now THIS is a propaganda everyone should fall for. it's cozy and acts as a good palette cleanser. like okay !!!! maybe i do not want rain & key's roles in the society, but damn i would DIE to live in this setting. the tea sounds so good too and i'm not even a tea person ???

i was hesitant to pick this up because i've read cozy fantasies before—i did not like them. if my memory serves me correctly, this is the first cozy fantasy i've picked up and enjoyed. i was such in a massive reading slump, but the fact that i finished this in two days says a lot. i expected it to be a snoozefest, but damn instead of sleeping, i was losing hours of sleep. i think it's also important to note that while it is marketed as a cozy fantasy, it still has mystery & some high-stake scenes included. as someone who NEEDS action in their fantasy, i think that's what helped me distinguish this book from other cozy fantasies.

the premise is simple—two (iconic) lesbians wanting to open up a bookshop with tea to rest from their responsibilities for a bit. no mental gymnastics is needed for one to digest this book.

let's get more to the technical stuff.

objectively, was this well-written? no (..which is strange as poetic prose is one of my favorite literary elements). but was it addicting? absolutely. the characters are so nuanced and you can tell that rebecca thorne LOVES the characters and the world she built. the history is so rich. as a reader, finding an author who has so much love for their characters is extremely rare.

one thing i would've loved though is adding a prologue for the characters. key & rain's relationship was established from the very beginning of the book, thus taking more time in getting to know them (& obviously their relationship).

that being said, there were also so many fantasy elements here that made the plot kinda messy (??). i would've preferred if rebecca throne only focused on just a few elements & then polishing that. when more and more elements kept being added, the details in the world building started getting less and less and started becoming more...fanfiction-y? you really start to rely on the characters more & i know that can be such a miss for some people.

speaking of the characters, i literally talked about this so much already, but i found myself in kianthe so much!!! she's now one of my favorite characters. she's so so hardworking and also so hard on herself. she blames herself for everything and all i could just say is poor baby :((.

if you have a short attention span, i'm here to say that the pacing is slowwww!!! it took me a long time to get engrossed in the book. as people say, patience is a virtue. and i think in this case, it was veryyy worth it.

i told myself this year that i wouldn't commit to a series anymore, but i may just break that promise as the next book includes pirates (MY ABSOLUTE FAVS) !!! i'm already attached to the characters, so at this point...why not.