Ale Storm picks up right after Rylana and Jildarin have decided to take their relationship to a different stage, a date and maybe more.
Plus there’s that pesky dwarf hunting horn that Rylana was given during the last story, one that glows blue on mysterious occasions, that she has to find out where it’s from before it causes her trouble.
Ale Storm predictably features a meal with ale, a special menu, and multiple storylines, all really interesting and involving the characters that live in and around the community.
It also has many dragons, ones who don’t seem to take no for an answer.
I enjoyed it. Found Jildarin somewhat less appealing, especially when he continues to be non-communicative about his plans and ever eager to repeat his mistakes when dealing with the other dragons. That’s getting old.
But her bestie the assassin elf? The dwarf baker? Love them. More of the community please.
Still a terrific series.
Tales from the Dragon Diner (5 book series to date)
Calculated Whisk #1
Knead for Speed #2
Morel Dilemma #3
Ale Storm #4
About Jam Time #5 – Nov 30, 2026
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Blurb
Now that her business partner, the dragon and award-winning chef Jildarin-grozanarav, has realized he has feelings for her, Rylana’s looks forward to going on a date with him. The elven queen has departed and the troll-god curse has been resolved, so it’s the perfect time for a moonlit walk and a kiss.
Or so Rylana thinks.
But dwarven thieves show up, ransacking the diner and looking for an antique hunting horn she recently found. Even worse, Jildarin has unearthed a centuries-old book on the proper protocol for courting a human woman. Now, he’s determined that he needs permission from Rylana’s father before they can go on a date. Lastly, the female dragons that want Jildarin to mate with them have returned and are threatening Rylana.
I absolutely love this story. Tea and Tarot is a side story in Annabel Chase’s completed and fantastic urban fantasy Crossroads Queen series.
It does help to have read that series to have a firm understanding of these characters and a foundation for their histories , the town and world building. Honestly, this makes me want to pick up that series and start over again.
That said, this is a wonderful story. We dive right back into the town and characters by way of the wonderful Tarot Mages we got to know in the Crossroads Queen series.
The fabulous cousins Camryn Sable and Gunther “ Gun” Saxon, and Indigo Briggs, all three former members of La Fortuna, a secret and ancient society of mages skilled in the art of tarot magic. Now along with Claude, the revenant, they are residing in Fairhaven. Cam and Gun are private investigators and , the focus of this story, Indigo, is trying to open a tea shop.
But Indigo is having trouble getting started launching her business. Then another mage appears with a surprise business proposal. Boone Fincher needs a fake fiancée that his strict ill father will approve of so Boone can get his inheritance.
Yes, it’s a fake fiancée trope storyline. And it works so well here. Chase has crafted a wonderful narrative with a great relationship between Indigo and Boone that’s got chemistry, vulnerability and shared background damage.
There’s also a side plot about Indigo’s past history, a dramatic event that comes back to haunt her and how that involves many other important characters from the Crossroads Queen series that just makes this even better and adds layers to Indigo’s story and her future adventures.
I really hope this is just the beginning of more stories like this in the Crossroads series universe. I adore the characters so much.
She walked away from the life she was born to live. Now she has one chance to build the life she’s always wanted.
Indigo Briggs was one of the most feared tarot mages in the business—until a job went wrong and she walked away from it all. Now she’s in Fairhaven, a quirky supernatural town with secrets of its own, trying to build something quieter: a tea shop, a fresh start, and a life she might actually deserve.
The only problem? Her new venture needs funding she doesn’t have.
Enter Boone Fincher—charming, infuriatingly handsome, and in desperate need of a fake fiancée. His father’s will requires him to marry a mage with a powerful lineage, and Boone is running out of time. The arrangement is strictly business: Indy gets the money she needs, Boone gets his inheritance, and when it’s over, they part ways.
Simple.
Except nothing about this is simple. Between a blind vampire with unsettling insight, a revenant who likes to lend a hand, a mysterious bone monster that wanders through the crossroads, and a ghost from her old life determined to unravel everything she’s built, Indy is starting to suspect the universe has a plan she didn’t envision.
Then the past she thought she’d escaped comes looking for her, and Indigo must decide whether she’s willing to risk everything for the future she’s finally begun to imagine—one that includes a love that was never supposed to be real.
Tea and Tarot is a Crossroads Queen Side Quest Novel—an enchanting cozy urban fantasy standalone with fake dating, witty banter, found family, and the slow-burn realization that happily-ever-afters are worth believing in.
