By Rebecca Thorne

I was looking for a fantasy series where the stakes were not “the end of the world”. My wife pointed me here. What happens when one of an evil queen’s royal guard runs off the most powerful mage in existence to run a bookstore that serves tea? Will the evil queen stop looking for her? Will their shop be a success out on the frontier?

The “Tomes and Tea” series is an example of “Cozy Fantasy”, The Richland library calls the genre – “Featuring goodhearted characters, supportive friends, magical elements, and often even found family, cozy fantasies are a great palate cleanser between epic fantasy reads, or just when you are looking for a heart-warming book to curl up with”. I have always heard that they tend to be low on violence and high on warm fires. This book has a bit of both.

The stakes are lower here, but still intersects with the larger world. My main complaint is this – would a rural farming community really be able to support a bookstore/tea shop? Everything on the “Tea and Tomes” side of the equation seems to easily resolve itself with a minimum of fuss. They nervously open and have enough of a clientele to thrive. The retail side, very little detail – they find a place, claim it, fix it up, and everything works out. The adventure side, makes me think it will build to something bigger.

443 Pages

3.25/5