A review by bookforthought
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I've recently developed a real taste for all things cosy - whether mystery, romance or fantasy - maybe because of how utterly full-on real life has been in these past few months, maybe because they feel safe and comforting and leave me buzzing with warm, fuzzy, positive feelings. Or maybe both. Regardless, when I read the blurb for Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, I immediately knew I had to read it, because it sounded exactly like the type of book I would love. Perhaps that's why the disappointment I felt over this book stung worse than others, but it was probably the worst let-down of the year so far.

For starters, I feel this was mislabelled as cosy fantasy. The fact that the main characters drop everything to open a bookstore and tea room in a remote town is not enough for this to be a cosy fantasy: the main plot lines are rife with danger and the stakes are high - life-threatening even - involving both a vengeful royal and dragons, whereas everything related to Reyna and Kianthe's new life is so easy and conflict-free it would almost be laughable if it weren't boring. This is, essentially, a fantasy with some cosy elements and, in truth, not even a great one at that.

The worldbuilding is insufficiently developed, and when we do get any information it's usually through exposition, either in dialogue or in one of the main characters' internal monologue - of which there is a lot. I was also incredibly annoyed by the blatant attempts to be "woke" and diverse by continuously drawing attention to any elements pointing in that direction, some of which frankly made no sense in the context of a semi-medieval-feeling world. One clear example is a lengthy passage in which the use of pronoun pins by a very minor non-binary character is discussed. Pronoun pins, seriously?? Couldn't characters just, you know, use the correct pronouns? But perhaps was that too radical a choice for a fantasy world…

The main characters also came across as really bland. Any conflict between them is immediately resolved with a lengthy conversation and the use of great communication tactics, which of course comes with a side of commentary on just how good they are at communicating and a detailed list of all the things they do to keep such a good level of communication between them. The book is told in alternating POVs and, at least in theory, we're told just how different these two characters' personalities are but, in practice, I sometimes had trouble distinguishing between the two voices and forgot whose POV I was supposed to be following at that moment. I did like the idea of them having a pre-existing relationship, but I didn't really feel as if I got to see them being in love - though I was repeatedly told just how much they loved each other and how good they were together.

This was, essentially, the main flaw of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea for me: everything was told, nothing (or very little) was shown. The overarching storylines are not even resolved in this book, leaving everything hanging in anticipation for the next one, while the cosy fantasy plot is solved even too quickly: everyone in town immediately loves Kianthe and Reyna, including the local lords; the shop is magically fixed in one afternoon; suppliers are secured with one trip to the neighbouring city.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and I did like the narrator: Jessica Threet did a great job at trying to infuse some life in these characters and differentiating between them in some way, but she couldn't fix everything else that just didn't work here. It was a real shame as I was truly looking forward to this book and I think it had great potential, but it just ended up not working for me.

I received an advanced review copy of this audiobook for free from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence