Cozy fantasy. Cute, but useless female lead.

I saw this book and I GASPED. It showed up at the library and I KNEW it was going to be mine! Purple sprayed edges, cozy fantasy, LIBRARIAN female lead? Abso-freakin-lutely.

Don’t get me wrong, I did like the book! It was cozy, it was cute, it still had a well constructed plot! Even the romance was acceptable (rare opinion from me) but I just never felt like the Kiela, the main character, had a PERSONALITY other than “I’m an introvert, ~I JUST WANT TO HIDE IN A STACK OF BOOKS AND NEVER COME OUT~”

The synopsis makes you think there’s going to be too much jam! But it’s more illegal spellwork than jam, which was honestly a relief to me.

But, regardless, I’d definitely say it’s worth a try because the REST of the book was DEFINITELY worth it!

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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 magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy―and very handsome―neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

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