I enjoyed this new fantasy adventure novel by Vanessa Nelson and feel it’s got some wonderful elements to it.
But after reading it, it feels very much like a prequel or half of a story for a larger version. The characters, the concept and overall powers here as laid out are intriguing. But in the scenes where,especially Evie’s magic is revealed in marvelous detail, the promise of increasing potential for her as “the most powerful sorceress” that he’s known to have any impact here never happens.
Even those gremlins, a fantastic asset to Evie and a element that I wanted to know more about, from their magical abilities to their backgrounds, their futures were left unanswered by the ending, a rushed finale that begged for a sequel.
But back to the main characters, Evie the magical librarian and Lord Fentemann, Barnaby, on a secret mission from his Queen. Evie’s got a great backstory and she’s totally believable in this fantasy. My issue here is that we get constant scenes where we’re watching Evie, along with the gremlins, bring alive fantastical legendary landscapes from descriptions in ancient tomes she and Barnaby are researching from . Where’s more of this in the story? More of her powers and her abilities here? This is what I want as a reader.
Even Barnaby, who is supposed to be a high level magician, isn’t shown any of the scenes to be that powerful. The characters are interesting enough but not entirely credible. Except for Evie and the gremlins.
The plot is very good. And its elements of an ancient earth based religion that’s been upended holds more promise than was satisfied by the storyline’s ending. Again, no real finish to the multi plots and characters.
It just ends with everyone just leaving to different paths with no resolution to the many different journeys of this novel. What happened to the Druids? The gremlins? The enemy?
And spoiler, that rushed romance and instant marriage felt less like a real believable event between two people and more like a plot device needed to bring the story to a close.
That is a shame. Because the beginning of this book is very different, layered and well done. Unlike the ending which feels rushed, unbalanced and unsatisfying.
One librarian, one sorcerer, and a whole lot of trouble.
Evie has been doing her best to lead a quiet, unremarkable life, working her job as a librarian at one of the largest libraries in the world amid a collection of magical books and magical creatures that delight in causing mischief. She dreams of adventure even as she struggles to hide her magical abilities in a kingdom that executes rogue sorcerers. When a chance encounter leads to her secret being uncovered, Evie finds herself in the middle of a greater adventure than she could ever have imagined.
Lord Fentemann – Barnaby to his few friends – has been charged by his Queen with a special, dangerous and vital task. Already annoyed at having to travel to the kingdom to carry out research in the library, worse is to come when he is forced to go on the run. Someone doesn’t want Barnaby to succeed in his mission.
Thrown together, Evie and Barnaby realise that their best chance of survival is working together.
Can Evie and Barnaby work together to stay ahead of the Queen’s enemies and complete the mission not just for the Queen but possibly the whole world?
Tides of Betrayal, the second book in the Witches of Willow Cove, is another excellent read. It has a great magical mystery that involves the community, increasing nightmares and possible curses.
Rowan Page, her familiar, Moss and all the other Willow Cove inhabitants who are starting to become involved with Rowan in her inherited bookstore, Quill & Tide, are really developing their own roles and engaging personalities. With their unique backgrounds and their involvement in the community as each new disaster unfolds.
I enjoyed this mystery and most of the magical aspects surrounding it. There was a few twists and the villain, while being blatant, was truly cold about the ramifications of their actions, not a morally grey character. Unusual for this kind of story.
My slight issues are with the Cal, the Sheriff who, had a history with Rowan’s aunt. Now he still figures only minutely into cases that have a high impact on the community. Cal has a strong sense of something extraordinary going on but leaves it alone.
Then there’s the librarian, Jude, whose personality is as problematic as his name. I find Jude unlikable. He’s that person that makes you think, hmmm, he’s was voted the last person picked for just about everything. Justifiably so.
I thought leaving the story with an even bigger mystery was a great idea. Loved it and can’t wait for the next book to come.
Rowan Page would like to believe things at Quill & Tide are finally settling down, but the books have other plans. When a prominent local collector dies in what looks like a tragic sleepwalking accident, Rowan notices something the police can’t explain.
People all over town are having nightmares.
Moss wants nothing to do with the cursed books turning up across Willow Cove, Aunt Oona’s ghost is more cryptic than helpful, and the closer Rowan gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that some old betrayals were never buried.
Things are getting complicated in the small town of Tranquility. The Dragon Diner is extremely busy, trying to expand with its roof elf designed garden dining area and new magic mushroom recipes.
