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I'm excited to offer a spotlight on my blog for the book launch of Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe. It's always fun to be part of blog tours for new books that I've gotten to read an ARC for and loved! Not only that but Amy Coombe is a debut author as well.
About the Book
A cursed princess must discover what her heart truly longs for in this charmingly cozy romantic fantasy for everyone who’s ever lost – or found – themselves in a bookshop.
Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.
During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart’s desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among th e stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.
She even starts to believe she’s stumbled into her very own happily ever after.
My thoughts on this book:
Stay for a Spell was an adorable cozy fantasy. Tandy is a princess who spends most of her time on the road performing her royal duties of kissing babies, cutting ribbons, and glad-handing the people. A fateful stop in a bookstore for more reading material in her endless travels by carriage lands her in the bookshop permanently. Tandy is cursed to remain there until she finds her heart's desire. At first, it doesn't seem so bad living in a bookshop and having plenty of time to read. But the curse also leaves her worrying what will happen if she can't ever discover what her heart truly wants.
Tandy was immediately an empathetic character for me. She has spent her whole life making others happy and is an avid bookworm. That doesn't mean she is a total pushover. But she has been raised to believe her royal duty trumps seeking her own happiness. I found this to be believable even if someone isn't royalty. As women we are especially prone to being conditioned to always put the interests of others ahead of our own. That isn't always a bad thing and if you're a parent it is often a necessity if you want to keep your offspring alive and happy. I also could appreciate the fact that when she is unable to leave the bookshop she's cursed to stay in, Tandy feels free for the first time in her life. For once, the world's expectations cannot be met and to a large extent cannot intrude on her tiny oasis full of books. But as a character she also doesn't spend this time resting on her laurels either. Shortly after taking possession of the bookshop, she finds a young teen to hire on as an assistant. Something that gives that teen a purpose and inspires her to help Tandy revamp the bookshop to be more enticing for people to want to explore and shop in. Tandy also attracts the attention of a handsome pirate who is also cursed.
Bash was a mysterious and very charming love interest for Tandy. But he also proves to be kind beneath his roguishness. The other secondary characters that are sent to Tandy to help break her curse were equally fun and amusing. Her parents decide the best way to get her back to her duties where she belongs is to start sending her princes from across the realms to kiss her. Each one had their own distinctive personalities and interesting kingdom customs.
If you love cozy fantasies in a similar vein to stories like The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst or Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz then you will love Stay for a Spell.
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