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.
How To Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva Published by Orbit on January 20 2026
Genres: Adult, Cozy fantasy
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Cottagecore meets The Lord of the Rings in this entertaining but slightly uneven debut.
I couldn’t resist this adorable cover, which I’ll admit is one reason I wanted to read How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days. And it was cute! There are also some rather weighty themes hovering over all the cuteness, and while these themes gave the story some depth, overall I didn’t fully embrace the mix of sweet cottagecore and the almost heavy-handed messages of prejudice and hate. This is also a romance between a female halfling and a non-binary goblin, and when the first thought a character has when they meet their potential love interest is “wow they are so cute,” you know what kind of story you’re getting. Still, there is a lot to enjoy here, as long as you know what to expect going in.
Pansy is a young halfling who is getting ready to leave home. She has the opportunity to move into her late Grandma’s cottage, and she’s excited to finally break free of her family, as much as she loves them. But when moving day arrives, she’s horrified to find that a goblin is already living there. Ren tells Pansy that they are the designated Caretaker of the cottage, which has been vacant for years, and why shouldn’t they claim it? Pansy refuses to leave, after all, it’s her cottage, and after some debate, the two decide to live together—with a couple of conditions. First, if either of them decides to leave, they agree to forfeit the cottage to the other. And as far as decorating goes, it’s OK to add to the cottage, but not OK to remove anything.
Forced to sleep in the same bed—with a wall of blankets between them, courtesy of Pansy—the two slowly begin to understand each other, even as the world outside seems to be crumbling. A powerful wizard is determined to rid the world of goblins, enemies of the halflings, and Pansy and Ren are soon caught up in the drama. But they are starting to fall in love, which is making everything very difficult.
Pansy and Ren are pretty adorable together, and my favorite parts of the story involved the cottage setting where the two are trying to coexist. There are all kinds of misunderstandings, cultural clashes, and petty tricks to get the other to leave—at first. These scenes were so funny, especially the “only one bed” set-up where Ren, who is more in tune with nature and uses moss for a blanket, ends up hogging Pansy’s blankets in the middle of the night. Pansy brings home a kitten one day, thinking it might be the thing that finally scares Ren off. But that plan doesn’t quite play out the way Pansy expects it to. I also loved the way they taught each other things from their own cultures, like how certain plants and flowers can be used to heal (Ren) or how bringing in colorful rugs can make their home cozy (Pansy).
Jessie Sylva sets up a world where different cultures are at war, especially the halflings and goblins. She’s clearly basing her world on real life situations, and I did like this parallel. For example, the goblins are the oppressed group, trying to survive on very little food. And to make matters worse, the dwarves have destroyed their crop lands with poison from their refineries, hence Ren being tasked with the Caretaker position at the cottage, where the land is fertile and they have a better chance of growing food. Meanwhile, Pansy and her family and friends live lives of plenty, drinking tea, eating whatever they want, and wearing fancy clothes. This culture clash worked well between Ren and Pansy, especially when Pansy begins to see things from Ren’s perspective. Both of them want drastic change, but what chance do two youngsters have against so much hate?
Where the story faltered a bit for me was when the two left the cottage and ventured back to Pansy’s home. Here’s where the cozy cottage vibe takes a backseat to the drama and conflict between the goblins and the halflings. Although I did love Pansy’s family and Ren’s best friend Thorn, one character didn’t work at all for me. The wizard Agvaldir comes across as almost silly, a moustache-twirling, overblown wizard who is determined to have his way. He’s downright mean to Pansy and Ren, and I didn’t think he added much to the story, other than to bring in a villainous character for the good guys to defeat.
And while I do appreciate the message the author is trying to get across, I preferred the cozier, carefree moments in the cottage, as Ren and Pansy are getting to know each other. When they do overcome their differences, it’s an abrupt change that didn’t feel organic. Prejudice and race relations are complex issues that deserve more careful development, and at the end those differences seemed to be shrugged off too easily. Despite this, I did love the way the author chose to end her story.
