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literarypenguin 's review for:
The Spellshop
by Sarah Beth Durst
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Spellshop was such a delightful and pleasing surprise, the cozy atmosphere, the cast of colorful characters, and the themes of finding your place made this book a refresh in all my recent reading!
The island atmosphere of Caltrey is so idyllic and gorgeous that I wish it existed so that I could move there to live. The town and it's residents are so colorful, lovely, and wonderful! It seemed like such a perfect setting for a fantasy book! The animals that lived on the island like mermaids, merbabies, and the merhorses made so much sense the way that they were described. It wasn't too fantastical that these kinds of creatures would exist on the island.
The characters, I loved Kiela and could relate to her so much! Her love for books, that she even gets sad when they get damaged or destroyed. Her want to be alone and preferring low crowds or low crowd like gatherings. Her thirst for knowledge and wanting to know all the things to help her friends or people. Caz her plant sidekick, was so funny and the jokes he would make made me laugh out loud. Larran is such a giant sweetheart, his story while it was tragic did give me an understanding to why he was the way he is as a person. Him and Kiela's relationship was so heartwarming and sweet. I loved how it developed from friendly neighbors to having genuine feelings for one another.
The themes of Kiela going back home while she wondered where she belonged after a tragedy leaves her with no home or purpose is one I think we can relate to a lot. She had to go back to her roots in order to find what she needed to find the most which was a community and people she could turn to when she needed them.
This book was such a delight and cozy to read! I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to reading this author's other books in the future!
The island atmosphere of Caltrey is so idyllic and gorgeous that I wish it existed so that I could move there to live. The town and it's residents are so colorful, lovely, and wonderful! It seemed like such a perfect setting for a fantasy book! The animals that lived on the island like mermaids, merbabies, and the merhorses made so much sense the way that they were described. It wasn't too fantastical that these kinds of creatures would exist on the island.
The characters, I loved Kiela and could relate to her so much! Her love for books, that she even gets sad when they get damaged or destroyed. Her want to be alone and preferring low crowds or low crowd like gatherings. Her thirst for knowledge and wanting to know all the things to help her friends or people. Caz her plant sidekick, was so funny and the jokes he would make made me laugh out loud. Larran is such a giant sweetheart, his story while it was tragic did give me an understanding to why he was the way he is as a person. Him and Kiela's relationship was so heartwarming and sweet. I loved how it developed from friendly neighbors to having genuine feelings for one another.
The themes of Kiela going back home while she wondered where she belonged after a tragedy leaves her with no home or purpose is one I think we can relate to a lot. She had to go back to her roots in order to find what she needed to find the most which was a community and people she could turn to when she needed them.
This book was such a delight and cozy to read! I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to reading this author's other books in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War
Minor: Violence, Murder