But first, the Elf Queen is coming to town, Rylana’s best friend, the elven assassin Sylin is being hunted down by elves, Rylana and dragon chef Jildarin have just been informed that they are going to be evicted from the place where the diner is by their landlord and magical mushrooms need to be found.
All in a day’s work for this group.
It’s a story full of tangled feelings, a few mysteries (mostly about family), mushrooms and things that glow, and a slow burn romance that might finally get a tiny bit more heat. But not much.
And it’s a cozy fantasy so everyone knows that it works out well.
Adorable and still very interesting. Love the characters.
Tales from the Dragon Diner (5 book series to date)
Retired mercenary Rylana and the dragon chef Jildarin are on the hunt for enchanted morels in the hope of enticing the visiting elf queen to their diner. But more than a desire for mushrooms has brought the queen to the city of Tranquility.
For some reason, she has her people searching for Rylana’s best friend, the elven assassin Sylin.
Even as Rylana worries about her comrade, a new problem thrusts its way into her path. Despite the Dragon Diner’s newfound success, their landlord has decided to evict them. After all that Rylana and Jildarin have built together, will they be forced to close the business?
I found this writer through a marvelous fantasy short story and shortly thereafter this incredible fantasy series.
Starting with the richly crafted universe of librarians fleeing a newly fallen Empire and the mythical creatures that either accompany them or welcome them into their new lives, The Spellshop begins our adventures with a revolution and librarian Kiela, her companion, the sentient spider plant Cas, and as many magical books as she can carry, fleeing the Capital.
For a cozy fantasy adventure, I love that the author has given us a main character who’s personality isn’t automatically endearing. Kiela has spent the last years of her life withdrawing into her job, her cubicle and all the books she’s in charge of in her sector, Cas being her only companion and daily interaction.
Then, in a horrifying moment, they have to flee for their lives.
I’ve often wondered what it must have been like for the great libraries of Alexandria to have burned and my heart hurts. It’s no less painful to feel what Kiela and Cas go through here.
Durst’s emotionally rendered scenes and vivid moments are so well done that I could visualize them myself.
Once Kiela decides that she and Cas will be safe on the faraway island that was once home, the character development grows stronger as she learns to deal and become part of the otherworldly community she originally came from.
It’s found family, magical creatures, slow burn romance and just a fantastic story about friendships, finding home and family if you let yourself.
I love the characters and story. The universe is one I’m thrilled to share and happily ready to continue with the next novel. It has to do with Cas, so it’s important that this book be read first.
Highly recommended.
And that beautiful cover. So incredibly well designed.
Richly gorgeous cover by artist Lulu Chen and designer Esther Kim
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY AND INDIE BESTSELLER!
A #1 LibraryReads pick!
An Indie Next pick!
The Spellshop is the romantasy debut by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.
Join Kiela the librarian and her assistant, Caz the sentient spider plant, as they navigate the low stakes market of illegal spellmaking and the high risk business of starting over.
“Sarah Beth Durst is the hidden gem of the fantasy world.” —Book Riot
Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.
She and her assistant, Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. But when a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz save as many books as they can carry and flee to a faraway island Kiela was sure she’d never return to: her childhood home. Kiela hopes to lay low in the overgrown and rundown cottage her late parents left her and figure out a way to survive without drawing the attention of either the empire or the revolutionaries. Much to her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town neglected and in a state of disrepair.
The empire, for all its magic and power, has been neglecting for years the people who depend on magical intervention to maintain healthy livestock and crops. Not only that, but the very magic that should be helping them has been creating destructive storms that have taken a toll on the island. Due to her past role at the library, Kiela feels partially responsible for this, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right: by opening the island’s first-ever secret spellshop.
Her plan comes with risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the kind and quirky townspeople of her former home, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must learn to break down the walls she has built up so high.
Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.
I love Sara Bourgeois’s many different paranormal murder mystery series, whether it’s situated in the Arizona desert mountains or in a small NW Pacific coastal town. Whether a woman has inherited a ghost filled desert ranch or a seaside bookstore or witchy herb shop that’s accompanied by a cat familiar, whatever the location or inheritance, the characters and community are intriguing, plot and character development well written, and the series one that expands into a ever deeper layered narrative and leads to wonderful relationships and even more mysteries.
This is our introduction to Rowan Page, her inherited bookstore, Quill & Tide, the familiar, cat Moss, and the very interesting seaside town of Willow Cove, where things are brewing. Murder and plenty of mystery to go around with the charm and quirky community.
Her aunt’s presence is still there, and magic is winding its way into Rowan’s life.
