A librarian and her sentient houseplant flee a revolution and find hope and community in Sarah Beth Durst's whimsical, cozy stand-alone fantasy novel, The Spellshop.
Blue-skinned Kiela leads a secluded life as a librarian in the Great Library of Alyssium, a vast collection that includes spell books, which are rare treasures in an empire that forbids all but the most elite from practicing magic. Then rebellion comes to the city, and the library burns. Kiela saves a few crates of spell books and Caz, the talking spider plant that serves as her assistant. They flee by library boat to the remote island of Caltrey, her long-forgotten birthplace. Kiela takes up residence in a cottage that belonged to her parents long ago and finds friends who include Bryn, an antlered woman who runs the bakery, and thoughtful, well-muscled Larran, who owns a merhorse farm. The island is in dire straits due to magical neglect by the imperial sorcerers, so Kiela secretly studies her rescued spell books and begins to revitalize the island's resources. Given the recent defenestration of the emperor, she assures Caz, "Magic belongs to the people now. I'm people." The arrival of a stranger on the island shatters her assumptions of safety and poses a threat to all that Kiela now holds dear.
Durst (The Bone Maker) shows off her background in middle-grade and young adult fiction by infusing this journey from isolation to belonging with the classic playfulness of a children's book. Kiela's growth from living a prickly and solitary existence to being able to give and receive love is sweet and inspiring. Fans of Travis Baldree should snap up this light, romantic cottagecore offering. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads