Oct 13 2025

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Book Review: The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Title: The Enchanted Greenhouse

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Series: Spellshop #2

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home. But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again. This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love. Funny, kind, and forgiving, The Enchanted Greenhouse is a story about giving second chances—to others and to yourself. –Goodreads

The Review:

Another delightful tale set in the same world as her Spellshop book!

This one started out stronger than the last – with a main character who immediately came across much more likable and a setting that was to die for. Terlu as a story lead was endearing and I liked the level of caring she exuded. That’s not to say I didn’t like the lead in the previous book – a woman who was a bit unapproachable and more in her own way (with a great growth arc!) – but Terlu here made for a much more relaxing reading companion.

And the setting!! A huge cluster of individual greenhouses hosting a wide variety of habitats and species. Truthfully I could’ve spent an entire book just reading about them taking care of plants and solving soil issues, but alas that’s not as marketable. It was the world-building component that kept my interest sparked and ultimately provided my favorite takeaways from the book. I especially loved the pollinator dragons.

So even though the best elements remained strong throughout the entire book, there were a few minor things that eventually knocked me off a slam-dunk high rating: conflicts and pacing.

The conflict in this story was off somehow, perhaps not quite robust enough for the length of the story. On one hand it’s a cozy fantasy and the conflict in those can be anything as simple as “Gosh I really need to spruce up this cottage because it’s filthy.” So maybe needing a more robust conflict wasn’t the problem, but it definitely needed something… more. More cozy-world problems. More day in the life of a greenhouse gardener-type of vibes. The grand conflict overarching the story I thought was great, but the solution didn’t require enough elements to merit a large page count, so it was kind of in and out.

And then you have a third drama point where the main character is fixated on the problems of a different character – that was the part I really didn’t like. It felt like she didn’t have enough going on to drive a story, so she had to borrow problems. So I think between her not having enough internal conflict and the simple overarching plot is why the pacing felt a little off. And there wasn’t enough of that cozy “nesting into our new environment” element to keep me engaged in the meantime.

While the romance in the first book was so subtle and lovely that it didn’t even feel like a major component to the book – in this one the romance was much more heavy-handed. I like that Durst’s male leads are kind people with a lot of compassion and and positive regard for the main characters. I also like that they both managed to showcase these attributes in completely different ways. I will admit that in this one, I found the back-and-forth between the two a bit too saccharin. But it’s a cozy fantasy so I just leaned into it.

Despite a couple of minor issues that kept the book from being higher rated than the first one, the last couple of chapters really brought it home for me and I ended up walking away really glad that I had read it. I’m especially excited for Sea of Charms currently slated for release on July 21, 2026

Recommendations: if you’re in the mood for a cozy fantasy with a touch of romance (and I mean only just a touch in the first book) this series is an absolute delight… give it a try!

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Poochtee, Kinsey, and Alysa! <3

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By Niki Hawkes

Aug 26 2025

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Book Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Title: The Spellshop

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Series: Spellshop #1

Genre: Cozy Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: 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. -Goodreads

The Review:

What a wholesome and charming book!

The Spellshop was a full-on cozy fantasy with a subtle romance, found-family vibes, and pops of creative magic. Going in, I was expecting a heavy Romantasy with the love story dominating the entire plot. That was not the case at all. And actually, you might be surprised to hear this, but I think the romance could have been more prominent. Legends and Lattes, one of the first-movers in this new era of cozy fantasy (loved) had about the same level of romantic components (few), to give you a frame of reference. That said, the romance we got here was organic and sweet, and I came away from it with all the right feels.

My personal fantasies aren’t romance-driven. No, what I daydream about is a life of simplicity. A slow, methodical way of living that encourages mindfulness and peace. The Spellshop was the perfect dose of all of those “day in the life” vibes that let me just relax into someone else’s gradual attempts to build a meaningful life. Add in books, an enchanted spider plant, and other totally endearing characters, and you have yourself a fun, creative read. It was great.

The only thing I didn’t strictly love about the book were the slightly repetitive conflicts near the end. I got a bit bored for a minute. It’s a minor thing though, as she quickly reigned me back in with some cool magics, but I think it did solidify my rating as a four-star rather than something a bit higher. Even so, Durst is an author who tells the stories I’ve always wanted to write, and I cannot wait to read more for her in the future. I’m fixing to pick up the next stand-alone in this Spellshop set, The Enchanted Green house, very soon.

Recommendations: if, like me, you are completely aboard the cozy fantasy train, The Spellshop is a must-read for the subgenre. It was an absolute delight. Also consider her Race the Sands book. It’s not cozy fantasy, per se, but it is awesome fantasy and one of my favorite things I’ve read in recent years.

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Dagmara, Poochtee, and Kinsey! <3

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by Niki Hawkes

Oct 10 2022

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Book Review: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Title: Legends & Lattes

Author: Travis Baldree

Series: N/A (<-This is being hyped as a stand-alone but I heard rumor that the author is planning a second book set in the same city with a different character focus)

Genre: “Cozy” Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention. Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve. A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth. -Goodreads

The Review:

I expected to like this one, but didn’t expect to set it down feeling all the warm fuzzy feelings so many have experienced. No wonder it has gained such good momentum in the Booktube community.

The book was a match made in heaven for me when it comes to the types of shows I consume outside of reading. I love renovation shows (Fixer Upper, Fixer to Fabulous, Good Bones… give me all the things), and I also love cooking competitions (Top Chef, Tournament of Champions, etc.), and while this didn’t go into a ton of detail for those aspects (and it didn’t involve a competition), I found my cravings for those types of shows satisfied by this book. I also love seeing things grow from the ground up and the day-to-day monotony of running businesses. Add to all of that a fantasy twist and charming characters, and you have yourself a winner.

Aside from loving the type of story, I also appreciated the overall writing style. There were a lot of slower, poignant moments that worked well because they were written well, and I think that’s where the sentimentality of the book shined.

And among all of that, there was actually an interesting external conflict not related to running a coffee shop that I wasn’t expecting. It added more depth to the story and made me feel like I was getting something of substance despite it being generally more lighthearted than most fantasy novels.

Recommendations: this was a completely satisfying and fun read that I’d highly recommend if you need a break between denser books. Everything about it worked for me.

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