Book Tasting: The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

The Enchanted Greenhouse, Bramble/Tor Publishing, copyright 2025, 372 pages, hardcover, cozy fantasy romance, magic


About Book Tastings: In a book tasting, we read only the opening 25 pages of a book. We’ll tell how the book begins and then say whether those pages inspired us to continue reading the book. A book tasting is not a book review; it doesn’t evaluate the entire book. (For more about Book Tastings, click here)

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Terlu Perna was a lonely young woman who had worked as a librarian in the Great Library of Alyssium. Unfortunately, her loneliness had pushed her to magically turn a spider plant into a sentient being, her new friend Caz. Librarians know where the sorcerers’ magic books are, but that does not give them permission to read and use the spells for any reason, including loneliness. Terlu used magic anyway, consequently, she broke the law.

Sitting in court, listening to the court proceedings, Terlu observed the judge. He looked like a hermit crab with his spider-like limbs and claws sticking out from his robes. Terlu herself had no claws. She was short, plump, had curly hair and had skin a lovely shade of lavender. That’s not unusual considering her mother’s skin is purple and her father’s is light pink.

At the trial, Terlu waved to her friend Caz the spider plant. He waved back, very happy to be sentient, but that didn’t sway the judge. Then the head librarian spoke on Terlu’s behalf. That also didn’t sway the judge who seemed bent on severely punishing Terlu, possibly as a warning to others in the Crescent Islands Empire who would do magic illegally.

The judge decided that Terlu was guilty. Her sentence? To be turned into a statue and placed in the library as a warning to others not to dabble in magic! Terlu knew she was guilty, but the punishment seemed severe for a first offense. They took Terlu to a dark stone room. She recognized a sorcerer and his incantation ingredients. She donned a fourth-year librarian outfit, and he began the spell. Her blood hardened and her skin turned to polished wood. She knew she was still there, alive, but her senses dimmed. After her change, they put her on a pedestal in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. She was grateful for this location because at least she wouldn’t be alone. Surprisingly, she could think and dream, but time was different as a stationary creature -- and time passed.

After having her mind drift here and there for who knows how long, Terlu began to feel everything. She was cold, she was confused, and she fell to a heap on a snowy forest floor. She got up and carefully moved forward. Many questions filled her now working brain. Who undid the statue spell, turning her human again, and where was she?

Terlu moved forward, noticing that she wasn’t in the Reading Room but outside in a forest, and it was snowy and cold! She walked and walked and eventually came to a huge greenhouse. After a bit, she found a door and was able to get her freezing body inside.

Here, she began a long trek walking through one greenhouse, then through the doorway into another connected greenhouse, and then another, each with different plants and creatures (like a flying cat). Terlu was in awe of the beautiful plants and dragonflies and other magical critters; and then, through the fourth greenhouse door, she met a very handsome man who declared, “Oh! It’s you! It worked!”

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The narrative style of The Enchanted Greenhouse is told through a third-person perspective, following Terlu who seems unsure of herself and who desires companionship.

Once Terlu finds the greenhouse, the book seems to have easy situations and little tension as she goes through each greenhouse up to when she meets the gardener. The first couple of greenhouses were fascinating with gorgeous plants and creatures. However, there were more than 10 pages of description of one greenhouse after another. I don’t think all those greenhouse pages of "telling" were necessary, even though they were creative. Reading further might reveal why we need to know about each greenhouse and maybe those 10 pages of descriptive text will be important later.

After reading 25 pages, I have many questions. Why was Terlu, as a statue, moved to the forest and greenhouse location? Who released her from the spell? How many years have passed since she was first turned into a statue? And who is this handsome gardener who seems to have answers to some of those questions?

My curiosity makes me want to keep reading to find out the answers to my questions and to discover why and how this is an "enchanted" greenhouse. The easy reading and basic storyline fit the cozy fantasy romance genre.

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The Enchanted Greenhouse is Durst’s second book that takes place in the Crescent Islands Empire. Durst’s first book, The Spellshop, kept my interest from beginning to end, which follows a different librarian, Kiela, who is friends with Caz, the sentient spider plant that Terlu had magicked to life. It was a light easy read.

The Enchanted Greenhouse seems to be the same type of cozy fantasy romance filled with colorful people of all sizes and shapes. This book stands alone, so far, and there seems to be no need to read the books in any order.

