4.5 ⭐️

This novel celebrates taking your fate into your own hands. Our MCs are a mage leader and a queen’s guard who is trained as an assassin. What happens when a guard no longer wishes to serve, especially when serving will lead to her own death?

The vibes I loved: community dynamic, griffins, general bookish theme, cosiness, MCs’ relationship finally getting a chance away from the queendom.

Is this super similar to Legends and Lattes? Vibes: yeah (in a good way). Storyline: I really don’t think so. I don’t see much tying the two stories together other than owning a cosy cafe being a lifelong dream of the MCs and sapphic MC relationship. 🤷‍♀️

Threet’s narration complimented the story. I didn’t find any criticisms to mention. I enjoyed her performance.

A Fantastic Audiobook, narrated to perfection. This is one of my favorite books and seeing it in audiobook format brought me the greatest joy.

Kianthe is the worlds most powerful mage. she craves a normal life with her girlfriend. one she might never get to have, because Raina is a Queens guard to the most ruthless and bloodthirsty queen the world has ever known. nothing can ever be normal between them, until one day, Raina has had enough... and she commits treason to fight for the ability to lead a normal life of her own. they flee together to a corner of the world where they aught to be safe, but with the queens guards after her, magic demanding action, and dragon attacks on the rise, can there ever be anything normal for them?

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC for early review. Review contains spoilers for this title as well as Legends & Lattes to a small extent. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

Format is audiobook. Jessica Threet does a fantastic job trying to distinguish the voices of our two main female characters through accents and tone and I look forward to more of her work. Her voice for Reyna reminds me a lot of Angela from the new She-Ra series, and her voice for Kianthe reminds me of Adora from the same series. I think that I would have given this an even lower rating if not for the work that she put in.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea is a self-proclaimed "cozy fantasy" and the first in a new series, and a lot of comparisons have been made between it and Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. I am going to try my very best not to hold that against this book, because Legends & Lattes is a *true* cozy fantasy, and Can't Spell Treason Without Tea is most assuredly *not.*

The scale of CSTWT wants to be small, comfortable, and cozy, but it is much too wide for itself. Multiple kingdoms, a large involvement with the dictator queen of one realm, bandits, dragons, political conflict, false identities, illustrious and prophetic titles, mysteries, and constant fear of loss, death, or discovery plague this story. This is a full scale, full-stakes fantasy that merely coats its characters in "cozy armor" so that you know there will always be a happy ending, but that does nothing to actually lower the stress and make this a comforting story.

In Legends & Lattes, Viv retires from her life of action after fulfilling her last job with her crew, and departs on her own path forward. The guilt that she feels stems from her own cowardly actions of not being able to say goodbye, the fear that she feels stems from the fact that she is gambling her future success on a folk legend with no proof it will actually influence her to be lucky. Her anxiety relates to trying new things, unsure if she will be good at them, like hiring staff, hanging up her sword, deciding on menu prices. But Viv has a plan. She has already placed the order for a coffee grinder. She has saved up the money she needs to build an establishment from nearly the ground up. She has a floor plan, for God's sake. When shit hits the fan, Viv isn't able to lose everything, specifically because of the friendships she has forged and the success she has had. Despite this, you still feel the aching loss alongside her, the depression and the emptiness that come from even something so small when placed alongside the grand scale of other fantasy stories, because we have been living in the small scale of Viv's fantasy, a fantasy that succeeded and made her so, so happy.

