Stay for a Spell - by Amy Coombe (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.

During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy's dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart's desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among the stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.

She even starts to believe she's stumbled into her very own happily ever after.

There's just one, minor problem: as Tandy's royal duties go unfulfilled, her frantic parents start sending princes to woo her, each one of them certain their kiss will break the curse. After all, what more could a princess want but a prince?

Review Quotes

"Absolutely cozy and positively delightful, this book will warm your heart and soothe your soul--and make you want your own bookshop! I loved it!"--Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

"I am thoroughly charmed by Coombe's incredible debut. This book was a daydream, a bonbon, a joy. Forget dark academia, I want this -- light, bookish, endlessly enchanting. Coombe has redefined cosy & whimsy in this adorable tale. Five sparkling stars!"--Brigitte Knightley, New York Times bestselling author of The Irresistable Urge to Fall for your Enemy

"A delightfully whimsical read, full of moments that are as heartwarming as they are laugh-out-loud funny. Stay for a Spell suggests that the secret to happiness really can be found in your local bookstore (with a devilishly handsome pirate to boot)."--Jenna Levine, USA Today bestselling author of My Roommate is a Vampire

"A magical novel filled to the brim with warmth and joy. Honestly, you'll never want to move out."--Patrick Ness, author of the Chaos Walking trilogy

"A charming and warm-hearted fairy tale for anyone who's ever thought a bookshop feels like home. Stay for a Spell is a potpourri of cozy fantasy elements--princes and pirates, a magical cat, found family, and of course a delightful bookshop--that will enchant readers looking for a gentle place to land."--M. Stevenson, author of Behooved

"Stay for a Spell is like hot chocolate for the heart - warm, sweet, and a truly lovely treat. If you're in the mood to be charmed, entertained, and joyously amused, then this is the perfect book for you! Its delightful whimsy will wrap you up in the coziest hug."--India Holton, USA Today bestselling author of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

"Stay for a Spell is the book of my dreams: a grown-up novel that captures the magic, wit, and warmth of the princess stories I adored as a child. (This is, for the record, the greatest compliment I can give to a work of fiction.)" Sylvie Cathrall, author of A Letter to the Luminous Deep

"A delightfully cozy and romantic escape read for anyone who's ever fantasized about running away and hiding in books."--Stephanie Burgis, author of Wooing the Witch Queen

"Stay for a Spell is one of the most charming, feel-good fantasies I've enjoyed in ages, I read the whole thing with a warm glow in my heart. A book-lover's book with romance, pirates in tight breeches, sharp patter, and a curse I'd honestly sign up for any day, Amy Coombe has captured in book form that fuzzy feeling of sitting by a hearth with a cup of something hot, the comfortable weight of a cat on one's lap, and, of course, a dashingly good book at one's fingertips."--Marianne Gordon, author of The Gilded Crown

"Coombe has created an utterly enchanting world and cozy story set against the backdrop of a lovely bookshop and adorable village. Readers will root for Tandy to discover her heart's desire and find the courage to seize it; as well as root for her banterful romance with a charming pirate. Stay for a Spell is ridiculously fun!"--A.T. Qureshi, USA Today bestselling author of The Baby Dragon Café

"Witty, enchantingly romantic, and brimming with magical mayhem - this one will have you grinning from the first page to the last!"--Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone, New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors

"Look, if you'd said that cozy could be empowering, whimsy could be sexy and curses could be liberating, I think it would have been fair to laugh in your face. But Stay for a Spell serves up a three course meal of cozy, whimsy and sexy and then turns round and asks if you'd like a dash of hilarious thrown in for good measure too, and wouldn't you know it, this turns out to be the most delicious literary meal you've had all year. I think it is fair to say that I have a heart like an icicle, and yet by the end even my frozen and embittered soul was getting all wibbly around the edges. This is a book that knows exactly what it's doing, and you know exactly what it's doing, and as a result it is the warmest hug and nicest possible time you're going to have wrapped up in its utterly delightful, ridiculously charming and effortlessly compelling pages."--Claire North, author of Ithaca and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

About the Author