plots and characters I’d rather just didn’t exist at all.

With all that said, I really don’t think this is all too bad. A more detailed review to come soon enough.

[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.

[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!

[Cora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to start with the good. For the majority of this book, I felt exactly how I used to feel as a child when reading. There was a sense of wonder and warmth and joy throughout. The characters were all instantly lovable and so was the city of Alliaster, and I loved that the book was about friendship and learning to love yourself.

The witch, Theodora, was a fantastic character. It's rare to read about an adult female character who is so faulty. She's clever and reliable and brilliant, but she's also a liar and makes mistakes, and she's fragile, too. There are particular details about her backstory (and Dot's as well) that were so heart wrenching and relatable. I also loved her physical design; I could picture her so clearly.

The first half of this book is like a big bag of sweets of all different flavours. I wanted to get to know every detail of this world, and I felt that I was in good hands. The prose is effective, both magical at times and easy to follow.

Now, the bad. There is a point, about two thirds of the way through, where the plot becomes convoluted and overcomplicated. Jones struggled with the last Act. So much plot and exposition is written in dialogue. Swathes of dialogue with characters discussing what they should do and why such and such won't work, etc. A lot of this is compounded by issues with worldbuilding. I didn't feel convinced that Jones understood certain aspects of her world: the war, politics, and Article 13 were both wishy-washy and confusing. With so much happening all at once, those details should have acted as scaffolding to prop up the intense amount of action, but they weren't clear enough to do that.

Too many things were happening, and there were too many challenges. I think having multiple things for the characters to battle can work, but these things felt too disparate from each other. Neither were well established and neither meant much in terms of the overall themes of the novel.

I also felt that the sheer level of stakes did not completely marry up with the tone and themes of the novel. Certain things are dealt with at such a speed, you barely have time to take them in. While the first half of the novel was not slow by any means, but it was considered and well-paced. The second half felt like a mad dash. The writing speeds up (shorter sentences, much more reliance on dialogue) and what was sweet and moving becomes over emotional and saccharine at times.

A lot of reviewers have noticed that the quality of debuts is going down. Editors are rushing, and publishing houses are understaffed. This novel is definitely better than most debuts coming out this year and I can't overstate how fresh and exciting it is to read a novel WITHOUT a romantic subplot. Perhaps that's why I feel more disappointed with its shortcomings, because the potential is clearly there.

Still, I'm excited to see what Jones writes next.

[Capital R Romantic · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this so much. i'm not usually a fantasy reader, but i was pulled deeply into the world and the characters. they feel so real, with tangible strengths and flaws. i relate to the main character a lot, and this story has been a wake-up call to spend my time and energy with the people who value it rather than those who dismiss it 🥲🥲🥲 probably my favorite book i've read this year.

[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?

[☆ 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

[Michelle G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Headline and Wildfire for the access to this ebook through NetGalley. So sorry this review is a little late.

I'm subscribed to Christy Anne Jones on YouTube, and while I found her a couple of years into her writing this novel (Project Tea Cup, as we knew it for a long time), I still followed along for some of that journey, and it's exciting that this book is now out in the world. I hope it finds its audience and that audience is people who like their fantasies to be a little dark, characters with unresolved trauma, naive protagonists who find their power, and super creative magic systems.

I don't usually have high expectations whenever a booktuber or influencer I'm familiar with drops a book because, well, let's be honest: they're mostly cash grabs and plain bad. This one, I knew it was a passion project, and I did have some expectations, especially when it came to the coziness and the found family aspect of it.

I'm sorry to say it didn't deliver in that respect for me. This wasn't cozy at all, in my opinion, so that's one term I would drop from the marketing, and the found family just didn't click for me personally. I struggled to feel that sort of connection between the characters - they felt like friends, at best, and I wasn't emotionally invested in all of them, which made the emotional impact of some events and character developments feel lackluster for me.

That aside, the plot was engaging even if it maybe had too many things going on, the magic system was super interesting and creative, and I really loved the concept of spirits, the prose was nice, and, overall, I had a good time with it. The stakes felt high and things wrapped up nicely.

I just wish I was invested in the characters and their personal journeys more, and since I thought that's what this was going to be like, I wish there was more coziness, whimsy, and more of the Tea Shop. For instance, Dot was a good protagonist, but she was too naive for her age, which was annoying sometimes. Still, I think the chronic illness rep was good, and it was nice to see her find her power and grow as a person, but I just wasn't emotionally invested in her. She didn't make me feel things about her, or for her, other than surface-level impressions, and neither did any of the other characters. Except Belchamber, I did love him!

We barely spend time in the Tea Shop, and I thought we were going to get more of that, learn more about the spells Theodora sold, and how they impacted people's lives for good or bad; you know, the kind of thing you expect from a story that's described as a "cosy fantasy full of witchy magic, found family, self-love and lots of warm cups of tea." But the focus is more on Theodora's dark secrets, everyone's dark past and unresolved trauma, Dot's magical condition and her not being able to use her magic, them being persecuted by other witches, the evil spirit sort of running the city, and on and on.

It's just not what I expected 100%, but I adjusted my expectations enough to enjoy it for what it is, and it's a solid fantasy debut that I recommend checking out.

3.5 stars.

[Sophie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this completely blind and loved every moment of it. I'm really impressed that not only did Jones find the capacity to write an entire book whilst chronically ill, but also by how real each of the characters felt. It is a fun plot with a mysterious witch you can't help but empathise with, spirits, one pretty evil daemon, ex best friends and bfs/gfs, and of course Dorothy, who wants nothing more than to learn magic under Theo's guidance.

Like Dot I have pretty severe me/cfs, so finally seeing myself within a fantasy protagonist means a lot. Dot may have a magic tonic to help with her fatigue, but Jones also weaved in the little things so many of us rely upon in the real world (salt/electrolytes/rest etc) that the average healthy person wouldn't have ever thought about.
Thank you Christy for representing the me/cfs community the best I have read thus far!

[Lisa (Two Bookish Brits) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just sat here in complete awe of this book.

This book, oh this book was fantastic! I knew going in I was going to enjoy it, I love a cozy fantasy but I did NOT expect how much this book would completely take over me.

The moment I picked up the book I couldn’t put it down, I read well into the early hours of the morning, lost sleep but I wouldn’t change a single second of that. These characters were incredible.

Each character stood out to me, they were strong and very well developed. I found myself connecting to them in many ways and sympathising with the heartaches they were going through. They all etched their way into my heart and I’m going to love them forever.

I found myself smiling a lot throughout the book as well as laughing but it’s not all sunshine, there was a darkness throughout and I found my eyes leaking a few times…especially at one certain point, my heart just ached.

This author wrote a truly beautiful and captivating book. It was dark, tense and throughly exciting. It’s full of twists and turns you won’t see coming and your jaw will be on the floor but you’ll love every second of it.

Theodora’s Tea Shop was a book about magic, spirits and so much more. It’s about found family, finding the right place to fit and finding oneself and allowing themselves to live as they want. It’s a book about friendship and heartaches and overcoming obstacles thrown in the way. It was simply, brilliant. I’m so so sad that it’s all over now, I miss them already.