I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst Series: Spellshop #2
Published by Bramble on July 15 2025
Genres: Adult, Cozy fantasy
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Sarah Beth Durst revisits the world of The Spellshop in this magical, cozy and emotionally satisfying companion novel.
“Behind her, Rijes let out a small gasp as she beheld the bookshelves–it was the sound of a woman who didn’t expect to find happiness but discovered it anyway. Terlu knew that sound well.”
I fell in love with The Spellshop last year, and so I was thrilled when a companion novel was announced. The Enchanted Greenhouse follows different characters but is set in the same magical world. You can definitely read either one first, and there are crossover moments in both to connect them. Sarah Beth Durst is so good at adding themes that resonate with most readers, and this time she tackles family, both biological and found, self confidence and forgiveness, all wrapped up in a feel-good story with wonderful characters.
In The Spellshop, we met Caz, a sentient spider plant who was magically brought to life by a lonely librarian named Terlu. Because magic is forbidden unless you are a sanctioned sorcerer, Terlu was caught and tried in court, and her (unfair) punishment was to be turned into a statue as an example to the citizens of the Crescent Islands.
In The Enchanted Greenhouse, Terlu wakes up one day to discover that she isn’t a statue anymore. Someone has broken the spell and moved her to another island. She has no idea where she is or why she’s human again, but she begins to explore her surroundings and discovers a greenhouse full of blooming flowers, which seems like a miracle because it’s snowing outside. The greenhouse leads to another and another, each with different species of plants, and eventually Terlu comes upon a gardener, a gruff man named Yarrow.
Yarrow is rather taciturn, but he finally explains to Terlu that out of the 365 greenhouses on the island, half are dying, and he sent for a sorcerer to fix the spell that keeps the greenhouses thriving. Laiken, the sorcerer who used to live on the island and kept the spells going, is dead. Someone sent Terlu to help Yarrow instead, and although she isn’t a sorcerer by any means—and she’s terrified of doing magic again because of the whole statue incident—she agrees to help Yarrow anyway.
With the help of a sentient resurrection rose named Lotti, Terlu and Yarrow begin to investigate the spell books Laiken left behind, hoping to identify the spells he used on the greenhouses. But two humans and a few magical creatures aren’t enough to fix the problem, and Yarrow—a loaner who resents his family—may just have to put his differences aside in order to save the greenhouses.
Durst continues the saga of the Crescent Islands that readers were introduced to in the last book. At the beginning of The Spellshop, revolutionaries brought about the fall of the Empire, forever changing the landscape and who can do magic. Terlu missed the whole thing, as she was still a statue at the time, and now she’s discovering that the Crescent Islands are in chaos. Although we don’t get to see Caz or Kiela from the first book, I loved that they are mentioned a couple of times.
The snowy island setting full of magical greenhouses was a lot of fun, and I loved discovering each greenhouse, its particular climate (controlled by magic, of course) and the wondrous plants and creatures who inhabit each one. In addition to Lotti, we meet quite a few other sentient plants and flowers, and they were such a great addition to the story. Lotti was by far my favorite character in the book, an enthusiastic rose bush who badly wants to be a part of the solution of saving the greenhouses. I also loved the winged cat Emeral, the first creature to greet Terlu when she awakens on the island. One greenhouse is home to a bunch of tiny, pollinating dragons, and they were adorable!