Lovers of cozy cottagecore fantasy should definitely take a look at How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days, just be aware that the mood isn’t always light and breezy.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
This is the second review I’ve seen for this one that’s mentioned how easily such major issues seem to be brushed under the carpet which is rather frustrating as its hardly realistic. I do like the sound of the cosy cute vibes, like the sharing knowledge of plants, but I feel like I’d want more on the fantasy side of things. Its also frustrating to hear that the villian comes across as silly – I’m definitely the kind of readsr who craves a bit of menance to those. And even if that doesn’t fit the cosy vibes I want to be able to take them seriously. I’m leaving this on my TBR for now – as I’m hoping I may really fall for the subgenre sometime – but I’ve got to admit that I’m in less of a rush to read it based on the reviews I’ve seen so far.
I’m very picky about villains. They can either be silly or very well done, and usually they fall on the silly side for me!
Hmm, sounds like there are almost two different stories the author wanted to play with here, and they didn’t marry up very well in terms of genre!
Exactly. They didn’t mesh well enough for me to love the book.
Ahhhh this sounds so cute! Even with the weighty themes hovering over it all. The title and especially the cover also really draw me in as well.
I love the cover so much, and it does fit parts of the story:-)
I’ve had this one on my radar but may take some time getting to it. After reading your review, I will wait to see if my library gets a copy as it doesn’t sound like something I need to own. Great review and I do love the cover!
I think getting this from the library is a good idea:-)
Great review! The cottage elements sound like fun (although I could be happy never be subjected to the just-one-bed trope ever again!), but it’s a shame that the outside world drama didn’t quite work out.
LOL that trope seems very contrived at this point!
It sounds like the cottage cosy sections didn’t get along too well with the world issues chapters and to be honest I’m not sure that they really fit together either. Still, you seemed to enjoy it with a few reservations.
Lynn 😀
I did like a lot of it, it just wasn’t a favorite.
Terrific review!
Thanks Anne!
This is a great review. This reminds me of when I read a similar cozy cottage core fantasy romance. I felt the same way, the author brought up a few complex issues then quickly resolved them, giving it an unrealistic vibe and pulling me out of the storyline. I’m glad you enjoyed the book overall, fun cover.
Thank you! I don’t mind serious issues at all, it’s just the way the author blended them together that didn’t work that well.
The cute moments in the cottage are what appeal to me. I don’t know that I’d love the rest of the book.
It was sort of a strange mix!
I’ll admit, while I’d seen this book around the web it was never on my radar to read. I guess partly I’m always a bit gun-shy about authors I don’t know whose books are comp’d to both cozy and The Lord of the Rings. I feel like usually cozy books would comp better to The Hobbit. Probably a marketing issue; I don’t know how much input an author has on that front.
There were actually a lot of Hobbit references as well!
I’m about 2/3s of the way through this one and I know exactly what you mean. It’s so over the top cute and the messages are so heavy handed I feel like I’m reading a children’s book except it’s 350+ pages lol. Wish it was a little more than that but still enjoyable. My rating is probably going to be middling as well.
Yes, it did feel very young!
I’ve had my eye on this one for a cozy fantasy display I’m hoping to put together this spring. Not so sure about heavy-handed messaging, though…
I don’t think this one would work for me, but I’m glad you were able to find things you liked about it despite the issues you had.
I feel like this is a common issue with cosy. The author gets to a point where they feel their book needs some substance, so adds in an issue and I don’t think they always need to. Like they can have a silly conflict to add drama. I’ll probably still pick this one up though.
Yes, heavy-handedness is an apt way to describe the more serious themes in this book. I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to. The exposition of those themes was just too on the nose & didn’t mesh well either the coziness of the cottage scenes. I’m bummed I didn’t really jive with it, but it happens.
Moustache-twirling overblown wizard! I laughed so hard reading that Tammy but you are right. Excellent review!
I didn’t really “see” the cover until you mentioned how much you liked it, so I took a closer look and now I get it. 🙂
It does have a very pretty cover! Sorry it wasn’t as good as you hoped, but sounds like there were some parts that still made it a worthwhile read. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/01/09/review-i-think-im-in-love-with-an-alien-by-ann-aguirre/
Excellent review, Tammy! I was really fed up when I didn’t get hold of a copy of this one – but now I’m not so upset:). I felt very much the same way about The Spell Shop – part of it were well done, but the cosiness descended into being a tad daft. Getting the balance just right in cosy fantasy takes some doing – as you’ve rightly pointed out:).
I can’t believe I haven’t already read this one, but I hope to get to it soon, lowering my expectations a bit, because yours is not the first review I read that talks about the heavy-handed way in which the author treats some themes (and that’s just so bad!). But I am still curious!!