Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

This mostly cozy fantasy is patterned after Travis Baldree’s novels Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust. Reyna is a palace guard to ruthless young Queen Tilaine, as her mother was a guard for Queen Tilaine’s mother. At court, Reyna meets powerful mage Kianthe, and her griffin Visk. Reyna loves Kianthe’s idea of moving to a quiet village where they can open a bookshop that serves tea and is decorated with tropical plants. They find the village of Tawney, near the mountains, and a likely site for their shop.

One problem to settling down together in Tawney is that Kianthe is the Arcandor, the chief mage, and must respond to problems like dragons. Also, Reyna isn’t allowed to resign from the palace guard. And the dragons are searching for three stolen dragon eggs that may be somewhere near the village. Characters in Tawney include young Gossley, a wannabe bandit, midwife Matild, and two town leaders who each claim oversight of the village.

I enjoyed the charming small town setting and the book and tea shop. There is plenty of danger from outside the village, and this certainly has more action than Baldree’s books. I liked Baldree’s writing better, but this is a good read, and I look forward to Reyna, Kianthe, and Visk’s return in A Pirate’s Life for Tea, to be published in October. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, a July release, may be a good readalike.

Brenda