Can't Spell Treason Without Tea: A heart-warming cosy fantasy - Legends & Lattes but with tea! (Tomes & Tea)

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Despite suppesdly being together for 2 years at the start of the book, the main couple have very little chemistry as the author tends to tell and not show. A tiny bit of a mystery with some dragons and their eggs, and just a lot of fun banter and antics from Kianthe most of all, who loves puns and is sassy and vibrant. It did unfortunately feel like 3/4 of a book, as it tried to juggle too much, and ended up leaving too many bits of the story unfinished to carry into a sequel, which left me feeling incomplete. and you just invent the concept of libraries in a single conversation (also, does the magic school NOT have libraries already? You can feel the Legends and Lattes inspiration, but Can't Spell Treason is almost a different animal than its predecessor.

Reyne is a Queen’s guard who is fed up of her life of sacrificing herself for the sake of a cruel ruler and wants out with her lover. They’re solid in their bond and speak casually about marriage in a comfortable dynamic filled with established history and ease.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The setting is solid, the romance feels real, and the magic system with its mystical creatures are filled with whimsy and familiarity. Reyna is a palace guard under the ruthless Queen Tilaine who runs away with her powerful mage girlfriend Kianthe. They both have a lot of anxieties due to their upbringings and positions but they work through their issues with proper communication, and I adored that aspect of the story. Do you love reading books by the fire, warming your hands with a hot mug of tea, surrounded by beautiful houseplants and the cuddly embrace of your partner?

this book has a really bad case of telling instead of showing, and this was one of the biggest spots that illustrated that. This unfortunately massively missed the mark for me, promising a cosy fantasy with a great lesbian couple and delivering. side note: I feel slightly uncomfy with the fictionalization of bagels, which is a food that emerged out of antisemitism, and is incredibly important to Jewish culture/history, but it was only a short bit of the story!This book was pretty cute at first for sure, but while I don't need a plot to keep me interested in a good set of characters, I do need *something*. instead, we got interruptions like this in the middle of their actual conversations: There was something pleasing about productive conversations, rather than burning brides with fiery emotion. When she’s not writing or avoiding writing, Rebecca can be found traveling the country as a flight attendant, or doing her best impression of a granola-girl hermit with her two dogs. It often doesn't resolve their issues either, as neither are actually good communicators who talk properly through their problems, and Kianthe in particular is riddled with personal issues which she refuses to convey to Reyna, despite insisting her girlfriend must share all her issues, and it only causes problems for the two of them.

Now, you might be wondering if something like that could even factor into a “cozy” fantasy–and the answer is a resounding yes. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters - all complemented by love and good company. Tor has scooped Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea plus three other "cosy" fantasy books by Rebecca Thorne.

The delicious combination of peril, romance and tea (you can never have enough tea…) was bewitching in the best possible way. you're telling me you couldn't come up with even a single fantastical pastry, and instead you have BAGELS AND CREAMED CHEESE?

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne is a gorgeous treat of a book, filled with cosy adventure, sapphic romance and good feelings.Parts of the worldbuilding were intriguing, particularly the magic systems, but a lot of the politics and technology felt somewhat flimsy and implausibly convenient. What follows is a tale of mishaps, mysteries, dragons, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. I really understand the desire to represent a positive lesbian relationship, but Kianthe and Reyna's relationship just felt. finally, my biggest pet peeve of the entire book: how lazy the worldbuilding was, and how heavy handed the author was with IRL references.