A third book in Durst’s Crescent Island Empire series, Sea of Charms, has a release date of July 2026.


Book Tasting post by Jackie Sachen Turner

Book Tasting: Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

Originally published in Russian in 2002 as Крадущийся в тени

Shadow Prowler, Tor Books, English translation by Andrew Bromfield, copyright 2010, 557 pages



About Book Tastings: In a book tasting, we read only the opening 25 pages of a book. We’ll tell how the book begins and then say whether those pages inspired us to continue reading the book. A book tasting is not a book review; it doesn’t evaluate the entire book. (For more about Book Tastings, click here)

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Shadow Prowler is an epic / high fantasy novel. It’s book one of The Chronicles of Siala trilogy.

The first 25 pages, which I read, are comprised of chapter 1 and six pages of chapter 2.

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Shadow Harold is creeping through the streets of Avendoom at night. This is not unusual for him. Lately people fear being out at night because demons have appeared in the city since the Nameless One began stirring in the Desolate Lands.

This night Harold finds the streets strangely quiet. He hears hasty footsteps and Harold freezes in the shadows. A winged demon falls upon a man passing nearby, kills him, and then flies away carrying the body. Afterwards, the normal night sounds return.

Harold cautiously moves from shadow to shadow to his destination, a large house which is the residence of Duke Patin. Harold, a master thief, took a commission to steal an item from the duke’s collection. The house appears quiet and unoccupied. Harold expects only a few servants inside. Harold then thoroughly checks his equipment.

When picking the lock of a side gate, Harold hears horsemen approaching and hides. He sees thirteen riders: uniformed royal guardsmen and a mysterious veiled woman with two cloaked riders beside her. He thinks it strange. A few minutes later, another group of uniformed horsemen gallop by. Harold waits some time before he returns to open the gate.

Harold enters the duke’s house by the kitchen door. He knows the plan of the house. A servants’ staircase leads to the second floor. He carefully treads toward the ducal apartments.

In the corridor, there is a garrinch, a monstrous watchdog creature. Harold hides in the shadows and luckily the garrinch passes him by.

Harold is surprised to see a light under the ducal bedchamber’s door. He hears voices. One voice is recognizable as the duke’s, the other voice sounds malicious. They are arguing about loyalty and plans of the king. The argument ends with a scream from the duke.

Harold peeks into the room and sees the duke with his throat ripped out and a winged demon with yellow eyes by the open window. Harold shoots the demon in its back with his small crossbow before it flies away.

Harold grabs the item he was hired to steal and makes a run for it. In the corridor he is spotted by the garrinch watchdog. Harold throws the contents of a phial into the garrinch’s face. The beast is overpowered by magical itchiness and Harold escapes. He knows the city will be in an uproar tomorrow.

A couple of days later, at twilight, Harold discreetly goes to The Knife and Ax in the Port City district of the city. Harold’s presence gets some malicious glances from others in the establishment. The owner and innkeeper, Old Gosmo, is a former thief. Gosmo passed the information on the commission to steal the item from the duke to Harold. Harold inconspicuously passes the bundled stolen item to Gozmo and, in return, inconspicuously gets paid in pieces of gold. One of the inn’s serving men immediately takes the item to an unknown client. Harold fakes amazement upon hearing the news that the duke had up and died recently.

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The first 25 pages of Shadow Prowler feature the tale of a burglary told in first person from the point-of-view of the thief himself. This burglary ended up being more complicated than he expected. Along the way, we learn of various ominous developments happening in the old, walled city of Avendoom.

The English translation of this Russian book starts by successfully setting a dark atmosphere. There’s a feeling of impending doom. It’s written in a highly readable way.

There is evidence of fantasy worldbuilding. In this world, there exist magicians. Other humanoids such as dwarves, gnomes, ogres, and giants are mentioned. A feared Nameless One is restless in the icy Desolate Lands. But none of these have been encountered yet in the first 25 pages of the book.

Harold the thief completes one thieving contract job. I don't know whether the item he stole - a gold statuette of a dog - will become significant later. There are various worrisome issues which seem to need tackling, such as the winged demons hunting in the city at night. What direction will this thief character go next? I want to continue reading this book to find out.


Book Tasting post by Amy Peterson