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Tales of Eldermere #1
The Last Spell At The Used Bookshop: A Cozy Fantasy of Magic, Grief, and the Books That Find Us
A cozy fantasy about inheritance, grief, community magic, and the books that find us when we need them most.
Mara Vale has thirty days to save her grandmother's failing magical bookshop — or sell it to the corporate chain that's been circling it for years.
She'd rather sell.
The Spindle & Quill is cluttered, non-compliant, and full of things Mara doesn't know how to explain: a hearth dragon who communicates exclusively through interpretive smoke, shelf imps who have re-organised the history section by emotional category, and an argument ivy on the west wall that keeps growing faster the longer Mara avoids thinking about why she hasn't visited in seven years.
She's also fairly sure the shop is haunted — not by a ghost, but by sixty years of everyone who ever came through the door and found exactly what they needed.
That's apparently enough to constitute a Heritage Concern under Magical Property Law.
THE SPINDLE & QUILL doesn't sell books. It matches them.
The grieving widower who came in for a gardening manual goes home with his late wife's annotated cookbook. The nine-year-old who claims to hate reading is quietly followed by a joke book until she gives in. The woman estranged from her sister for four years stands in the cookery section looking lost until the right book slides off its shelf.
Mara has spent two weeks cataloguing these moments with the careful efficiency of someone who works in records and doesn't believe in magic — which is increasingly difficult, given that the books keep moving themselves.
The truth her grandmother never explained: Mara is a Reader. Not just someone who reads. Someone who can perceive what a person actually needs, the gap between what they ask for and what would help them. It's the gift Elspeth Vale used to make The Spindle & Quill the heart of Briarwick for sixty years. And it's the gift Mara has been suppressing since she was nine, standing in this same shop after her mother's funeral, when the magic was too loud and Elspeth made the wrong choice about how to protect her.
The Spindle & Quill is not just a bookshop. It is a living archive.
Buried in the cellar, hidden in the walls, written in letters that won't open until you're ready: Elspeth's last spell. Not a goodbye. A covenant. An attempt to bind sixty years of community memory into something that could survive after her.
She didn't finish it. She was waiting for Mara to come home.
The Last Spell at the Used Bookshop is for readers who love magical shops with personalities of their own, slow-burn romances built on dry humor and mutual grief, antagonists who are right about half of what they're angry about, and stories where the stakes are human-sized and the magic responds to what's true.
A shop is not saved by being kept. It is saved by being used.
Perfect for fans of: Legends & Lattes (Travis Baldree), The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune), Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), The Midnight Library (Matt Haig), A Deadly Education (Naomi Novik), or anyone who has ever wished a bookshop would choose a book for them.
Mara Vale has thirty days to save her grandmother's failing magical bookshop — or sell it to the corporate chain that's been circling it for years.
She'd rather sell.
The Spindle & Quill is cluttered, non-compliant, and full of things Mara doesn't know how to explain: a hearth dragon who communicates exclusively through interpretive smoke, shelf imps who have re-organised the history section by emotional category, and an argument ivy on the west wall that keeps growing faster the longer Mara avoids thinking about why she hasn't visited in seven years.
She's also fairly sure the shop is haunted — not by a ghost, but by sixty years of everyone who ever came through the door and found exactly what they needed.
That's apparently enough to constitute a Heritage Concern under Magical Property Law.
THE SPINDLE & QUILL doesn't sell books. It matches them.
The grieving widower who came in for a gardening manual goes home with his late wife's annotated cookbook. The nine-year-old who claims to hate reading is quietly followed by a joke book until she gives in. The woman estranged from her sister for four years stands in the cookery section looking lost until the right book slides off its shelf.
Mara has spent two weeks cataloguing these moments with the careful efficiency of someone who works in records and doesn't believe in magic — which is increasingly difficult, given that the books keep moving themselves.
The truth her grandmother never explained: Mara is a Reader. Not just someone who reads. Someone who can perceive what a person actually needs, the gap between what they ask for and what would help them. It's the gift Elspeth Vale used to make The Spindle & Quill the heart of Briarwick for sixty years. And it's the gift Mara has been suppressing since she was nine, standing in this same shop after her mother's funeral, when the magic was too loud and Elspeth made the wrong choice about how to protect her.
The Spindle & Quill is not just a bookshop. It is a living archive.
Buried in the cellar, hidden in the walls, written in letters that won't open until you're ready: Elspeth's last spell. Not a goodbye. A covenant. An attempt to bind sixty years of community memory into something that could survive after her.
She didn't finish it. She was waiting for Mara to come home.
The Last Spell at the Used Bookshop is for readers who love magical shops with personalities of their own, slow-burn romances built on dry humor and mutual grief, antagonists who are right about half of what they're angry about, and stories where the stakes are human-sized and the magic responds to what's true.
A shop is not saved by being kept. It is saved by being used.
Perfect for fans of: Legends & Lattes (Travis Baldree), The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune), Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), The Midnight Library (Matt Haig), A Deadly Education (Naomi Novik), or anyone who has ever wished a bookshop would choose a book for them.
441 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 4, 2026
I want to be very honest as I see that I am the first person to review this book.
I got this book from my local library as it was right on the front so I grabbed it because I am a sucker for a book about bookshops.
The cover got my attention, obviously and because it was about a bookshop that looked very mysterious.
The book was missing a lot of description. There were a lot of missed opportunities to describe the shop, the people, the magical characters. I like when the author describes the people so I get a picture in my mind of what they look like, what the area looks like so I can almost picture myself in the book.
Don’t get me wrong I liked the book but it really fell flat in those areas. The plot was clever but it is starting to get overdone. It was slightly different.
So my conclusion was 3 stars, would have been 3.25 but you can’t give quarter stars on GoodReads. The author has the ability to write a great book just give us readers some more description, more whimsy and you will have a 5 star band!
I got this book from my local library as it was right on the front so I grabbed it because I am a sucker for a book about bookshops.
The cover got my attention, obviously and because it was about a bookshop that looked very mysterious.
The book was missing a lot of description. There were a lot of missed opportunities to describe the shop, the people, the magical characters. I like when the author describes the people so I get a picture in my mind of what they look like, what the area looks like so I can almost picture myself in the book.
Don’t get me wrong I liked the book but it really fell flat in those areas. The plot was clever but it is starting to get overdone. It was slightly different.
So my conclusion was 3 stars, would have been 3.25 but you can’t give quarter stars on GoodReads. The author has the ability to write a great book just give us readers some more description, more whimsy and you will have a 5 star band!
August 30, 2026
This book was exactly what I needed after reading a few long and deep books. It was set in a magic bookshop that is unlike any bookshop I have ever read about and loved it. Plus the relationships of this small town were just right.
August 1, 2026
good read
For me this was eye opening in how to listen to people even when they aren’t talking. Very special book
For me this was eye opening in how to listen to people even when they aren’t talking. Very special book
September 19, 2026
The Last Spell — REALLY GOOD!!
Oh, how I really love this book. “Purchased my very own copy” kind of loved it! I really wish a bookshop like this existed in our world and I could go and visit it. Seems like the kind of place I would move to a town to be close to! 💗
Thank you for the gift of this book, Justin Greathouse 🥰
Oh, how I really love this book. “Purchased my very own copy” kind of loved it! I really wish a bookshop like this existed in our world and I could go and visit it. Seems like the kind of place I would move to a town to be close to! 💗
Thank you for the gift of this book, Justin Greathouse 🥰
July 17, 2026
Magical
Mara has decided to sell the bookstore she inherited from her estranged grandmother. She has been trained in magical registry requirements and approaches the store inventory from a business perspective. However, the magic of the store interferes. She finds a ledger left by her grandmother, listing customers and their needs, and gradually the focus changes to reaching out and connecting with people and the community. I started reading and couldn't put the book down. Such a great, thought provoking story.
Mara has decided to sell the bookstore she inherited from her estranged grandmother. She has been trained in magical registry requirements and approaches the store inventory from a business perspective. However, the magic of the store interferes. She finds a ledger left by her grandmother, listing customers and their needs, and gradually the focus changes to reaching out and connecting with people and the community. I started reading and couldn't put the book down. Such a great, thought provoking story.
August 3, 2026
Mara Vale inherits her grandmother's struggling magical used bookshop and is left to sort through an overwhelming estate. The shop is behind financially, fails government standards, and even its customer service needs work. Selling everything seems like the obvious solution until Mara uncovers the shop's magical history and the special role it plays in the community.
This is a cozy fantasy that's best enjoyed by settling into its slower pace. With magical vines, a sassy cat, and books that seem to find the people who need them most, it's ultimately a story about community, communication over control, and the magic stories can bring into our lives.
My biggest takeaway was forgiveness. Others may come away with something completely different, and I think that's one of the book's greatest strengths. The story reminded me that forgiveness isn't always for the other person. Often, it's what frees the one carrying the hurt.
P.S. I originally rated this 4 stars, but after reflecting on it, I bumped it up to 5. I found myself wanting to reread it to catch all the little nuances I likely missed the first time. Since I usually devour books at full speed, I can think of no higher compliment than wanting to read it again.
This is a cozy fantasy that's best enjoyed by settling into its slower pace. With magical vines, a sassy cat, and books that seem to find the people who need them most, it's ultimately a story about community, communication over control, and the magic stories can bring into our lives.
My biggest takeaway was forgiveness. Others may come away with something completely different, and I think that's one of the book's greatest strengths. The story reminded me that forgiveness isn't always for the other person. Often, it's what frees the one carrying the hurt.
