Books & Bewitchment - Isla Jewell // Book Review

 

Books & Bewitchment

 Isla Jewell || Publication Date - 03.02.2026

Inheritance, magic and moving to a town you swore you would never be seen in...

Fiction | Fantasy | Romance

Rhea Wolfe is down on her luck, living pay check to pay check in a dead end job that she's spontaneously made redundant from. She has two younger sisters who are similarly life challenged and Rhea feels a lot of responsibility to be the role model big sister they deserve since their parents passed away.

One boring weekday, Rhea is given the news that her estranged grandmother has died - and she's inherited everything as the oldest direct descendent. Finally things are starting to look up, and this may be the ticket she and her sisters needed to get a boost to their finances and situations.

The only barrier between Rhea and this inheritance is that she has to go back to Arcadia Falls, in which she had promised her late mother she would never do...

The Review (may contain spoilers)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this eARC for an honest review!

When I requested this book, I was very excited to read it. It seemed to have all the elements for a cozy style romance that I would be looking for. However, everything in this novel fell flat to me. I don't know whether that was a me issue or an issue for the book overall. The characters were basic and uninteresting, the MMC honestly was kind of weird, and the grandmother was obnoxious to the point of infuriating.

I believe that a lot of this book could have been edited out. Most sentences and passages only added to the word count and nothing valuable to the story as a whole. There was a lot of explaining to the reader, when it was easy enough to decipher what was being alluded to and I do believe the book could have ended perfectly two chapters before it did. It felt like a natural end to the story, and the final two chapters were, again, only adding to the word count and brought nothing new or interesting.

One thing I disagree with in the official blurb is that there is no immediate danger to the town or its residents.

As she gets ever closer to solving the mystery of what exactly is happening, each clue points to Arcadia Falls’ magic hanging in the balance. To keep her new home safe, Rhea must step into her enchanted birth right and harness her newfound powers . . . before it’s too late. - NetGalley & Goodreads

Unfortunately the way this book is being marketed is that it has significantly higher stakes than there is. Nothing has been a glaring issue for the other magical inhabitants or their safety, and Rhea coming to town does not inherently save anything.

There's also the pressing issue of the overly used puns and dad jokes. This was honestly brutal to read through, and made it very difficult for me to power through. I lost count how many times I nearly DNF'd this book because of the forced humor.

Overall Thoughts

I did feel this novel was trying too hard to be a quirky addition to the 'Cozy Fantasy' bandwagon which has been flooding the market recently. I have the same opinions as I did with 'The Baby Dragon Café', there was a lot of content in this novel which I felt did not need to be there and believe this would have been better digested as a novella.

My sentiment stands that if you're a specific fan of these types of books, you may enjoy this one. It's a closed door romance, with little description of spice and features a lot of tropes which have been common within the genre. Throw in a small town where everyone knows everyone and voila, cozy. There's also the benefit of being incredibly low stakes, despite what the blurb may wish you to believe.

** Affiliate Links **

Blackwells - https://blackwells.pxf.io/OY3zqn

Booktopia - https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/7XkdPQ

The Baby Dragon Cafe - A.T. Qureshi // Book Review

  

The Baby Dragon Cafe
A.T. Qureshi || Publication Date - 16.01.2025

Baby dragons, a cafe, and a cozy feel good read for everyone!

Fiction | Fantasy | Romance

Saphira loves baby dragons, the only problem is, is that she was not lucky enough to have one of her own. With the recent passing of her beloved Grandmother, the promise she made, and a little help from her inheritance, Saphira has created her dream cozy space in the world with 'The Baby Dragon Cafe'. The only place you can get a dragon-roasted coffee, a cheerful smile, and a treat for your little 'draggo' all in the one location.

As much as Saphira adores her cafe, she is constantly faced with the financial burden of letting babies that can breathe fire into her business. Unfortunately time, and savings are running out to continue replacing damaged chairs... and very, very expensive coffee machines. Thankfully, from what seems like a chance meeting, Saphira is introduced to Aiden. A grumpy local heart-throb, with his own baby dragon in serious need of training.

Can she help Aiden with his baby dragon problem? And can Saphira manage to keep her treasured cafe afloat?

The Review (may contain spoilers)

Firstly I would like to acknowledge and thank the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an early eARC of this novel.

As much as I loved the premise for this book, and was enjoying the world which was briefly explored throughout 'The Baby Dragon Cafe', I didn't think too much of it. I believe the main reason this novel wasn't a hit for me was the writing. It's very matter of fact, which to me doesn't flow well and creates an impression that the editors didn't bother to restructure sentences to make them read more naturally. An example is quoted below:

This style also follows into the conversations between characters in the book. I have found, personally, that I can have issues keeping track of who is saying what in written conversations. I don't think I'll ever have to worry about that in this novel, because each dialogue line is followed, or started, with the character that spoke, or, will speak it. To me this feels like the other end of the spectrum where I don't need my hand held completely reading a book. I'm a big girl, I can figure it out... It did get a little better as the story went on, but by that point I was already annoyed.

I enjoyed the world more than the characters. Saphira is kind of boring. There's nothing particularly interesting or over the top about her, which can be refreshing when everyone in a romance book is a bombshell. Aiden, on the other hand, has as much personality as wet cardboard. I'm not a huge fan of the 'Instalove' trope, and that was where this novel kicked off. It doesn't feel genuine (to me) when characters are instantly infatuated with each other, I like my characters to suffer. 😊 There's also the weird dynamic that Aiden is from a prestigious family of 'Dragon Riders', and then Saphira's impromptu employer. Saphira notices that his actions are kind of weird, and props to her because yeah... it kind of is. But who cares when he's hot right? 😩

Overall Thoughts

In my honest opinion, I felt like this should have been a novella. There's a lot of writing here which is repetitive and unnecessary padding out scenes. The 3rd act drama appeared to have taken place 100 pages into a 320 page novel. Not to mention the ending of the novel was rushed and out of place.

I agree with the sentiment that if you're a fan of books like 'Pumpkin Spice Cafe', 'Legends and Lattes' or even 'Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies', this will hit the same spot. It was cozy, it was very easy to read, and didn't take a lot of thought to enjoy the story being told. I would also forward this book onto readers who enjoy Fantasy, but don't want to be overwhelmed with the nuance of the genre, and Romance readers who don't like a lot of spice in their reading.

** Affiliate Links **

Blackwells - https://blackwells.pxf.io/L01vm0

Booktopia - https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/qWvRxg