Although this is the second book in a series, the story of this book takes place at the same time as “The Spellshop” which is, technically, the first book. In that book we met a librarian who escaped a revolution with a box full of books and a sentient plant named Caz. This plant is, actually, the link that connects both books, because our main character is another librarian who was punished and turned into a wooden statue, precisely, for giving life to Caz, using a magic spell that was forbidden to all except socerers.
Terlu Perna as a statue is sent to an island covered with greenhouses. It is a gigantic garden preserving plants, trees and flowers from all over the world and that was made possible thanks to the magic spells casted by an old sorcerer whose daughter adored flowers. But now the sorcerer has died and the magic is slowly fading away so the last gardener’s only hope is for someone who can restore magic. That’s why Terlu and a spell to bring her back to life, was sent to him. Yarrow lives in isolation with the sole company of a winged cat, but Terlu is now here and their first mission is, to wake up the sentient plants, starting by a rose called Lotti.
In her acknowledgments pages Sarah Beth Durst says that the main goal for her when writing a book is to give hope. This is the second book of her vast bibliography that I read and all I can say is that the goal has been achieved, twice (in my case). But that’s not all.
Durst gives comfort, peace, a much needed faith in the inner good, a strong sense of community and found family, magic, especially the kind that’s hidden in the little everyday things, love and compassion. For me, her books are the definition of “cosy fantasy” because she makes you feel at home in all of her worlds. She did that with “The Spellshop” and she’s doing it again with “The Enchanted Greenhouse”.
It is impossible not to fall in love with these characters and the wonderful whimsical world Durst has created for them. All of them, human, animals and plants, are adorable in their own unique ways. They are insecure but strong, they triumph and they fail, they never give up. They support one another and they accept things and people as they come. And they have so many quirks! They will stay with me forever.
In this book, however, instead of having Terlu join a community that was already settled, she begins her adventure in an island where only one man lives, Yarrow, the garderner. For most of the book they are alone together with a flying cat and some sentient plants, but the community develops and grows as the book progresses. For the first half of the story the pace is slow, almost lethargic, but fear not, it changes. The pace is a reflection of the state of the island and the mood of its inhabitants, in a way it’s like Terlu’s arrival wakes them from a long slumber, little by little. But the slow pace at the beginning represents loneliness and abandonment so as Terlu, Yarrow and the plants get closer and their bonding grows stronger, that obscure and gloomy feeling fades away, hope enters their hearts and the pace changes.
Sarah Beth Durst not only convinced me to read all of the books I didn’t know she had written before, but she has become an instant buy for me. She’s a balm for the soul
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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…
The Spellshop || Sarah Beth Durst || Spellshop #1 || 384 pages
Top 3 Genres: Fantasy / Romance / Cozy
Synopsis: 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.
Publication Date: July 2024. / Average Rating: 4.00. / Number of Ratings: ~163,080.