P.S. I originally rated this 4 stars, but after reflecting on it, I bumped it up to 5. I found myself wanting to reread it to catch all the little nuances I likely missed the first time. Since I usually devour books at full speed, I can think of no higher compliment than wanting to read it again.
September 15, 2026
The book says it’s about a woman who inherits a quirky bookstore from her grandmother and has to figure out if she wants to keep it.
Really, it’s a story about grief, community, and belonging. And some gatekeeping.
This book had a ton of potential. There were so many elements that were beginning to be teased out, and I was excited by the prospect of grappling with them… and then they’d resolve too easily or be left mid-thought. Some non-resolution or tricky/sticky feelings would have been good for this, instead of either being given up or tied up too simply.
Also, the pacing was a bit off. Lots of dragging sections where not much happened.
Would have wanted to rate it higher but… I couldn’t, with these issues.
Really, it’s a story about grief, community, and belonging. And some gatekeeping.
This book had a ton of potential. There were so many elements that were beginning to be teased out, and I was excited by the prospect of grappling with them… and then they’d resolve too easily or be left mid-thought. Some non-resolution or tricky/sticky feelings would have been good for this, instead of either being given up or tied up too simply.
Also, the pacing was a bit off. Lots of dragging sections where not much happened.
Would have wanted to rate it higher but… I couldn’t, with these issues.
September 15, 2026
tverybintetesting book
It makes you think harder than most novels of this kind. Tbe author throws you into a delightful web of assumptions. You get to figure them out. And once being to recognize the clues it becomes very very fun.
The best part? Tbe author writes with a delicious choice of words. Like reading Andre Norton books when I was young. The words roll through your mind leaving you feeling - well - spoken to. This is talent I appreciate!
The worst part- the story moves slowly, and like in real life, the resolutions are often incomplete, or uncomfortable compromises. But still welcome!
It makes you think harder than most novels of this kind. Tbe author throws you into a delightful web of assumptions. You get to figure them out. And once being to recognize the clues it becomes very very fun.
The best part? Tbe author writes with a delicious choice of words. Like reading Andre Norton books when I was young. The words roll through your mind leaving you feeling - well - spoken to. This is talent I appreciate!
The worst part- the story moves slowly, and like in real life, the resolutions are often incomplete, or uncomfortable compromises. But still welcome!
October 4, 2026
Magical in all the right ways
This was a surprise. I was expecting fantasy or magic but this is a real world. It unfolded so naturally that you were almost immediately familiar with this world as it unfolded. It never over explained but assumed you were comfortable in this rich world. And surprisingly I was--without confusion or simplistic explanation. And the characters were also real; I felt like I could know them and become friends. I believe I would like to at least visit, if not allowed to stay.
This was a surprise. I was expecting fantasy or magic but this is a real world. It unfolded so naturally that you were almost immediately familiar with this world as it unfolded. It never over explained but assumed you were comfortable in this rich world. And surprisingly I was--without confusion or simplistic explanation. And the characters were also real; I felt like I could know them and become friends. I believe I would like to at least visit, if not allowed to stay.
September 29, 2026
There aren't enough stars foe this book
From the time I laid eyes on the cover of this book I was drawn to it. It is such a good story one that brings you in and says rest here a while. The storyline was uncomplicated and meaningful in a way that made me not want the book to end. The characters, their stories, Footnote, Crumpet... the shop itself. This is a book I will always remember and always recommend ... to those who "need the book"
From the time I laid eyes on the cover of this book I was drawn to it. It is such a good story one that brings you in and says rest here a while. The storyline was uncomplicated and meaningful in a way that made me not want the book to end. The characters, their stories, Footnote, Crumpet... the shop itself. This is a book I will always remember and always recommend ... to those who "need the book"
September 30, 2026
I throughly enjoyed this, I must admit I have a penchant for bookshop based books, because when I was younger I always wanted to work in a library or own a bookshop.
I found this a little different in a good way, to me it seemed more the story of a woman coming to terms with her grief and anger at losing her "distant" aunt. As you get into the novel, you realise that on both sides is poor communication. But I did root for Mara, and wanted the quirky little bookshop to survive.
I found this a little different in a good way, to me it seemed more the story of a woman coming to terms with her grief and anger at losing her "distant" aunt. As you get into the novel, you realise that on both sides is poor communication. But I did root for Mara, and wanted the quirky little bookshop to survive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2026
Loved it but didn’t.
I love the idea behind this book and the story. However, the voice of the book was very difficult for me. Every time I sat down to read I finished feeling emotionally closed. Like I wanted to finish every half sentence with a period. I hope you all enjoy it more.
Jessica. Not planning to come back. Maybe: when I’m ready.
