Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes & Tea, 1)

If you liked Legends & Lattes, you will probably like this. The story is basically the same, but with a few tweaks. There are two main characters who are already a couple at the start of the book. There are books and tea instead of coffee. There aren't as many magical races of people; it doesn't feel tied to the D&D universe and feels more like a generic fantasy. I loved Legends & Lattes and I'm happy to have more of a good thing, but I did feel like this wasn't quite the same level of quality. I found the prose to be awkward in parts, especially the dialogue, and even the audiobook narrator seemed to struggle with the phrasing despite trying her best. I also got a bit frustrated with how much the narrative had to repeat and over-emphasize things without trusting the reader to interpret for themselves; a case of telling vs showing. In theory this book is full of stuff I really like, I adore cozy settings and good people, and yet I was cynically annoyed sometimes with the book's tone and wasn't properly suspending my disbelief. Maybe I was just cranky?

Content Warnings:
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, and Murder

This book is super cute! I'm invested in the characters and the plots that were introduced but not resolved yet. I need to see where those story lines end. I liked that this had no spice on page and just implied spice off page. The cutest lesbian couple that I just want to be besties with!

This book seemed to be everything I want in a book: fantasy, tea room, book shop, dragons, etc. but it fell so flat for me. It almost felt like a fan-fic for Legends and Lattes and not in a good way. It was like oh no the queen is bad. Then that storyline died till the end. Oh no dragons! Then that storyline ended. Bandits! Same thing. I read the whole thing but will not be doing the second book. The last chapter (before the epilogue) was so rushed. I wish this had been better.