This was a cute, cozy fantasy novel along the likes of Legends and Lattes. 

A reclusive librarian, with her sentient spider plant, Caz, must flee the library when the rebels begin to burn the library. Now settling on the island of her childhood home, she must contend with fending for herself armed only with spell books (that legally she isn’t allowed to use) and her inexperience with socialization. 

I was interested in the easy world & its magic conflicts and the island residents that Durst created. It’s an island that I would want to stay on. Caz is my favorite character and now I just want my plants to talk to me too. 

I will admit it took me a while to warm up to Kiela. While we are both introverts, but I believe my issue lied in repetitively being told that she doesn’t want to interact with people nor be caught in illegal acts every few paragraphs in the first half of this book.  

I was satisfied by the end, but I did find it some threads rushed (e.i a randomly thrown in romance pairing) and a bit plot convenient. 

There is an in-universe standalone sequel (featuring Caz’s creator) coming so I’m interested in seeing where this goes.