“Together, they sat shoulder to shoulder underneath the wool blanket, pressed up against the rock she’d raised earlier. With a huff, Kianthe waved a hand at the pinyon pine tree, and its branches slid aside to reveal a window of stars. She extinguished the firelight with another unspoken spell, casting them in comfortable darkness.
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Outside, Lilac munched on grass near the campsite. A pack of wolves howled in the distance, and crickets filled the air with music. An owl hooted nearby.
Reyna’s body relaxed. She clutched her mug against her chest, leaning heavily on Kianthe’s shoulder. “We’re going to need more distance from the Capital. Her Excellency’s spies will be searching for me.”’
So there has been a kind of new genre forming for awhile now, cozy fantasy and cozy fantasy romance. These aren’t exactly new genres, actually, but they’ve gained a lot of prominence in the last year, and I’ve been desperate to sink my teeth into one and finally join in. I think there are a lot of authors who write in this genre (I always think of Sharon Shinn as slice of life fantasy with romance), and I’m really excited to see this is becoming such a popular genre, so much so that Tor has created the imprint, Bramble just for these kinds of books.
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is an absolute delight. It was everything I hoped it would be, and I’m incredibly excited to read the rest of the series. Reyna is a private guard for the Queen. She has dedicated her life to this service, but she is itching for a way out. She is dating Kianthe, the Arcandor (aka the world’s most powerful mage), but due to the duties they both have, most of their relationship has been in small, hidden moments over the course of two years. Long distance relationships are hard, and a day comes when Reyna decides to take Kianthe up on the dream they always joked about- running away together to open a bookstore/teashop and live happily ever after (so to speak).
Reyna flees the Queen’s service, a treasonous act, and the two head for a remote town called Tawney. After acquiring a building by ridding the town of a local bandit problem, Reyna and Kianthe settle into life together. What follows is a cozy, cute and romance filled story about the two of them coming together and leaving behind the lives they had before.
This book was so adorable. I loved the little bookshop/teashop they set up together. It’s cozy, it’s warm and inviting. I would work there, just saying. It’s not often I read a book with a romance storyline where the characters are already in love and just figuring out life together. That was a nice change of pace, and I am excited to see where Reyna and Kianthe end up next. I’m all in for the cozy fantasy and romance genre. This book will warm your heart. It has just the right amount of tension and conflict to keep the plot moving, but it’s also a relaxing book to sit reading under a blanket on a cool fall day with a mug of tea in hand.
Of Worlds Forgotten 
Leave a comment