In CSTWT, Reyna is the very important direct guard to the extremely ruthless and murderous queen, and decides one day that she has had enough, and commits treason by abandoning her post entirely and fleeing the kingdom. Her girlfriend is all too happy to abandon her own responsibilities as the Chosen One of the mages and join her in the small town where they settle in, the small town that just so happens to also contain another defector of the same queen, a mage who defected from the mage society Kianthe is the Chosen One of, and an extremely easily defeated and pushover group of bandits. Reyna and Kianthe's decisions to abandon their lives creates an overarching sense of anxiety and dread, because they did not tie their ends up neatly or prepare for this. They are now both wanted, and Reyna is at risk of being fucking *executed* for her treason. And when they make land in Tawney, a quiet, absolutely idyllic little town, they just happen to come across the perfect barn to adapt into their bookstore/library/tea shop/plant store, with the only issue being that it needs some fresh paint, stock to sell, and the laylines of magical power that Kianthe draws from are really weak. Which is fine, because Kianthe is so utterly overpowered that it is completely necessary to kneecap her with these laylines in order to make the story actually move slowly. Oh, and she is a massive political figure, since she was chosen by the magical mage rock to be the Avatar of the elements, so she's handicapped by that just a bit. And Reyna is just terrible at self-care, which comprises the entirety of her struggle and character in the story.

When Reyna and Kianthe experience problems, the problems are fucking massive. Reyna nearly dies falling off a roof while already being sick from an infected injury she got early in the story. Kianthe fights off multiple dragons at once without sustaining any physical injuries and the only consequence is that she is drained of magic and needs to rest. They are both using false names every other day or so, being entirely inconsistent with it, and let their true identities slip constantly. I can't even call the bandit group a problem, because they are so laughably an attempt to insert plot points from Legends & Lattes into the story. Reyna defeats them so easily and then recruits them to work for her as spies, because again, she is a criminal who is wanted for treason, and needs to vigilantly watch her back at every step. Even though she doesn't. For fuck's sake, they even adopt a helpless little assistant in the exact same manner as Viv adopts Pendry, the bard.

Despite all of these massive stakes, no one ever loses anything. Reyna recovers and is fine. Kianthe recovers and is fine. They never lose a single thing, they never want for anything, they never struggle or fail. This does nothing to relieve the stress of the reader who is hopped up on these deadly stakes and anxiety from the get-go. These two characters shouldn't have any control over these massive problems but they do, and it's terrible. I can at least say that they have a loving and communicative relationship that never falters, but I don't feel drawn to them as a couple at all.

The stakes of this story are too high, but the dangers are laughable. Almost all of the stress comes directly from the actions of the main characters and their poor decision making skills. The shop that they open together is a farse of a plot point, a sidenote in the greater story of political terror and running from the law and destiny. This is NOT cozy fantasy. This is a fantasy that wants to be cozy. This is a dragon who is the heir to a dragon throne that wants to be a gecko and stomps into a gecko house and says "I live here now," and doesn't give a singular shit about the fact that by doing that, they have made all kinds of problems for the geckos who lived there before and the dragons they abandoned. The dragon is cozy because the dragon can breathe fire and kill anything that challenges it. The geckos are not cozy because there's a fucking dragon killing anything that challenges it in their house.

The writing is a strange mishmash of decisions at the best of times. It feels very middle-grade in descriptions and dialogue, the stakes feel very overdone YA fantasy, the plot is messy, the side characters are thin and forgettable, the setting is weak and half-baked, and the romance is probably only passable because of the focus on communication between the two of them. I think this needed a beta reader or an editor or a squad of first draft readers.

I think the hardest part about this book is the fact that I can tell Rebecca Thorne is a massive fan of Legends & Lattes. I see so much of the heartbeat of L&L in CSTWT and I know that she has a deep love for that story, but I can't say that this story succeeded in being it's own version.

A high-ranking bodyguard and the most powerful magical person, what could they have in common? Their love for each other and a deep desire to start a simple life somewhere else. This is a story of two women, who hold high-ranking positions in their world and their journey to build their ideal life, in a cozy bookstore/tea shop. While each has a vast amount of responsibility and one even runs the risk of execution, they journey to a small town to build their life together. A cute and very cozy sapphic fantasy romance. '
While I am a big fantasy and romance reader, I'm relatively new to cozy fantasy. This was a fun read though! I liked the low steaks adventure of the story. No one died, and it was in fact, very cozy.

Thank you NetGalley and Rebecca Thorne for allowing me an ARC copy of this book! My review is my own thoughts and feelings of the story and production of the audiobook. The narration was great. Generally I feel like I don't notice how the narration impacts a story, unless it's bad. This was not bad, she did a good job with different voices to help keep the dialogue straight. Sometimes it's also funky when you speed it up, but that wasn't the case with this narration. I was able to listen at a higher speed with no issues.

