“Stay for a Spell” by Amy Coombe

This book about a princess trapped in a bookshop (the horror!) was extremely fun. It was cute and had me laughing out loud more than once.

Our protagonist is the Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar, better known as Tandy. She is on a procession about the countryside, engaging in weighty royal duties such as cutting ribbons and kissing babies, when she experiences that worst of all possible things - she’s read the last of the books she has with her. Luckily they soon pass a bookshop. Unfortunately, while in the bookshop, the proprietress dies, leaving Tandy the owner of the bookshop and magically unable to leave until she “achieves her heart’s desire.”

Obviously Tandy is absolutely bemoaning the terrible fate of being trapped in a bookshop, which comes with a magical, tentacle-having cat, a moody goth draconic teenager, and a distractingly sexy pirate who’s got his own curse that makes him afraid of large bodies of water. Once word of this reaches her parents they start sending what is obviously every princess’s “heart’s desire” - a prince. Prince after prince comes to the bookshop, ready to lay Love’s First Kiss on her.

They’re about as successful as you would expect.

Very little of the shape of this story surprised me - it’s the book version of a romcom. But, just like with Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts & Richard Gere, you’re not really supposed to be in suspense on who is going to end up with who. This is a tropey story done very well, and I enjoyed every minute. The princes, each their own version of hapless, were hilarious. Moody goth teenagers are always funny to me, but make them draconic and it’s somehow funnier. I had several strangers ask me about the book I was reading because there were moments I was literally finding it difficult to breathe for laughing.

A fantastic debut, and I’m looking forward to whatever else the author comes out with.