Fans of cozy romantasy rejoice! A Tale of Mirth & Magic is exactly what you're looking for, especially if you like Jenna Wolfhart.

I had a lot of fun diving into this world and getting to know the characters. Elikki is charming and confident baddie, while Barra is the quiet lovable giant. It's a bit opposites attract (think extrovert & introvert). I enjoyed their dynamic and found them to be adorably sweet. I also thought their characters were well developed and had depth. Plus the steamy scenes were a nice surprise!

Vale delivers all the cozy fantasy vibes. There's magic, pretty landscapes and great sounding food. The atmosphere was easy to escape to while also not being complicated. I really liked the worldbuilding.

For fans of cozy fantasy/romantasy, opposites attract, forced proximity, and monster romance.

Wonderfully fun adventure with a healthy amount of steam! It is very easy to fall in love with this couple, their journey and the special bonds they develop as they figure out themselves and one another. The diverse and flourishing world the author created is so fun and vibrant! I'd love to live here. Can't wait for more from this author!

I wanted to like this book, but it fell flat in almost every aspect. There was such potential for a fleshed out world and complex characters, but what we got was a queendom don’t even remember learning was a queendom until the end of the book populated with characters who develop so quickly it’ll give you whiplash. I wish the author had been given space to expand the world and draw out the characters’ interactions over time.

It’s full of heart, magic, and genuine affection. The spice is lovely, the humor is delightful, and the emotional arcs feel true. I absolutely loved every single moment of it.

I don't gravitate towards romances, but the cover of this caught my eye, and I'm glad I stepped outside of my usual reads. This book is delightful! The main characters were nicely fleshed out, the world was SUPER cozy, and the spicy scenes were abundant and well done. In my opinion, this book is more character driven than plot driven (which appeals to me) as the main plot served more as a device to get the characters together and was overall a bit flimsy with a sudden resolution. HOWEVER, again I didn't mind this as I didn't really care about the plot and just wanted to focus on the characters and their developing romance.

I also appreciated how this book had an epilogue! Since it's a cozy escapist romance, why not give the readers a glimpse into the future (no spoilers, but it was sweet). I would happily read a sequel or another book set in this verse.

Thank you to Forever/Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to review this book!

I absolutely adored the diverse body sizes of both characters. It is so refreshing to read a fat/curvy FMC in a fantasy novel- especially when she is confident in who she is.

I also really enjoyed the premise of the story with Barra’s insecurities in love and well as El’s impulsiveness- both evening the other out. And who doesn’t love a good quest/hiding like outlaws in the woods.

My only “complaint” would be that at times the story seemed to drag. Overall, this was a really great spicy but cozy fantasy read! I can’t wait for more!

I went into the book expecting a cozy romance full of tea, food, some adventure and a romance. What you get, is that plus the main characters are HORNY. This definitely jumped right into the spice before any real romance occurred. Barra is a sweet, overly anxious Cinnamon Roll of a main character. He's been used for novelty and doesn't want to be used again, but he's willing to be flexible about that because he's really lusting after this elf. Ellikki is an elf with abandonment issues and honestly, I didn't love her as a FMC. She's the classic case of someone writing a "strong female character" and instead creating a character that is so stubborn and stupid that you find yourself asking "how did you stay alive long enough to get to this point?" Especially in Elliki's case because she's supposedly been on her own since age 16 but she seems to have the self-preservation skills of that deer you dodged on the highway. The book was fun, it was lighthearted. I will give it a lot of credit for its portrayal of LGBTQ and plus sized characters. I enjoyed the side characters that the two meet on the road and I want a book that is just a bunch of stories set in the Inn.

Favorite Quote: “I thought about the way you screamed my name last time. How much I wanted to hear that again.”🤭

My Thoughts: This was the cutest and coziest fantasy romance I’ve read in a very long time! Elikki is an elf who is on the run after one of her customers makes her angry, and her powers get the best of her. Barra is a half giant that accidentally gets himself roped in with her. I just loved them together. Is it insta lusty/insta lovey? Yes. But when it comes to these two, I didn’t care. Elikki is a hilarious and confident FMC, which I love when it comes to a female lead.

Barra is a new book boyfriend of mine💜🥹He’s such a gentle giant who is very attentive. The biggest cinnamon roll! I loved the descriptions of the food and the places the characters went throughout their journey. I felt like I was with them, eating lemon cake and sipping on tea.

The story as a whole was so much fun! If you love journeys, food, magic, cinnamon roll MMC’s, romance, humor, and spice, I highly recommend this book! It just had everything I loved in a cozy fantasy romance. I can’t wait to have a physical copy on my shelf when this comes out!

