A magical practice year of study goes delightfully wrong in this sapphic cozy fantasy debut, perfect for fans of Heather Fawcett.

Violet Willoby, final-year student of magical alchemy and questioner-of-rules extraordinaire, was planning to spend her practice year of study in some glamorous metropolis. Instead, she is ordered to spend it in a countryside backwater town called Moorton-on-Spindle. And to make a bad thing unbearably awful, rule-loving, stuck-up, and insufferably arrogant paladin-in-training Viessa Qinsadoral is sent along to keep an eye on her.

Now Violet is forced to spend the year completing university assignments while constantly faced with Viessa’s diametrically opposed principles as well as her upsettingly attractive, well-trained arms. The only nonhorrific aspect about Moorton is the necromantic curse on the nearby moor, where nothing ever truly dies. Despite their supervising alchemist Charlotte Tusk’s every effort to keep them away from it, Violet and Viessa can’t resist getting to the bottom of this mystery—and find it may be much more dangerous than anyone expected.

A refreshing twist on academic fantasy full of electric banter, magical shenanigans, and heated late-night studying, this witty and charming novel is a delightful mix of Legends & Lattes’ cozy medieval magic and the slow-burn haters-to-lovers romance of A Dark and Drowning Tide.