Quiet Spells managed to be both quiet and loud in the best ways.
This is a dark academia urban fantasy set in and around Cambridge.

<b>My rival. My torment. My lover.</b>

In book one we had rivals to lovers done right. In Quiet Spells, we had two characters with dark pasts who fit together so well that they are scared to get too close in case they break it.
Add into that Teddy being a caregiver to the cutest little girl and the past rushing up to haunt them (literally).

If you liked the beautiful, bawl-you-over-with-love prose of book one, you will be fed with this.

<b>Imagine that these paper birds were me and you–I’d have folded us together. With sharper creases.
</b>
We have everything to make this an emotionally charged duology: letters, emails, yearning and longing and belonging.

Like, tell me that Teddy <b>never expected to miss, Schwartz’s constant white noise</b> doesn’t hit you right in the feels.

Both characters are made to spiral, to self-destruct. Can they find the quiet with each other?

<b>He knew there was love you could die for and love you could kill for, and both would lead him, sword in hand, to his knees in a plea of devotion.</b>

I loved little Lou. She doesn’t play a big role except to bring everyone together. She needs the support and love of those around her. They have to put away their own grief, anxiety, misgivings in order to make the world seem okay for a child.
Also, as someone who had frowning pains, especially with shortened calf muscles, I appreciated the inclusion of growing pains.

One part that did catch my eye again and again was the switching of names our two main characters call each other. From Teddy, to Theo, to Ingram. From Rory, to Aurelia, to Schwartz. Even at the end when you’d think they would settle on a loving nickname.

I had another minor quibble with a reveal that felt underutilised and too convenient and accepting for the character involved. This book was quite long as it was. I wonder if more had been cut.

The ending also felt very sudden compared to the slow-build of the rest of the book. I know a climax is supposed to go out with a bang, but I felt slightly whiplashed and thus, didn’t feel the emotional connection to the fallout.

The epilogue was lovely.

Physical arc gifted by Tor.

A beautiful story of grief, want, and duty.

Quiet Spells wasn’t what I was expecting but was everything I needed. Honestly, I have no clue what I was expecting, but this was so much better.

The overarching themes of the book are grief, duty and want, all within a dark academia-esq setting. Unlike book 1, the dark academia elements are not a prominent, but it has the same atmosphere. The story is largely told through the POVs of Aurelia and Teddy, with little snippets here and there from other characters, providing a greater perspective of the events happening.

Plot wise, the book takes a turn I wouldn’t have predicted. While there is carryover from book 1, there is a new plot point that largely takes centre stage, bringing our two main characters back into each other’s lives. It also enables further development and growth of Aurelia and Teddy.

Speaking of which, the book is filled with so much yearning, tension and want. For so much of the book so much goes unsaid, which if you hate you may not like, but it was so good to read. It is effectively a slow-burn. And, I loved watching how they tried to navigate their interactions with each other. Honestly, I just wanted to hug them both.

The world building is expanded upon, but there are elements left unexplained as they aren’t the focus of the story. The way I look at it is that it’s really a story about Aurelia and Teddy, we’re seeing their version of the world and so there won’t always be a detailed explanation for everything – at least that is my take.

If you loved Modern Divination, Quiet Spells is definitely one to read!

Quiet spells is such an addictive read, I read Modern Divination and Quiet spells back to back over just a few days.
The writing is beautiful and lyrical, the story has a cozy and comforting feeling to it even though it deals with difficult themes including grief, trauma and issues with self esteem and belonging.
The descriptions of the cottage, library and locations within the book are so detailed and atmospheric that you feel as if you are there.
The plot continued from the first book answering all the questions that were left unanswered, new characters were introduced and we learnt more about our favourite characters from book one.
The yearning in this book is everything, Rory and Teddy’s relationship is so sweet and their chemistry is perfect. They lean on each other through their grief and give each other space when needed. These characters will stay with me for a long time.
It had a beautiful satisfying ending and the epilogue tied everything up perfectly.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the E-arc of this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor for this eARC!

As an obsessively devoted lover of Modern Divination, I feel as though I could never have enough of this world but also as though we recieved a beautiful gift from Isa Agajanian in this ending.

After watching characters we have grown to love endure unparalleled levels of strife and misfortune, grow together and apart and back again, as the plot thickens and twists and turns, we are led on a personal journey. A journey between the reader and the characters, the reader and the author. We are taught about pain, grief, empathy, loves both fierce and tender, about loyalty and integrity, about what it is to be beautiful, complex, and complicated, multifaceted.

There is nothing simple, and yet everything is. It all comes down to one thing.

This book displays an incredible depth of emotion and an unflinchingly honest perspective on how to carry and share some very difficult and heavy thoughts and experiences. Teddy and Rory live forever in my bones, to be revisited often.

Teddy's incessant yearning got to me a little bit until about 50%, when the pace picks up a tad and more things start happening, but otherwise this is an absolute banger of a book.