Tea and Empathy

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Elwyn, fleeing capture, and near starvation, is looking for a place to die. Just on the verge of giving up, she finds a seemingly deserted village and sleeps in an abandoned cottage. But when she wakes up, she finds a small community, and some friends.

Review
I hadn't encountered Shanna Swendson until I ran across this book, but it turns out she has an extensive bibliography. This no doubt accounts for the competent, confident writing, and I liked the characters as well.

‘Cozy fantasy' seems to be a thing these days, and I found Tea and Empathy to be, if you will, almost aggressively cozy. It's about healing, largely takes place in tea shop, and there are a lot of doilies. Added to that, it's pointedly touchy-feely, warm, and fuzzy. That's great, in a sense – I agree with most of the viewpoints expressed – but I did begin to find it a bit treacly after a while, wishing that someone (who was not clearly signaled as ‘bad') would do something controversial. The closest we get is that the protagonist's close friend seems to think all men are bad (but is still hot for the male love interest). That was a bit disquieting in that it didn't come across as a character trait so much as a statement of policy – and in fact almost all the men in the story are pretty rotten, except for one male Mary Sue, and one with slight complications. Happily, the book largely gets away with all this, in part because it's so short – about 160 pages for me.

All in all, a pleasant read, I enjoyed the setting, and the book does well at building satisfying low-risk tension, but I would have liked a little more depth and complication (and curiosity!) to the characters. There's also a bit of a disconnect in that the village attracts people who need a home and safety, but bad folks can also get in. Also, in that the coziness doesn't seem to extend to the farm animals killed and used for food.

The book is the first in a series, and there's clearly quite a lot to explore in its setting. I found it a little on the cloying side, but I'd be interested to look at Swendson's other work.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.