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
This is an excellent first book by this author. Kill the Beast by Serra Swift, a fantasy adventure novel, is a remarkable tale of revenge, found family and redemption.
Situated In lands where humanity has expanded into lands once shared with Fae, the forward movement of humans and their developments have disastrous consequences when they encounter the otherworldly creatures and the monsters that the fae have created and left behind.
The fae, fleeing from the iron technology of humanity and losses of their forests or just insults to their superior species, ensured their revenge against humans is often deep and brutal.
For one woman, Lyssa Cadogan, now Lyssa Carnifax, the Fae’s brutality has been incredibly devastating, the loss of her beloved brother who was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast. She made an oath on his grave to revenge him and kill the Beast. And that’s been her life’s goal and work since then.
A warrior/hunter consumed by her hatred for the Fae and need for revenge. She is hired by a wealthy, sort of dandy Alderic Casimir de Laurent, who has knowledge of the Monster and hires her to kill it.
And it’s not just as simple as that.
So many interesting and tragic layers to the story and of these people. Multiple losses, deep emotional scars, slowly bonding with each other and with the scary found family that Lyssa has gained over the years. This includes an enormous bullmastiff called Brandy.
There’s no romance. A past relationship is mentioned and there is a possibility of a future romance. But this is about dealing with trauma, the tragedy of your past, revenge and forgiveness. And finally being able to move forward.
An absolutely fantastic book by a first time author. I can’t wait to see what they write next.
The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship—for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.
The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.
Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and—even more surprising—retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.
Alderic is ill-equipped for a hunt and almost guaranteed to get himself killed. But as the two of them search for the rest of the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, an unlikely friendship begins to bloom—one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, the first book in the cozy LGBT romance fantasy Tomes and Tea series by Rebecca Thorne, has an totally different feel than the excellent Moss’d N Space novel I just finished by this writer.
Slower paced, more to the journey of the couple and the establishment of their new shop than the other space adventure. But the relationship between the two characters, the dynamics and the way Thorne builds her community is just as excellent and thorough.
The women, each with their fears and strengths about their decision to leave and have a future together in Tawny, despite the ramifications, have relatable moments and credibility here. From talks about power imbalance to money, it’s a relationship between adults who want to make sure their relationship works.
Even with magic, dragons, bandits, and a psychopath of a queen behind them.
Reyna, the Queen’s Guard and Kianthe, the Mage of the Ages, fleeing to set up a tea and book shop in the cold hinterlands was a dream, until it became clear that Reyna needed to leave before she became a casualty of the Queen’s cruelty.
The town of Tawney, its citizens are beautifully drawn. They are soon become part of this couple’s found family and new life.
And there’s a mystery a foot that needs to be solved, and that’s will take investigating as well as a journey.
And dragons.
A slower delight and cozy fantasy mystery that I absolutely enjoyed.
In the tradition of Legends & Lattes, comes a cozy fantasy steeped in sapphic romance about one of the Queen’s private guards and a powerful mage who want to open a bookshop and live happily ever after…if only the world would let them.
All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.
But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country, and open the shop of their dreams.
What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.
“Did you bring any special weapons with you?” Rylana asked.
Sylin held up her shovel.
“Oh, that’ll be vastly effective. Entire ballads have been written about noble warriors who slew dragons with garden tools.”
And yes, we’re back in the town of Tranquility where it’s anything but tranquil. Things are going awry, there’s a curse that’s been loosened upon the town, several mysteries afoot, and the Fae Queen looks to be coming to town, a real threat to Rylana’s friend, the lone warrior elf, Sylin, hiding in town.
Knead For Speed is a highly entertaining, well written fantasy action adventure story. It’s got a dragon family whose interactions with each other is dysfunctional and dramatic, including our main character, Jildarin, who just wants to be an inspired chef and run his restaurant, the Dragon Diner. If only his mother and brother will leave him alone. And his bookkeeper/partner too.
But there’s more things happening here. Gnomes and trolls and fae and exes abound with plots.
It’s fun, an extremely slow burn relationship, and terrific storytelling.
My only slight issue was with how the element with Rylana’s ex was handled. For me it didn’t make sense , especially given their history. But that was the only aspect here.
If you enjoy a cozy fantasy, and dragons as well as other mythical creatures, this is the book and series for you. Read them in the order they are written.
Tales from the Dragon Diner (3 book series to date)
As the bookkeeper and new co-owner of the Dragon Diner, Rylana Avandar is determined to see the business become successful. Despite an inauspicious beginning, her partner Jildarin—founder, chef, and dragon—has come to trust her, and she doesn’t want to disappoint him.
But when a troll curse and an ancient secret threaten Tranquility, Rylana will have to do a lot more than crunch numbers. If she and Jildarin can’t figure out how to appease the troll gods, the diner and the entire city could be doomed.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 