Bourgeois has, through her other series, kept her characters layered, even the murder mysteries, from victims to villains, have dimensions that have a reader feeling about them from multiple perspectives. There’s a sense of realness in their behaviors that makes us able to understand them, if not condone their actions.
Even for a urban fantasy or paranormal murder mystery novel, having the author write characters that a reader would find engaging and relatable, even while we laugh at the “nosiness” make this a series I can’t wait to continue.
Plus I want to visit any bookstore with the name Quill & Tide. I’m sold.
It is not a good plan, but it is technically a plan. She’ll come to Willow Cove, sort out the seaside bookshop her late aunt left behind, sell the property before the money runs out, and move on with her life.
Quill & Tide has other ideas.
The shelves are beautiful but impossible to navigate. The bathroom mirror keeps leaving messages in her dead aunt’s handwriting. And Moss, the sea-glass gray cat who came with the building, keeps glowing every time someone lies.
Rowan would love to pretend all of that is normal.
Unfortunately, denial gets harder when a bestselling thriller author drops dead at the town’s Masques & Manuscripts festival, right in front of half the waterfront.
The police have a suspect. The town has gossip. Moss has strong feelings about everyone involved, most of them unflattering. And Rowan has questions she really should stop asking, especially once they lead to a stolen grimoire and secrets Aunt Oona apparently took to the grave.
Willow Cove is charming, magical, and very bad at minding its own business.
Rowan was supposed to sell the bookshop and leave.
Instead, she may have inherited a murder mystery and one extremely judgmental cat.
Part of a mult-author fantasy series centered around a Marriage Market and “forced marriage” trope, I picked up A Match Made in Slumber because of the author and the description, which seems to have found a good way around the forced proximity aspect in the series that’s just not my thing.
Bacon doesn’t disappoint here with a charming tale of two totally different men who have been haunting each other’s dreams each night. Each man from a different world or realm, although they’re both Elves. And each one differs in their lifestyle and personality. Except for the fact they appear to be fated for each other.
Commander Keălhem Reñyés is about to storm the castle with his men, a bloody battle sure to ensue. He’s been in a war for a long time and only his nightly dreams have kept him sane.
Elian Fountenblym, is an imaginative genius who creates wondrous things with his magical matchsticks. But his nightly fantasies and the dream man who haunts them are keeping him up and from being productive. And when his magic goes wrong, it’s Keălhem who suddenly appears before him.
Bacon does a terrific job of characterizing the various backgrounds of each man while making the chemistry between them feel absolutely believable.
And being able to see Keălhem find his own way into Elian’s life and the marketplace, using his own strengths and skills is such a great pleasure and part of the relationship and storyline.
Even the “forced proximity/marriage” aspect loses the “ick” factor for me when the author builds such a strong case for them being fated partners being pulled together.
There is a happily ever after for the couple and the ending is very satisfying.
For those readers like me who are a fan of the author, this Shared world universe stands outside of Bacon’s Order Universe. FYI.
“Each book explores queer pairings across the gender spectrum (M/M, F/F, F/X) through light-hearted mishaps and shenanigans. Romance tropes include fake engagements, forced proximity, opposites attract, marriage of convenience, and grumpy/sunshine dynamics.”
Kidnapping an interdimensional warlord is a crime. Marrying him is a get–out–of–dungeon–free card
Commander Keălhem Reñyés is mid-swing—about to storm a fortress—when the battlefield dissolves into the scent of candyfloss. Instead of headbutting an enemy, he crash-lands face-first into a heap of silk ribbon talismans, yanked across dimensions to Everend by an alchemist desperate for some shut-eye.
Elian Fountenblym, a genius matchstick maker with a cataclysmic track record of magical mishaps, is plagued by sensual dreams of a mysterious soldier. Every night, they leave him randy, pining and knackered—all in the run-up to the Great Midsummer Market—the busiest event of the year. To kill the longing once and for all, he invents the Match of Tranquillity, only to unwittingly trigger a forbidden summoning enchantment that delivers his dream man straight into his waking world. That’s one more whoopsie he could’ve done without.
With High Arbiter Cholerius—Elian’s former Academy rival—sniffing around for unauthorised magic, the stakes are high. Bound by the volatile constraints of the spell and forced to share a bed to keep Keălhem from flickering out of existence, the pair must turn to an ancient legal loophole to save Elian from a one-way trip to the dungeons on interdimensional kidnapping charges.
Navigating a fake marriage that begins to feel dangerously real, they have until the Midsummer Moon wanes to decide: part ways or let the flame of their accidental match burn forever?