The romance between Terlu and Yarrow is sweet and perfectly paced. As characters go, I liked them both, but I did have issues with a couple of their personality traits. For example, Yarrow is the “grumpy” in their grumpy/sunshine relationship, and boy was he GRUMPY. He barely talked to Terlu at first, simply grunting and frowning at her, although he does finally warm up (it just takes awhile!) I really felt for Terlu, who spent six years (!) as a statue, only to wind up in a strange place with a grumpy man, far from her family. Not only that, but she’s terrified of breaking the law again, but in order to save the greenhouses, that’s exactly what she must do. She doesn’t have a lot of self confidence in the beginning, and constantly fusses over whether the Empire will find out she’s not a statue anymore and arrest her again (which got old), but eventually she gets over it. When the two finally connect, they help each other with their issues, which I liked a lot. Oh, and bonus: Yarrow loves to cook, and he’s much better at expressing himself through food:-)
Durst also adds some drama when Yarrow’s extended family enters the story, and I really liked the way she didn’t shy away from the normal ups and downs of getting along with family members. Her characters aren’t afraid to deal with uncomfortable situations, and even Yarrow ends up talking through his feelings.
My only hesitation in rating this higher is that I felt it was too long, given the rather simplistic plot. There is some repetition, especially when Terlu is beating herself up for stupidly using magic and then being caught. Just move on, girl! But the ending is perfectly sweet and hopeful, and I had a big smile on my face when I finished reading. The world and characters of the Crescent Islands are so rich, I hope that Sarah Beth Durst has many more books in store for her readers.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I like the sound of this. I already have a copy of The Spellshop, so might give that one a try first. I enjoy stories that interconnect so I think I’ll end up reading both books at some point.
Oh yes, enjoy The Spellshop, since you have a copy:-)
I am glad that you enjoyed it! I am sorry for the hiccups but at least it seems like you had a good time with it!! And I want to meet the little dragons sooo bad!!
I loved the dragons!
I haven’t read The Spellshop but this one sound equally great. I’m glad you mentioned the winged cat because I was curious about it from the cover. The world in this book sounds so magical and beautiful!
The winged cat was really cute, and I found it interesting that the plants can talk but the cat can’t!
This sounds fun, despite Lord Grumpy. I have a NG audio copy and didn’t realize it was a sequel. I’ll have to get The Spellshop read asap.
Ha ha Lord Grumpy;-) I think it’s OK to start with this one.
You and Robin are review twins!
Anne – Books of My Heart
Yes!
I’m glad you enjoyed this one for the most part. I’m kind of curious as go how I’ll find the grumpy character as I can find some oddly entertaining to read about. Although this case of grumpiness does sound a bit extreme. The plants, greenhouses and creatures sound fantastic though. And having finally read The Spell Shop I’m curious to see more of the world.
I feel like there are so many stories she could tell in this world. I would love to see more books in the series:-)
This is a lovely cosy series – I wonder how many more books there will be? Yes, Yarrow was grumpy but he did a lot of baking and cooking so I had to forgive him.
Lynn 😀
Yarrow grew on me eventually, especially with all the baking and cooking:-)
I still need to read The Spellshop. Though it’s good to know you don’t necessarily have to read them in that order.
I think she was smart to write them that way, so if you haven’t read The Spellshop you can just dive into this one:-)
This is one of those subgenres I’d once skipped over, but I continue slowly trying books by different authors, and given I’ve had some success with this author in the past I’d be up for trying either of the two books in the series, expanding my horizons as it were. 🙂
If you’re looking for a break from edgier books, you can’t go wrong with this:-)
Thanks for the review! I haven’t read either this one or The Spellshop yet, but I’m looking forward to both. Thanks for the note that they’re companions but can be read in any order.
I like that the order doesn’t really matter, at least for these two. Hope you get the chance to check it out!
Now I am even more excited to get my copy Tammy!
I hope you enjoy!
I took the decision not to request this one as I liked The Spellshop, but found that I wasn’t desperate to return to the world. I thoroughly enjoyed your review and I’m glad you found it such a pleasurable read, despite Lord Grumpy.
My daughter is on a romantasy kick lately and read try Spellshop and absolutely loved it. She beat me to my arc of this book and said she enjoyed it too but that Spellshop was still better. I’m looking forward to trying for myself!
I do want to start this series at some point. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/07/16/audiobook-review-axe-identally-married-maine-lumberjacks-3-by-daphne-elliot/