I love the idea behind this book and the story. However, the voice of the book was very difficult for me. Every time I sat down to read I finished feeling emotionally closed. Like I wanted to finish every half sentence with a period. I hope you all enjoy it more.
Jessica. Not planning to come back. Maybe: when I’m ready.
October 4, 2026
I love this Used Bookshop!
Any sentient building is fun to read about….especially when there is a cat with an attitude involved. There are charming characters, a bit of magic, and maybe a touch of future romance coming.
I hope there are more Tales of Eldermere coming than just one more.
They are great for curling up in a comfy chair with a pot of tea and just enjoying.
Any sentient building is fun to read about….especially when there is a cat with an attitude involved. There are charming characters, a bit of magic, and maybe a touch of future romance coming.
I hope there are more Tales of Eldermere coming than just one more.
They are great for curling up in a comfy chair with a pot of tea and just enjoying.
October 16, 2026
Got through 25% of this book and I’m 90% sure this was written heavily with or completely by AI.
Sad because the idea and some of the imagery has the potential to be so good, but it reads like a robot wrote this. Zero emotion, no description, and repeats the same things like “acted with the air of” many times. Once I noticed this repeated 3 times within 2 pages I couldn’t continue.
Sad because the idea and some of the imagery has the potential to be so good, but it reads like a robot wrote this. Zero emotion, no description, and repeats the same things like “acted with the air of” many times. Once I noticed this repeated 3 times within 2 pages I couldn’t continue.
August 8, 2026
So Grateful Book Found Its Way to Me
This book came at just the right time. When you read it, you’ll know what I mean. I loved this book. It spoke. I heard it it. Excellently written, this story and the bookshop surely have more to tell.
This book came at just the right time. When you read it, you’ll know what I mean. I loved this book. It spoke. I heard it it. Excellently written, this story and the bookshop surely have more to tell.
August 8, 2026
A Rather Interesting Deep Story
Starts out slowly, which for thIs story is what is correct. The deeper the reader gets into this book the better they will understand where it is heading. The story gave me a lot to think on throughout.
Starts out slowly, which for thIs story is what is correct. The deeper the reader gets into this book the better they will understand where it is heading. The story gave me a lot to think on throughout.
September 7, 2026
The book you didn't know you needed
This book came at the right time. This is is indeed the book I've been looking for. I borrowed it but I'm going to buy it so I can reread it again and again.
This book came at the right time. This is is indeed the book I've been looking for. I borrowed it but I'm going to buy it so I can reread it again and again.
September 19, 2026
Masterclass
I loved this book...had to read it in one sitting. I still fed the dogs but nothing else.
It's a masterclass in listening, communication and witnessing the "under-story". Understanding exists on many levels.
Thanks, Justin...the gift when I needed it!
I loved this book...had to read it in one sitting. I still fed the dogs but nothing else.
It's a masterclass in listening, communication and witnessing the "under-story". Understanding exists on many levels.
Thanks, Justin...the gift when I needed it!
October 13, 2026
Mara inherits her grandmother’s bookshop. It a very special bookshop in that it knows which book is right for each person, and refuses the books if the person is not ready to read them. It’s about listening and watching and being aware.
August 25, 2026
4.5 stars
August 31, 2026
Very unique but cozy and fun
September 18, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed this quirky book!
September 21, 2026
Really enjoyable
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed and the flow of dialog is unique. I do have to say Pip is my favorite.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed and the flow of dialog is unique. I do have to say Pip is my favorite.
September 22, 2026
Thought provoking
Magic and book shop. Yrs please. A granddaughter takes over a book store and honestly she learns the store takes over itself.
Magic and book shop. Yrs please. A granddaughter takes over a book store and honestly she learns the store takes over itself.
September 22, 2026
A lovely story with the most witty, beautiful use of language. A world that is very matter-of-factly magical, because of course it is. A slow story, rich in wit and heart.
September 24, 2026
Fascinating
Awesome read. Very captivating and kept my attention all the way through. Characters were the very people you can relate with.
Awesome read. Very captivating and kept my attention all the way through. Characters were the very people you can relate with.
October 6, 2026
Awesome read!
What a fabulous idea for a book! It’s rich with magic, a wonderful world full of interesting people and the shop at the centre of it all.
What a fabulous idea for a book! It’s rich with magic, a wonderful world full of interesting people and the shop at the centre of it all.
October 13, 2026
Highly unusual. Beautiful language.
You may find yourself rereading this unusual story several times, if only to savor the language. Highly recommended and greatly appreciated. M
You may find yourself rereading this unusual story several times, if only to savor the language. Highly recommended and greatly appreciated. M
August 14, 2026
26-50 begin August 14, 2026. Interesting story with several nuances to ponder. I purchased this e-book from Amazon.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews