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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Magic and Matchmaking by Tee Harlowe
5.0
A fake dating cozy romance novella featuring a sentient tea shop, a sassy pocket dragon, and a handsome bard.
Emma Thorne has spent years working as her father's assistant in his magical creature emporium. She is quite frankly fed up with bathing invisible cats, getting clawed by griffins, and scorched by ill-behaving dragons. When out of the blue an eccentric witch that runs the magical tea shop across the street offers Emma the chance to run her shop, Emma desperately takes it. After accepting the offer, Emma finds herself as the new owner of Steeped in Love. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when the sentient tea shop decides its hates how single she is and Emma finds herself forced to fake date her childhood best friend, Riven, who also happens to be a famous bard. As the two start faking a relationship, they both start to realize that it's harder to suppress the feelings from their youth that they have been avoiding for over a decade. . .
I was hooked by everything in this story. Not only is Harlowe a powerfully emotional writer, but she pens humorous scenes with such ease. I found myself laughing aloud, tearing up, and relating immensely to the experiences that Emma is going through. For such a short read, this one packed a great punch!
I found Emma quite easy to connect with. She finds herself stuck in a mundane life, helping her father run his business and making sure that he takes care of himself. She used to have dreams to travel with her best friend, Riven, but things have since changed since her father's health has deteriorated. She fears getting out of her comfort zone, pursuing her dreams, and letting her father down, which causes her to remain stuck in the same, unhappy position.
I am at a point in my life where I have to decide if I want to move in with my longtime boyfriend or stay in my hometown with my family. There is so much doubt and uncertainty that comes with making a decision such as this, but also such freedom and chances to seize new opportunities. Emma's story resonates deeply with me due to the fact that she has to be brave enough to seize her happiness, even if it means facing great change. I find this to be super inspiring, and I admire how she learns to balance her love for her father and for her newfound lover Riven.
Riven's character isn't nearly as in depth as Emma's, but I still find him pretty neat. He's a famous bard (the medieval equivalent to a rockstar is quite comical to think about), which is an interesting career to follow. He has achieved most anything he could dream up, but he finds his life unfulfilled. Riven still struggles with keeping his longtime crush at bay for his childhood best friend. It is absolutely adorable that he feels so drawn to Emma that he returns to his hometown in the hopes that he will see her again.
The rest of the cast of characters are quite eccentric in the best way. Herman is a sassy dragon who isn't afraid to speak his mind and insults Emma quite frequently. Draven is the grumpy bar tender who happens to mesh quite well with Riven's optimistic vibes. Monty, the original owner of the tea shop, is a kindly lady who is also a bit nuts. And the tea shop itself? Iconic. It's just casually chucking plates left and right and expecting everyone to love it.
I am an absolute sucker for the childhood best friends to lovers trope. The history that two friends who have known each other for more than two decades is extremely potent and I can't deny that Emma and Riven's chemistry was instantly recognizable. The way that fake dating was handled in this novella is also my favorite usage of fake dating (i.e. two people who are both crushing on each other agree to fake date for various reasons, but in reality, they just want to kiss each other but are too shy to say so). The usage of these two tropes in tandem made for a very enjoyable romance read. Also, the sex scenes were fire due to the long pent-up energy they had from pining for each other for over a decade.
Overall, "Magic & Matchmaking" is a splendid introduction to the "Moonflower Witches" series. For a novella, I was quite moved, and I found myself so attached to Emma in just a few pages. The characters are such a fun crew, and I hope that many of them show up in the future installments in this series. This novella is a powerful introduction to Harlowe's work that I can't recommend enough. I'm grateful that I've somehow found myself on her street team and that I will be getting ARC copies of all of the books in this series!
Emma Thorne has spent years working as her father's assistant in his magical creature emporium. She is quite frankly fed up with bathing invisible cats, getting clawed by griffins, and scorched by ill-behaving dragons. When out of the blue an eccentric witch that runs the magical tea shop across the street offers Emma the chance to run her shop, Emma desperately takes it. After accepting the offer, Emma finds herself as the new owner of Steeped in Love. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when the sentient tea shop decides its hates how single she is and Emma finds herself forced to fake date her childhood best friend, Riven, who also happens to be a famous bard. As the two start faking a relationship, they both start to realize that it's harder to suppress the feelings from their youth that they have been avoiding for over a decade. . .
I was hooked by everything in this story. Not only is Harlowe a powerfully emotional writer, but she pens humorous scenes with such ease. I found myself laughing aloud, tearing up, and relating immensely to the experiences that Emma is going through. For such a short read, this one packed a great punch!
I found Emma quite easy to connect with. She finds herself stuck in a mundane life, helping her father run his business and making sure that he takes care of himself. She used to have dreams to travel with her best friend, Riven, but things have since changed since her father's health has deteriorated. She fears getting out of her comfort zone, pursuing her dreams, and letting her father down, which causes her to remain stuck in the same, unhappy position.
I am at a point in my life where I have to decide if I want to move in with my longtime boyfriend or stay in my hometown with my family. There is so much doubt and uncertainty that comes with making a decision such as this, but also such freedom and chances to seize new opportunities. Emma's story resonates deeply with me due to the fact that she has to be brave enough to seize her happiness, even if it means facing great change. I find this to be super inspiring, and I admire how she learns to balance her love for her father and for her newfound lover Riven.
Riven's character isn't nearly as in depth as Emma's, but I still find him pretty neat. He's a famous bard (the medieval equivalent to a rockstar is quite comical to think about), which is an interesting career to follow. He has achieved most anything he could dream up, but he finds his life unfulfilled. Riven still struggles with keeping his longtime crush at bay for his childhood best friend. It is absolutely adorable that he feels so drawn to Emma that he returns to his hometown in the hopes that he will see her again.
The rest of the cast of characters are quite eccentric in the best way. Herman is a sassy dragon who isn't afraid to speak his mind and insults Emma quite frequently. Draven is the grumpy bar tender who happens to mesh quite well with Riven's optimistic vibes. Monty, the original owner of the tea shop, is a kindly lady who is also a bit nuts. And the tea shop itself? Iconic. It's just casually chucking plates left and right and expecting everyone to love it.
I am an absolute sucker for the childhood best friends to lovers trope. The history that two friends who have known each other for more than two decades is extremely potent and I can't deny that Emma and Riven's chemistry was instantly recognizable. The way that fake dating was handled in this novella is also my favorite usage of fake dating (i.e. two people who are both crushing on each other agree to fake date for various reasons, but in reality, they just want to kiss each other but are too shy to say so). The usage of these two tropes in tandem made for a very enjoyable romance read. Also, the sex scenes were fire due to the long pent-up energy they had from pining for each other for over a decade.
Overall, "Magic & Matchmaking" is a splendid introduction to the "Moonflower Witches" series. For a novella, I was quite moved, and I found myself so attached to Emma in just a few pages. The characters are such a fun crew, and I hope that many of them show up in the future installments in this series. This novella is a powerful introduction to Harlowe's work that I can't recommend enough. I'm grateful that I've somehow found myself on her street team and that I will be getting ARC copies of all of the books in this series!