The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

One of our November 2024 Book of the Month is The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop

The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

I'm looking forward to reading this book. :)

This one seems to be very popular!

Kristie wrote: "This one seems to be very popular!"

Hoping it lives up to the hype. :)

I started the book a bit earlier, currently at 25% and I'm really enjoying it. :)

I can also recommend the audiobook, the narrator is really good. :)

I have finished the book and despite some issues I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, so I gave it 4 stars. :)

Finished
The first half
(view spoiler)[ I adored the first 55% and for the first time in a long time stayed up late because I had to read the next chapter, I think I put it down at about chapter 19, and well past midnight. (hide spoiler)]

The second half
(view spoiler)[ the whole pretence that she wasn't demonstrating magic was just a bit inexplicable. She is trusting these people that she hasn't known for very long to show them how to perform magic and they are under no illusions as to what she is doing. That was the start of my dissatisfaction (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ too many convenient coincidences, it got a bit too cutesy, too nice, and predictable. The missing heir, the search, the commander looking the other way. A pity as it had so much potential. (hide spoiler)]

Caz and Meep carried the story.

44%
“Oh, yay,” he [Caz] whispered, “we can take notes. Publish a paper. Posthumously. It’ll make us famous, but oops, we’ll be dead, attacked by rampaging tree spirits. What a pity.”

I was not mad about the "romantic" relationship. It was OK, but I could have done without it. 😊 Thankfully it wasn't what the whole book was about.

Loved Caz and Meep.

Because of the cosy fantasy genre I wasn't expecting anything complicated plot-wise, so I was willing to cut some slack concerning some inconsistencies.

Just finished Intermezzo. About to begin this one. Excited!

Hope you'll enjoy this one, Travis. :)

Melindam wrote: "Hope you'll enjoy this one, Travis. :)"

I read the first couple of chapters before bed last night. I have a feeling I will enjoy it; I am new to fantasy, but love it.

I am on chapter fourteen. So far, i am really liking it. I agree that this could have done without the added addition of her flirting with someone. On the other hand, pretty much everything nowadays has a romantic component. This far, a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy novel.

I think I just got to the "it hits the fan" part.

lol

I just finished it. I honestly had no idea what was meant by "cottage core" or cozy when used to describe a certain genre. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable read with a couple of twists...and a satisfying ending.

(view spoiler)[I found the whole love story thing between the two main characters a tiny bit cliche, especially since Kiela had always been fiercely introverted and socially awkward. To be honest, I found this to be mildly far fetched, just because socially awkward people like her do not come out of their shell that easily...even if someone as caring and super cute as Larran comes along. Still, even if she came out of her shell way too quickly, Larran was surprisingly well developed as a character. The author did a really good job with his back story so you really get an idea of how he came to be. In the end, though, I still think Larran asking Kiela to marry her was a very satisfying ending,

I also agree with the consensus that Meep and Caz were just as key as Kiela and Larran. I thought it was especially cool that Caz's little speech in regards to the laws not benefiting the people in that his owner, who created him to have a companion, was inevitably condemned to death by being changed into wood. I had my reservations about some, well, unusual creatures. However, they were both so awesome!

All in all, a highly entertaining read. I gave it four of five stars. (hide spoiler)]

I also gave it 4 stars and I am glad you enjoyed it as well, Travis.

I found the romantic relationship rather generic, but it was OK.

I think I'm going to read SBD's book about the Librarian who created Caz, once it gets published. :)

Melindam wrote: "I also gave it 4 stars and I am glad you enjoyed it as well, Travis.

I found the romantic relationship rather generic, but it was OK.

I think I'm going to read SBD's book about the Librarian who..."

I did not know that such a book is in the works, but this is awesome! I will totally read that, too.

Also, honestly, there is not much that you can make innovative about love and romance tropes. I mean, there is one, but there is a lot more to this book than the love story between the two protagonists. I am jealous of Keila, however, in that she was unbelievably quick to shed her being so socially awkward when she met Larran. That really does not happen in real life; to anyone.

The romance alone wouldn't have been enough for me, do I'm glad that it was only one aspect of the plot.

This was my 1st book by this author and it was only after I finished that I checked her out and saw there will be a book about that. GR says the expected publication date is some time next year.

Melindam wrote: "The romance alone wouldn't have been enough for me, do I'm glad that it was only one aspect of the plot.

This was my 1st book by this author and it was only after I finished that I checked her ou..."

This is awesome news! And yeah, if it had been the center piece, this would have been a much different book and not enjoyable. Then again, it is my personal opinion that many popular series, which I could never get on board with, were thoroughly ruined by a romance or love triangle. Like, this is one reason I could not get into Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, or a lot of things of that vein. I mean, I am not anti-romance per se, but it just turns any story into a borderline Harlequin book if you ask me.

I’m currently reading it and I love it so far! (Halfway through)

Listened to this one and enjoyed it so much I bought a copy for a friend 😊 I think Kaz and Meep were my favorites, but I loved how ‘cozy’ and happy this book was overall.

I’ve finished it and I really really loved it! It was a very cozy read without any drama which I very much appreciated. Of course it was all a bit too good to be true and way too many coincidences adding up but I have had the feeling that it was okay with this storyline and that in general it was not so much about the complexity of the story and more about the conveying a specific feeling of belonging and coziness. I quite liked the ending and now that I’ve read that there will be another book about the creation of Caz I am super eager to read it! :-)
I can really recommend Emily wildes encyclopedia of faeries if you enjoyed this one! I really loved it and there will be the third book published next month.

I've missed a few of the monthly reads, but I'm getting around to some of them. I hope to read this one next month.