This is such a cozy story. A member of the Queen’s private guard and the most powerful mage run away together to set up a cozy tea shop / bookstore in a village bordering on dragon lands.

It made me want to pour a cup of tea and curl up in a chair in front of a fireplace with a book in my hands and my yet-to-be-hatched griffon egg tucked snuggly into a box beside me.

My favorite parts were the scenes with the griffons and the bonus content that shared the story of how Reyna and Kianthe fell in love.

Narrator Jessica Threet captures the cozy fantasy vibes with her narration, and I liked her accents for both Reyna and Kianthe.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

A cozy sapphic love story between a Queens guard and the greatest mage of the realm. There are some big stakes, but the majority of the book is community and relationship building.

What a delightful book! I loved the narrator, the relationship between the two main characters, and getting to know their backstory as it catches up to them. I wanted to know more about some story pieces that weren't tied up, which I guess is good for wanting to read a sequel!

I loved this so much! It’s cozy, it’s interesting, it’s fun. The main characters are delightful & endearing. The side cast is also enjoyable. The main story line is both sweet & intriguing, but the side storylines make the book. I can’t wait for the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this audiobook!

While I am extremely grateful to get an ARC of this audiobook, it is not one for me. I could not finish it. It was confusing as to which perspective we were in. The world building, while creative, lacks a certain Oooph for me. I could not get enraptured in the prose the way I was hoping to.

If you love it, then I’m stoked for you. I wish the author all the best in her endeavors.

DNF @ 40%

Can't Spell Treason follows Reyna and Kianthe, two characters with fantasy trope roles in their world who want to leave it all behind, open a tea/bookshop and settle into a cozy life. Sound familiar? It should. It's the plot to Legends & Lattes. Treason Without Tea tries to do things a bit different by frontloading the romance angle, and it's suggested, upping the stakes on the ticking clock of the inevitable "upset".

The writing works well enough, and the narrator on the audiobook does a good job, however, the problem is that at just over 5 hours in I still was completely unengaged with any of the characters or what was going on because the book had failed to find it's own identity. Beat by beat we were repeating Legends & Lattes, almost to a distracting degree. Not just as a genre thing, but characters were similar, the events were playing out the same, down the the curmudgeonly builder, leylines and all.

Maybe this will work better for someone unfamiliar with where the inspiration is so clearly taken from, and likely in the time remaining the book finds it's own ground, but 5 hours is a LOT of time to invest and feel like I'm being told someone else's tale.

*Thanks you for the ALC provided by NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I really enjoyed this. It was cozy feeling but still had some medium stakes at hand. I like that the relationship was there but it didn’t leave that cozy romance rather than something spicier. It was a good change. The characters and their growth, dynamic, was really well done. The plot was also something I enjoyed and want to know the mystery that’s unfurling too! The narrator was really lovely and made it enjoyable to listen to. I finished it in two days, only because I had to sleep.

Reyna is the queens guard and Kianthe is a powerful mage. The two are in love. In a spur of the moment decision, Reyna runs away from her position with the queen to be with Kianthe. They are going to start a new life in Tawney and run a tea shop. There were a lot of aspects of the story that I really liked. The adventure, the dragons, the community in Tawney were all lovely. I think the story would have benefited from some editing to tighten it up. It felt as if the story just rambled most of the time, and what I thought was the main focus was not resolved in the story. This is the first book in a series and the author has provided a lot of world building as set up. While the story is marketed as a cozy fantasy, I didn't find this one to have cozy vibes. There is adventure and peril and angst. The ending was unexpected, and seems to be a set up for the next book. I will definitely be picking up the next book to get the conclusion of this story.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy.

“Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea” is a sapphic cozy fantasy novel in which two powerful FMCs, Reyna & Kianthe, run away from their pre-determined roles and responsibilities in the Queendom to open a bookstore in an inconsequential town, off the beaten path.

