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: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Ecco Press, copyright 2022, 368 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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Remarkably Bright Creatures is an adult fiction New York Times best seller. The genre could be considered a mixture of several categories: literary fiction, magical realism and mystery. The story begins inside a fictional aquarium near Puget Sound in the fictional town of Sowell Bay. The book “chapters” follow different characters. The Marcellus sections are told as an inner dialogue, first person, showing him to be sentient. The other chapters, following Tova and Cameron, are told in third person.

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We first meet Marcellus, a Giant Pacific Octopus, who lives in an aquarium tank. He can read the plaque next to his tank stating, “Octopuses are remarkably bright creatures.” He knows how long he’s been in captivity and that his species lives for about 1,460 days. That means he has about 160 left to live.

At night Marcellus likes to escape his tank and scavenge for extra food. Sometimes he takes a few blue bay mussels from another tank, but usually he likes to forage through the human areas for scraps. Unfortunately, he can only survive 18 minutes out of the tank before “The Consequences” set in, and he must hurry back to the tank before he passes out or dies.

One evening, Marcellus gets tangled up in a thin power cord and can’t return to his tank. He’s in mortal danger as the minutes tick by.

The next chapter follows Tova, 70 years old, who is the aquarium’s janitor. As Tova cleans, she greets all the creatures as she wipes down the sides of the various tanks. On this day, when she gets into the break room, she sees Marcellus, tangled up in a cord. Tova frees him, which makes Marcellus very grateful, although a few suction marks end up on Tova’s arm.

Tova had a son Eric who mysteriously disappeared a couple of decades ago when he was 18. The authorities believe he committed suicide in Puget Sound, but Tova knows he wouldn’t have done that. The years have gone by, but her gut feeling remains sad yet hopeful.

Tova and her friends started a knitting group 25 years ago called the Knit-Wits. They started the group around the time they became empty nesters, when their kids went to college or got married. Tova’s empty nest was because her son went missing.

Currently, the group talks about grandkids, which Tova understands but finds sad because she can’t come to terms with losing her son. Her hope to find Eric never leaves her.

Driving home from her knitting meeting, Tova looks at the sunset over Puget Sound and thinks about her own family from Sweden and brother Lars. She also thinks about her son, maybe or maybe not, missing somewhere in that body of water.

When Tova gets home, she gets a phone call about the death of her brother Lars, which brings up memories of her childhood and Sweden.

At the end of the 25 pages, we’re introduced to a third character. Cameron Cassmore has borrowed his friend’s truck to drive to Welina Mobile Park to help his Aunt Jeanne clean up her overgrown clematis vine. Cameron is amazed that he knows so much detail about plants, which sounds like a mystery to be solved.

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This novel captured my attention immediately by starting with the inner monologue of Marcellus the octopus. Each chapter with Marcellus begins with a heading telling us the number of days he’s been in captivity. He is portrayed as a matter-of-fact creature, with clear observations.

In this short Book Tasting reading, we have three of Marcellus’s sections, two of Tova’s chapters and one page into the chapter about Cameron Cassmore.

When we follow Tova, the author Van Pelt uses rich metaphors and similes to describe actions and feelings, such as Tova sees a partially hidden octopus that is “like a child’s hide and seek misstep.” She sees the octopus’s eye that glints “like a naughty child’s.” The octopus’s arm winds around hers “like a maypole ribbon.” Tova keeps her thoughts deep inside “like an old bullet.” Also, Tova “feels as if she’s a mistaken jigsaw piece who found her way into the wrong puzzle.” Van Pelt uses her unique metaphors and similes to add richness to this poignant fascinating story, and it works beautifully.

With a third main character (Cameron) introduced, Van Pelt seems to hint that somehow, all these lives (and maybe more) will come together in some special way. I’m looking forward to reading this delightful, well-written, moving story to see how Shelby Van Pelt connects all the dots. Hopefully, Tova will find the answers she seeks within the next 343 pages of this story.


Book Tasting post by Jackie Sachen Turner

Book Tasting: My Brother’s Keeper by Tim Powers

My Brother's Keeper, Baen Books, copyright 2023, 301 pages as trade paperback, cover art by Eric Williams


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)


My Brother’s Keeper is a fictionalized book featuring English literature’s famous Brontë family in the village of Haworth in West Yorkshire, England.

The prologue takes place in the Brontë children’s past. A young teenage Branwell comes into the kitchen where he tells his younger sisters about his dream where he saw their dead older sister Maria at the crag called Ponden Kirk, which lies beyond the parsonage and into the moors. He then insists that his younger sisters Anne and Emily accompany him there that very day. At Ponden Kirk, the three do a ritual where they slice their hands with a knife and mix their blood on the rock. Branwell believes that act will bring back their dead sister Maria. But it doesn’t, so they go home to tell their older sister Charlotte about their adventure.

Chapter One begins years later with 27-year-old Emily feeling drawn to Ponden Kirk again. She takes her dog Keeper with her. There she finds a wounded man with a patch over one eye who reveals nothing about himself or his serious deadly wounds. Emily runs to the nearest neighbor for help, and a memory from seven years ago crosses her mind. A huge weird looking dog had bitten the back of her hand, leaving a strange scar. When Emily and her neighbors get back to Ponden Kirk, the wounded stranger has gone. But he left without his bloodied double-bladed knife that Emily decides to secretly pick up and put in her pocket.

Emily shows her siblings and father the knife when she returns home, telling them about her adventure. Mr. Brontë knows what the wounded man looked like before Emily could describe him. Branwell remembered the first time he saw a double-bladed knife, when he was coerced into participating in a weird “baptism.”

It was 10 years ago when Branwell was drunk and met a Reverend Farfleece who asked Branwell about the scar on the back of his hand. Branwell’s scar, just like Emily’s, was from the bite a large malformed dog. Rev. Farfleece tells Branwell he must go through a special baptism to protect himself from that evil dog-like creature. Branwell follows Farfleece to a church where he meets a woman holding the double-bladed knife, which Branwell knows must be part of this baptism. All this he keeps secret from his family.

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I’m intrigued with this alternate reality novel where Tim Powers pulls historical information about the Brontë family and then recreates storyline around those facts, taking it into a different genre altogether. My only issues with continuing this novel are twofold. First, within the first twenty-five pages the storyline jumps from one age of the characters to other ages, introducing backstory. Emily is around twelve and her brother is one year older. Then we read about Anne being 6, but wait, that was 4 years earlier, which makes her 10? Switch then to an older Emily, but then we read about when she was four years younger than that. Then something happened when Branwell was 18 but now Emily is 27. You get the picture.

The second issue is with Branwell. His character is one of idleness filled with social anxiety, where he worries a lot about what people think of him. His actions have the opposite effect from what he’d like, which makes him look foolish rather than in charge of his life. It’s tough to read his story.

Still, I’m enjoying this book, mostly the storyline that follows Emily. Tim Powers has a way with words that pulls me into the story and vividly lets me visualize in detail. I will continue reading this book, and I’m looking forward to reading about the different elements that might come forth in the next pages. The gothic looking cover art makes me think Tim Powers will enter the horror genre.

Powers usually writes science fiction and fantasy, so I expect more crazy plots and twists for the remaining pages with some weird fantastical or alternate reality elements.


Book Tasting post by Jackie Sachen Turner