The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst has been publishing since 2007 in a variety of genres. She's tackled Fantasy, Romance, and Children's Fiction, among others. This includes her novel Drink, Slay, Love, which was published in 2011 and made into a TV movie about a teenage vampire. The Spellshop is the first in a cozy series all set in the same universe, but each book is a standalone so you may catch items tying them together but you will probably not see the characters you already know. The Spellshop deals with bullying, domestic abuse, death and murder, grief, fire, war, and classism - but this is a cozy book so we don't delve deep into most of those things.

Kiela likes working in the Great Library at Alyssium, where she doesn't have to deal with any people. But forces outside of her control threaten the books, so she is forced to pack up as many as she can and take them, and her sentient spider plant assistant Caz, to the safest place she can think of - the island of Caltrey, where she was born. She should still have land there, since her parents never sold it when they left the island for Alyssium. But what she forgot about small towns (and islands) is that everybody knows everybody else, and they are hungry for something new. When Kiela arrives, she can't get a moment to herself to hide her forbidden cache of books. Not to mention that being a librarian on a tiny island for books you're not supposed to have doesn't pay well, and she needs to find a way to feed herself. She sees the island struggling as well, and decides to open up Kiela and Caz's Jam Shop, where you can buy (almost exclusively) raspberry jam and the occasional family recipe to heal a dying tree, or bring water back to a spring, or grow a cactus with appendages and no desire to stay planted. That last one was a mistake.

I really had high expectations for this book. Everybody seems to love it and I was looking for something cozy and magical for October. But it took me a while to get into it. At the beginning it seemed a little too naive, a little too cozy (have I ever said those words before?), and I had a hard time identifying with Kiela. I'm happy to report that my feelings did change. While Caz annoyed me at the beginning, he grew on me and became a character that made me laugh. Kiela's progress through the book was delightful, going from an introverted, anxious person unable to make a decision to a still introverted and sometimes anxious person that knows what needs to be done and has even made a few friends that don't get nutrients from the soil. All of the characters were likeable, but I do still feel like the characters were not as well rounded as I would have liked. But the setting was top notch, I loved hearing about all the mishaps as Kiela experimented with spellwork, and the ending was very satisfying. Overall, I found The Spellshop to be slightly disappointing due to the hype around it, but still very charming and enjoyable.

I'm giving The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst 4 stars out of 5. I liked it, I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I liked the fantastical animals, but I wanted to like it all more. I will still probably read the second book in the series, The Enchanted Greenhouse, which came out this year, but it won't be going to the top of my list.

For more from Sarah Beth Durst, check out her website at http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/

Pairs well with raspberry jam and having the cloud bears owe you a favor.