A Match Made in Slumber is a low-angst, marriage-of-necessity, forced-proximity story featuring fated mates, accidental kidnapping and a stoic/chaotic dynamic. It is part of the Marriage Market Misadventures.
Marriage Market Misadventures is a light-hearted series of standalone queer romances where elves from all over the realm gather at the Everend Midsummer Markets to meet, match, and marry—with plenty of shenanigans along the way.
A Match Made in Slumber is a low-angst, marriage-of-necessity, forced-proximity story featuring fated mates, accidental kidnapping and a stoic/chaotic dynamic. It is part of the Marriage Market Misadventures.
Glyphs & Merit shows definitive maturity and character growth in the the small group and couples that have formed over five novels in The Glyphwright Chronicles.
Marcus and Felix are now in established relationships, with Felix and Katherine soon to return home from their honeymoon. Rose Fairwind, Marcus’ sister, an artificer works alongside them and others now in their own home and shop.
This story is about Marcus and Felix working through individual issues, both personal and professional. They obtain a brother and sister as interns which affects their group dynamics and business model.
And they also have to deal with their future work in the Guild and other partnerships.
It’s a lot. Plus there is an overall plot that involves an old enemy who is undermining their work in an “invisible” manner.
Sometimes it seems as though it takes forever for various characters and storylines to get the heft and information they need to feel interesting and relevant. Not just laid down and left behind in the narrative.
It all eventually comes together. And there’s an engagement as well.
Does this feel as satisfying or as well put together as the books that came before? No, but Jeremy Fabiano has under a health crisis while he was at a conference, and makes (in his own notes) an apology for the errors found in the book because it was rushed to release.
Swift hopes to the author and I’m looking forward to reading his next book in the series.
A great series and I’m in love with the characters, including the new additions.
Six weeks without Felix was supposed to be the hardest part of the season. Then the mayor walked into the shop with a problem the town had already failed to solve four times.
With Felix away and Erasmus at the capital, Marcus Fairwind is running the shop alone. He expected a quiet stretch of routine commissions and a partner home by month’s end. Instead, Mayor Weatherby arrives with a district that has gone twelve years without hot water and a budget smaller than the boiler it can’t afford.
The town has voted the replacement down four times. Marcus thinks Millbrook has been solving the wrong problem. The right one is a utility that serves every house on the line at once, and nobody in the region has ever built one.
Then a Senior Inspector asks him to take two apprentices on trial, and the Guild sends a board inspector to decide whether a shop this young has any business teaching anyone. Marcus has spent two years learning the craft. Now he has sixty days to prove he can explain it — while a quiet campaign against the mayor gathers somewhere he can’t see.
The Glyphwright Chronicles continues with civic infrastructure, first apprentices, small-town politics, one long-postponed question, and the lesson that the hardest part of mastering a craft is teaching it to someone else.
Pour yourself something warm, settle into your favorite reading spot, and discover that the work nobody sees is the work holding the whole town up.
op this young has any business teaching anyone.
Marcus has spent two years learning the craft. Now he has sixty days to prove he can explain it — while a quiet campaign against the mayor gathers somewhere he can’t see.
I’m just on my second short story in this amazing collection and already I’m sold. Every author is a new discovery and so far each tale is engaging, well written, and full of twists and surprising characters.
Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk by Travis Baldree, the first book of the Magic & Mystery collection, starts off with the murder of the unlikable Brother Gorm at the Order of Venerous the Petulant.
Yes, Baldree had me right there.
Then the desperate bishop has a friend call in a detective to help solve the mystery. And Miss Gentle arrives!
I will not spoil her unsettling and perfectly incredible appearance she makes at the monastery. She’s a mysterious figure herself and adds to the mystical aspect of the story.
It’s funny, sharply crafted. And has one last punch waiting for the reader at the end.
A peculiar detective takes on a monastic murder mystery in a darkly funny fantasy short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legends & Lattes series.
Nobody really liked Brother Gorm, but his untimely and abrupt descent from the abbey’s bell tower has the Order of Venerous the Petulant on edge. Desperate to settle the case before the bishop returns, the abbot enlists the highly unorthodox investigator Miss Gentle. As she clanks through the abbey in a full suit of armor, the cantankerous detective has no problem asking awkward questions—but will she get any answers?
Travis Baldree’s Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk is part of the Magic & Mystery collection, puzzle-box mysteries from top fantasy authors. They can be read or listened to in one enchanting sitting
