Early Review – Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: October 1, 2024
ASIN: B0CV21LJWF
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone book
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“Ever since the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that rest in the swirls of ginger, cloves, and cardamon that lie at the bottom of their customers’ cups. Their days at the teashop are filled with talk of butterflies and good fortune intertwined with the sound of cinnamon shortbread being snapped by laced fingers.
That is, until the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her powers, and the sisters suddenly find themselves being pulled in different directions. As Anne’s magic begins to develop beyond that of her sisters’, Beatrix’s writing attracts the attention of a publisher, and Violet is enchanted by the song of the circus—and perhaps a mischievous trapeze artist threatening to sweep her off her feet—it seems a family curse that threatens to separate the sisters is taking effect.
With dwindling time to rewrite their future and help three other witches challenge their own destinies, the Quigleys set out to bargain with Fate. But in focusing so closely on saving each other, will they lose sight of themselves?”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this to review from NetGalley.
Thoughts: I struggled with this one. It is cute and cozy with some fun magic. However, it is just incredibly slow, and, by the end of it all, not much happens. The sisters felt two-dimensional to me and maybe that is because we switch between them so much we never really get to engage with any of them.
Since the death of their parents, three sisters (Anne, Beatrix, and Violet) have owned a teashop where they use their witchy powers to read customers’ tea leaves. Unexpectidly the sisters are assigned a task by the Council of Witches that they must complete or else they will loose their tea shop. Amid all this stress, the three sisters are finding themselves pulled in very different directions. Anne wants to explore her growing seer powers, Beatrix has a story accepted by a publishing house and wants to pursue a career as a writer, and Violet develops a fondness for the circus as a budding trapeze artist.
I kept getting the feeling that the author was trying too hard to be cozy, the descriptions were over the top and the pace was just sooo slow. I like my coziness with a bit more story and the occasional urgent feeling.
All of the characters in here felt a bit bland and underdeveloped to me. They had one or two aspects of their character that were emphasized over and over. I also felt like the story took too long to get moving and was repetitive. We spend a ton of time with the sisters sneaking around each other and feeling guilty; rinse and repeat this over and over.
This was okay. The writing is easy to read and the story tied up decently. I just wish the characterization, story, and world-building had been…well…more.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was a mediocre cozy fantasy that tries really hard to be cozy but forgets that readers need an engaging story and characters to go along with that. The characters were very two-dimensional, the story was repetitive and slow, and the end I was mostly bored by this. The writing did flow fine and was easy to read, and I did end up finishing this because it didn’t take me a super long time to read. However, my predominent feeling by the end was “Well, happy to be done with that, it was so boring!” So, I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a book, if you want a deliberately paced cozy fantasy with some magic this might be the read for you…it wasn’t for me though.
