Sarah Beth Durst's Blog, page 6

THE SPELLSHOP won the Libby Book Award for Best Fantasy!!!

Amazing news this morning! THE SPELLSHOP won the Libby Book Award for Best Fantasy!!! Thank you, librarians and Libby! I am so incredibly grateful, honored, and thrilled!

https://www.libbylife.com/2025-02-25-the-winners-of-the-2025-libby-book-awards

THE WARBLER comes out today!!!

Today is the book birthday for my newest book, THE WARBLER! It's book club fiction, out today from Lake Union, about three generations of women and how one person's choice can become another's curse. It is also about a woman who may or may not turn into a tree.

Writing this book was such an extraordinary experience! Right from the beginning, it surprised me. Almost all of my stories are born at my desk, while my fingers tap at my keyboard, but this one... It came out of nowhere. One afternoon, I was taking a walk by my house, and as I reached the stump of the late great tree that splits my street, words popped into my head:

"My mother is a willow. She stands by a stream that burbles like a toddler's kisses, and her leaves dip into the water whenever the wind blows, to be nibbled by fish who don't know any better... Perhaps I will be a pear tree."

I kept repeating the words over and over as I hurried home to type them up before I forgot them. But there was no way I was going to forget them -- I couldn't stop thinking about my tree woman, wondering who she was, worrying about her. She became Elisa, a woman who has never stayed anywhere for longer than ten months. She's constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree. But she's grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts with residents who claim they can never leave, she hopes she can change her fate.

THE WARBLER is about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.

If you'd like to learn more about this book or read the first chapter, please visit my website: http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/Warbler.htm

Also, if you like to listen to audiobooks, the audiobook edition of The Warbler has three amazing narrators -- Caitlin Davies, Sara Sheckells, and Marni Penning -- and they're spectacular!

Thanks so much to everyone at Lake Union for bringing this book to life! I'm so excited it's out in the world!

Happy reading!!!

ARC of THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE

Look what I got in the mail, an ARC of THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE!!!

    

Amazon First Reads: THE WARBLER

Surprise!!!  My new book, THE WARBLER, has been selected to be an Amazon First Reads pick for February, so you can get the ebook for FREE if you have Prime (or $1.99 if you don't) starting today, a month before pub day! It's book club fiction about three generations of women and how one person's choice can become another's curse. It's also about a woman who may or may not turn into a tree... Happy reading!

https://www.amazon.com/firstreads

SEA OF CHARMS + Untitled on Publishers Marketplace

And now it's Publishers Marketplace official!!! So much yay!!!

 

SEA OF CHARMS + Untitled Announcement!

So excited to share the news that there will be TWO MORE BOOKS in the world of The Spellshop and The Enchanted Greenhouse!!! I love writing in this world! And I love working with the incredible team at Bramble and Tor UK! 

See the announcement on Reactor here:

https://reactormag.com/book-announcement-sea-of-charms-by-sarah-beth-durst/

After The Enchanted Greenhouse (which will be out this July), there will be Sea of Charms in 2026 and then an untitled book in 2027. Sea of Charms brings cozy to the high seas, where a sailor, a musician, and a sea serpent -- along with a sentient shrub -- find companionship and love in a changing world.

Very happy and grateful and thrilled to continue sharing my cozy world with you!

Texas Library Association's 2025 Lariat Reading List

Excited to share that THE SPELLSHOP was selected for the Texas Library Association's 2025 Lariat Reading List of 25 outstanding fiction titles that are "simply a pleasure to read." Thanks so much, Texas librarians!

I'm grateful, honored, and particularly fond of the blurb they wrote to describe the book:

"This charming fantasy novel follows Kiela, a shy librarian, and her sentient spider plant assistant, Caz, as they flee from a coup with forbidden magic books. Navigating the world of illegal spellcasting in a cozy, magical setting, they find a community and we find a heartwarming story with endearing characters and a hope-filled touch of sweet romance."

https://txla.org/news/2025-lariat-rea...

New Year, New Books! Happy 2025!!!

Happy New Year, everyone!!! I am very excited for 2025! I have 7 books coming out this year!! Two are brand-new, and five are new editions:

 

THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE is coming July 15 from Bramble. It's a cozy fantasy set in the same world as The Spellshop, about a librarian, a gardener, magical plants, honey cakes, and second chances. And the book will be hardcover with cool mint sprayed edges!

THE WARBLER is coming March 1 from Lake Union. It's book club fiction about three generations of women and how one person's choice can become another's curse. It is also about a woman who may or may not turn into a tree.

In the spring, there will be new trade-paperback editions of my epic fantasy trilogy, The Queens of Renthia, which is about bloodthirsty nature spirits and the queens who can control them. The first one, THE QUEEN OF BLOOD, will be out April 8. The second, THE RELUCTANT QUEEN, will be out May 6. And the third, THE QUEEN OF SORROW, will be out June 3. And they will all have brand-new gorgeous covers!

Also on June 3, the paperback of THE SPELLSHOP will be out in the world with lovely lavender sprayed edges! This is my cozy fantasy about a rogue librarian and her best friend, a sentient spider plant, who open a rather illegal spellshop.

And in the fall, on November 11, there will be a new edition of THE LOST! This is book club fiction about a woman trapped in a town full of only lost things and lost people. And I'm writing an all-new ending for it -- the ending I always meant for this book to have!

So that's what's coming from me in 2025! I can't wait to share all these stories with you! And I wish you all a wonderful and magical new year!

Hudson Booksellers picked THE SPELLSHOP as their Best Romantasy of 2024!

THE SPELLSHOP is at the airport! I just found out that Hudson Booksellers picked THE SPELLSHOP as their Best Romantasy of 2024, so I believe it's in Best Books of 2024 displays like this in airports all over! Thanks so much, Hudson Booksellers! I've never been so eager to hang out at the airport! 

https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/best-books-2024

The Spellshop Collection Candles

Look what I just got in the mail! Officially-licensed THE SPELLSHOP candles!!! How cool is this?!? I'm ridiculously excited. They're made by From the Page, and they smell amazing! Kiela's Cottage is raspberry jam and lavender, Bryn's Bakeshop is cinnamon buns, and Caltrey is sea salt and wildflowers!

https://fromthepagecandles.com/collec...