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, and I thought the narration was wonderfully done! The plot had more action than is typical for a “cozy” fantasy, but I enjoyed the sense of adventure. The side characters and animal companions were fun additions to the story, but overall the interpersonal relationships felt a little too easy. The world building also lacked depth. However, this book was heartfelt, easy to read, and kept my attention throughout - I constantly wanted to pick it back up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Rebecca Thorne for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have one issue and that was that it was incredibly boring at times. The audiobook narrator was fantastic, but that doesn’t change that the story feels slow.

Can’t spell treason without tea was a sweet sapphic love story with dynamic side characters and beautiful world building. I enjoyed getting to know the town and watching Reyna and Kianthe fall more in love and develop their relationship, I am looking forward to reading the sequel and following other works by Rebecca Thorne.

Cozy fantasy that’s sapphic and sweet? Low stakes and yet not boring? Nailed it! This is such a darling of a book, and while I can’t read things like this all the time, it was a great change of pace for me!

Our main characters were really different, but I loved that they were already together when we began, and they knew each other well, respected each other, and had a healthy thing going.

I also loved the townsfolk who rallied around them and made for excellent friends! Who doesn’t want their community to have a new books-and-tea shop?!

And- I hope the evil queen gets what’s coming to her in book 2!!

I really, really wanted to love this book but found that the audiobook fell a bit flat for me. Between the moments of big adventure and quiet cozy, I just didn't find the energy I usually love in a fantasy read. I found the audio narration to lack the excitement and emotion of those big and small moments that really make the story something you can fall into.

It's got all of the right bits of a cute, queer, cozy, found family, fantasy romance to fall in love with, the audio execution just left it feeling a little bland for me.

You really can’t just have a bookshop with plants and tea as a part of your setting and slap “cozy fantasy” on it when the stakes of everything else and the rest of the action is this high. If it were just the trading off of almost-life-threatening hurt/comfort, I could see that, but the story is much more about the wider political issues and trying to keep under the radar so Reyna isn’t /executed/ than the cozy setting up shop or starting life in a new town and the day-to-day things. Even when the shop is set up and the issues with the queen are dealt with, then there’s dragons to handle? It’s all a lot and we don’t really get time to bask in the cozy nature of the shop or Rain and Ki’s relationship.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea is a very sweet, low stakes, sapphic, cozy fantasy that lovers of the genre will love! It follows Reina, a member of the queens guard and Kianthe, the most powerful mage. Reina decides to abandon her post (at the risk of treason!) to run away with Kianthe and open a tea and bookshop.

I liked this but my main issue with the cozy fantasy genre as a whole is that because I know it's low stakes and the plot really isn't going to be a main thing, I tend to space out, particularly during audiobooks, and have definitely missed some key pieces. This was an issue for me in this book though I don't think it took away from my enjoyment per say. I liked all of the characters - particularly the griffins!! I thought it was very sweet but ultimately I just need a little more grit or plot in my books.

I liked the narration by Jessica Threet and enjoyed listening to her performance. She brought a lot of life into the story.

Thank you to Macmillan audio for the ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for providing a audio arc.
TW: self doubt, burn marks, manipulation
4.5
Can’t Spell Tea Without Treason is an adorable sapphic cozy fantasy. The story features our main characters Reyna and Kianthe as they try to escape their past from murder hungry queen to open up a tea shop/bookstore. The banter between the two main fmc characters is adorable. I love the fantasy setting the fact that both characters are bad ass. Kianthe with her magic and Reyna with being an assassin. I will say this story leans more on the fantasy aspect and does have higher stakes than other cozy fantasies out there but that doesn’t take away from the story. Imo it enhances it. I will say I wish there was a prequel to explain the magic system more as well as fleshing out how the two fmc got together. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

(If you love dragons, sapphic love, griffins, bad ass fmc, found family and tea this is the book for you).

I needed to cry when I ended the book, because I never wanted it to finish. THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Cozy, romantasy sapphic and cute. It gives you all the fuzzy feeling with the most beautiful and strong characters.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ!