Another day, another review from my local bookstore’s summer reading challenge! The category was “A Cozy Fantasy,” and the book was Rebecca Thorne’s Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea. I’ve read and reviewed my fair share of zeitgeisty cozy fantasies. This one didn’t particularly break the mold, but it was pleasant enough.
Reyna, a former Queen’s Guard, and Kianthe, a mage, abandon their dangerous posts in favor of a quiet life in charge of a tea shop. They abscond to the remote town of Tawney after an assassination attempt on the Queen (during which Reyna is kidnapped). In Tawney, they plan to leave their old lives behind and enjoy the cozy atmosphere of their tea shop and the community of the nearby locals.
My tolerance for cozy fantasy has waned over the past few years. I enjoyed Legends & Lattes, and TJ Klune’s books always worm their way into my heart. A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches made me smile from cover to cover. But Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea dredged up some latent issues with this niche subgenre that I simply couldn’t ignore. The book is completely serviceable, and I have no doubt cozy fantasy fanatics will find it delightful. Many such fans must already exist, considering the series is on its fourth book. It has all the ingredients of a comforting brew: a tea shop, shelves of books, a sapphic romance, and escapism on every page. But I finished the book with a renewed resolve to stay away from similarly branded stories because I felt like the ethos of cozy fantasy is constantly at odds with itself.
The tension is right there in the title. In You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, you can’t have “treason” without a little danger, just as you often can’t have a gripping story without conflict. Some readers may not need a riveting, action-packed narrative, and that’s okay. But Thorne struggles to strike a balance between low-stakes cozy vibes and high-octane fantasy. Every time Reyna and Kianthe start to settle into their life in Tawney, threads of their past start to tug at them, threatening to unravel their peaceful escape. Assassinations and political intrigue try to bang down the door of the tea shop. Every time I started to feel snug and warm in the arms of this chill story, a new problem arose and jerked me out of my reverie.
Once again, this is all fine, but it lacks follow-through. When danger arises, it is quickly dispelled, with little tension. The queen’s anger, the politics of the mages, the threat of the protagonists being discovered…all these issues dissolve before they can play any meaningful role in the story. The result is a tonal tug of war. Thorne pulls at these stakes frequently, then tries to balance them with the cozy elements. In the end, one side pulls the rope so strongly that I was left to wonder why the more action-laden parts of the book were there at all.
To be fair, this issue isn’t uniquely Thorne’s, nor am I suggesting she deal with it personally. Judging by Goodreads and other online communities, people adore this book. I’m happy to let them have that enjoyment! I just need something different, and I thank Thorne and her otherwise serviceable story for reminding me of that fact.
Rating: Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea — 7.0/10
