Review: Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

Title: Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea

Series: Tomes and Tea: Book One

Author: Rebecca Thorne

Publisher: Bramble

Length: 345 Pages

Category: Cozy Fantasy

Rating: 4 Stars

At a Glance: The only thing better than the love for books and tea is the found family and friendships Reyna and Kianthe build along the way. The story isn’t quite low-stakes—treason is a serious offense, after all—but the relationship between the two women is as warm and inviting as a cuppa and a snuggle by a fireplace in winter.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.

But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country, and open the shop of their dreams.

Review: If you’re looking for a cozy comfort read, Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea couldn’t satisfy the need more. The story isn’t quite low-stakes—treason is a serious offense, after all—but the relationship between Reyna (the defector) and Kianthe (the powerful Arcandor) is as warm and inviting as a cuppa and a snuggle by a fireplace in winter.

The story begins with Reyna and Kianthe already in a relationship, which made me feel as if I’d missed the joy of watching them connect. It turns out there’s a short vignette at the end of the book that gives a little more insight into the build-up to them falling in love. It’s helpful in understanding how Reyna, one of the Queen’s most devoted soldiers, could give up the only life she’d ever known so readily to fulfill a dream of opening a bookstore and tea shop with Kianthe.

The only thing better than the love for books and tea is the found family and friendships the two women build along the way.

There is some political juggling in the small town of Tawney, and the dragons that nest nearby provide for some danger and a storyline that carries over into book two. Notwithstanding those bits of conflict, this book was the breezy no-stress read I needed, with characters I grew fond of. What remains to be seen is if the Queen will demand her pound of flesh.