My Five Word TL: DR Review: Sweet as Sweet Can Be

The Enchanted Greenhouse is a companion novel set in the same world as The Spellshop.  In fact it brings to us a character that we hear about in that first novel, a young woman called Terlu Perna who broke the law of the land by using magic (without being a sorcerer) and, in order to make an example of her, was sentenced rather harshly to be turned into a wooden statue on permanent display at the library of Alyssium –  a perfect deterrent to others who might be similarly tempted.

I would say that I really don’t think you need to have read The Spellshop in order to pick this up – obviously some of the characters and places are mentioned here which was nice but this works perfectly as a standalone.  In my opinion The Spellshop had a little more of an edge than this one so I would heartily recommend you to pick it up but equally you could start with this one and work back.

This is cosy romantasy at it’s best.  If that’s not your thing then you have been warned.  This is charmingly cosy, it’s like a warm hug and a cup of steaming cocoa.  There is no high stakes here and the ending is blissfully lovely not to mention squeakily clean.  So, if you want angst, anger, drama, warfare, fighting or sexy times then you need to look elsewhere.  Instead, what The Enchanted Greenhouse gives you is a lovely pair of characters, brought together out of necessity who eventually become totally smitten.

To be honest it would be hard not to love this book in so many ways.  The setting is lovely, I do love a bit of gardening so the greenhouses and it’s plants and inhabitants were great to read about.  There’s plenty of magic and mishaps.  Terlu isn’t a sorcerer – but she is clever – so she eventually works out how to use the  books left behind by the previous sorcerer (long since passed away) and creator of the greenhouses.

Just by way of a little background – Terlu mysteriously awakens on a lonely island in the midst of winter with no idea of how she came to be there or how she found herself resurrected from her ‘statue’ condition.  The island is home of many beautiful and interconnected greenhouses, they go from wonder to wonder, packed with magical and sentient plants and tiny little pollinating dragons.  The only other inhabitant is a grumpy, yet indecently handsome gardener who appears to be supremely disappointed when he learns that Terlu is not a sorcerer.  It seems that the magical greenhouses are beginning to fail, some of them have already fallen into decay, the plants have died and Yarrow (aforementioned gardener) is desperate for a solution.  As mentioned above Terlu has of course used magic successfully before and once she sets her mind to helping the two have quite a few excursions in the search for answers.

The romance here is a nice slow pace.  Both characters have certain things holding them back.  Terlu is constantly aware of the fact she’s breaking the law and has no desire to return to the state of being a statue.  Yarrow is filled with guilt and despair over the plants and greenhouses already lost, he feels let down by his family and indeed the sorcerer whose magic is now sputtering out and having spent many years alone, and feeling that this would be his lot in life, coming into contact with the quite bubbly and never endingly curious Terlu is a bit of a shock at first.

Certainly this book is about second chances and in that respect it works perfectly.  It was delightfully easy to read, Yarrow and Terlu make a lovely couple (Yarrow is particularly easy on the eye and too good to be true in so many ways – thoughtful, great cook, caring – if he was any more perfect it would be positively illegal).

The only minor issue, which held this book back a little by comparison to the Spellshop, was the lack of any real tension, which, you kind of expect with the whole ‘cosy’ genre, and yet I felt the first book raised the stakes a little bit.  I also felt that there came a point where the deserted island began to feel a bit lacking – even though we had plenty of active and talkative plants, I wanted a bit more company, something to disrupt things a little – which, of course, eventually happens.

All told this was such a delicious little book, dripping in honey cakes and other goodies that will make your mouth water (Yarrow at all!)  If you’re in the mood for wonderfully cosy then this could go to the top of your list.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars