Cozy review of “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst

When it comes to cozy atmospheres, Sarah Beth Durst takes the cake. What could be wrong with a delightful cliffside cottage, a seascape, and a small hamlet on a remote island complete with spirit bears, talking plants, and the ability of a main character to cast simple spells to make trees and shrubs grow?

The premise is simple: A librarian flees her library with spellbooks during a particularly

bloody revolution. She brings with her several boxes of spellbooks and her talking plant companion. Only problem? Casting spells when not an official sorcerer is crazy illegal. This is the overall arc of the story, as well as a light romance and several other obstacles the main character faces.

I did, however, struggle with this one. The pacing in the beginning half of the book was quite slow, and the overall arc gets lost a little bit. I found myself asking “what is the story actually about?” The threat of the empire seemed very far away, and the coloring of the story, up to and including the varying races of peoples and creatures within, get lost in the details. One problem was the internalizations of the main character mid-conversation. She went on forever and I found myself asking, “Are the other characters just standing there while she’s in crisis?”

I will be picking up book two, though. If you like cozy, this is a must read.