Brewed in Magic

Truth be told, I'm happy things turned out as they did. Because it means I'm here with you now, sharing a campfire and talking about ale and life and dragons. How could anything be better than that?

Brewed in Magic carries the same sweet, cozy energy of Forged by Magic, but in a winter yuletide setting. I bookmarked so many sections that I definitely need to reread this in December — and if you can, I'd recommend waiting til the cooler months (unlike me) to get the full experience. Here are my thoughts:

♡ The Love Interest My favorite hyper-specific trope is “man with a violent past turning to a simpler life” and this book delivered. Ragnar was flirty and charismatic, sarcastic and sweet. He goes out of his way to help others without expecting thanks, but he's also petty enough to go out of his way just to annoy someone. He had so many great one-liners and quotes that I highlighted, like ““You're the one gaping at me, darling,” or “You liked that? Hard to tell.”

♡ Cute Ass Dragons The dragons continue to be cute every book. I don't have to explain it, you get it. Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the giant bat puppies.

♡ Scope + Stakes My big complaint last book was that the scope was too large and the stakes too serious for it to be a cozy fantasy (according to my understanding of what cozy fantasy is). This book, the scope was much smaller (a single town on the island) and the stakes were much lower. So low. Maybe too low? Lilia's worst case scenario is that she has to go stay with her brother for a few months while she saves up. Obviously that would be horrible for a wandering, free spirit like Lilia, but she's not going to die like Daella could have in the last book. I like that this book felt more zoomed in and didn't try to tackle these big consequences — but I also think that lower stakes make it harder to build tension, which is why folks are saying they didn't feel chemistry/didn't get invested enough. It's a tough balance to strike.

♡ Get Your Pitchforks In both books, the plot tends to move forward through miscommunication and jumping to conclusions. For such a utopian village, there sure are a lot of angry mobs making decisions. I got it in the first book, but seeing this same plot device in the second book was too repetitive for me. Another element that carried over from the first book was the enemies/rivals to lovers — I know the trope is super popular right now, so maybe this wouldn't bother everybody, but I'd prefer more variety. I've peaked at the next book, and it's another rival/enemy situation.