Elikki is an elf with magical powers who makes jewelry. Barra is a gentle half giant. Elikki is selling her wares at the market one day when she encounters a jerk of a customer and she defends herself, but now she's on the run. Barra saw it all and now they're on the run together.

This is such a sweet, HOT story. Elikki has endless energy and Barra is such a caring gentleman. The guy even saves a kitten, so you know he's a good guy. This is also about found family and learning what your strengths are. And this is a debut too!!

Thank you to Forever for the copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

A Tale of Mirth and Magic by Kristen Vale
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!
This cozy fantasy romance had such a promising start. A magical jewelry maker with chaotic powers, a sweet and shy half-giant, a dash of mischief, and the beginning of a fun on-the-run adventure? I was hooked in the first 30%—the setup had a lot of charm and potential!
But as I kept reading, I started to lose interest. The writing sometimes felt like it was trying too hard to explain everything, which pulled me out of the story. Some scenes and transitions were jarring, and I found myself confused at times wondering how we got from point A to B. The spice scenes also felt a bit sudden and didn’t always match the pace or tone.
I didn’t dislike the book—it had heart, and I appreciated the unique character dynamics and cozy feel. It just didn’t fully click for me. Still, I think others might enjoy the cozy-meets-spicy fantasy vibe more than I did!
3 stars from me, mainly because of how much I enjoyed the beginning.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this complimentary ARC.

This was a cute romance that follows Elikki, a curvy 6-foot-tall elf, and Barra, an eight-foot-tall half-giant. We follow the two on their journey as they attempt to outrun bounty hunters, after an encounter Elikki experiences in the market. If you are looking for a fast and light read, where there aren't super high stakes and any conflict (interpersonal or otherwise) is quickly solved, this is the book for you.

Now I love love love, a monster romance. However, I wish that the characters and plot had a bit more depth. While issues weren't dragged out (which is always appreciated), it did feel as though everything was resolved a bit too easily. There were times I wished I could have dug my teeth in deeper, but it just wasn't there. Overall, this was a cute short read, and I would recommend!

Thank you NetGalley, and Grand Central Publishing for this advanced reader copy that I received at a Book Huddle retreat.

I’m not one for a cozy fantasy, but this was one of the best cozy fantasy’s I’ve ever read. It was equal parts light hearted and heartfelt. The characters were well written and complex, while also being surprisingly believable for mythical creatures. I liked the way their relationship evolved over the course of the book too. Everything happened at a reasonable pace. Would read ten more of these.

DNF.

Bleh. This isn't cozy fantasy, it's romantasy, and not even GOOD romantasy. It's awkwardly written with just random sexy talk dropped in in a way that just feels super gross. Uch. No thank you. Not a prude (love ACOTAR etc), but this is just ick. I saw another review that requested "get some plot to go with the sex please," and YES. This needs to go back to the drawing board for an actual story.

This was good but not great. I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book and thought the representation was great. Overall I found this FMC to be insufferable at points and felt so bad for the MMC. It was just one of those relationships where I don't see it being an HEA. I just wished the book slayed as hard as the cover art did.

This is an open door romantacy. I didn’t really connect with the main characters, but it was a fun, quick read. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to love this, because I love cozy fantasies, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter. The writing really needs work!

This was cute, cozy and an easy fantasy read for beginners! Barra is a big lovable giant from the get-go, but El is REALLY callous and brash at the beginning and it made it a little difficult to truly feel for her at times. I did get over that feeling as we got further in to the story! The spice in this was done really well and wasn’t overdone or just thrown in there to make a point. I appreciated the variety of characters and the plus size and LGBTQIA+ representation. The banter was fun but the third act breakup did kind of throw me out of things a bit 🥲 overall solid fantasy romance and I would recommend it!

I quite enjoyed this book! I was thinking that I needed to read about some full-figured main characters, and this book popped up among my choices with its two lovely main characters

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of A Tale of Mirth & Magic by Kristen Vale

This was my first monster romance and it was really charming and cute! It’s a cutesy romance between an elf and half giant. Elekka is a very forward and fun elf while Barra is a quiet and shy half giant. He helps her get out of a jam and they end up on the run together.

I really wanted to like this book, but it ultimately felt a little unfinished to me. Barra, the main male character, seemed like such a sweet character but didn’t feel very fleshed out and Elikki felt absent and very shallow. I thought the plot was interesting, but it didn’t seem to move forward with any of the actual story? Something is missing from this and I’m not entirely sure what it is. Also - the sex scene right after Barra got hurt and they just glossed over it? That felt very forced and almost like the injury was an afterthought. 2.5/5

Thank you to the author and publisher for this ARC! I am super interested in seeing what the final published version of this book looks like.