The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut―a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.
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.
Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.
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Fantasy literature spanning adult, young adult, and middle-grade fiction has been shaped by immersive speculative worlds featuring whimsical magic, mythical creatures, and resilient protagonists, exemplified by popular releases like the cozy fantasy The Spellshop.
Sarah Beth Durst has published more than thirty novels across multiple age categories, earning wide acclaim and positions on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Her expanding bibliography includes contemporary fantasy and speculative fiction such as The Lies Among Us, demonstrating a versatile narrative range that appeals to readers seeking both high-stakes epic adventures and cozy, character-driven stories.
Born Sarah Beth Angelini on May 23, 1974, in Northborough, Massachusetts, Sarah Beth Durst began writing fantasy stories filled with dragons and mythical creatures during her childhood. She attended Princeton University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1996. Durst launched her professional publishing career in 2007 with the middle-grade fantasy novel Into the Wild. Over the following decades, she expanded her career to write across young adult and adult fantasy categories. Her notable adult speculative fiction includes The Queen of Blood, which won the 2017 American Library Association Alex Award, as well as works such as The Bone Maker, The Lake House, and Drink, Slay, Love, the latter of which was adapted into a television movie and featured as a question on the quiz show Jeopardy! She lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her cat.
Durst frequently centers her narratives on ordinary people who discover inner strength and agency when confronted by extraordinary magic or dark forces. She views fantasy as a literature grounded in hope and empowerment, combining intricate world-building with approachable, character-driven storytelling. Her works range from dark epic adventures involving bone magic and political tension to lighthearted, cozy speculative fiction featuring magical libraries and talking creatures. Across middle-grade, young adult, and adult fiction, her writing incorporates themes of personal resilience, unexpected alliances, and community, earning accolades including the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, the Libby Book Award for Best Fantasy, and three nominations for the Andre Norton Nebula Award.
The Spellshop
