Tea You at the Altar

Between running their tea shop and taking care of baby dragons and a griffon, Kianthe and Reyna (the Mage of Ages and an ex-Queen’s guard) are also planning their wedding. This cozy sapphic fantasy could have left it at that, but Thorne moves the plot into even more intriguing spaces as the wedding becomes a lure to the destabilizing and power-hungry Queen Tilaine, her possible replacement, and many cross-connecting threads from the previous books in the “Tomes & Tea” series. Notable for the ease of her banter-filled dialogue, the speed yet gentle ease of her plots, and the convivial and warm atmosphere she layers into her stories, Thorne does a wonderful job here widening the cast and deepening the stakes. There is a pretender to the queendom, a mysterious death among the queen’s guard, a new connection to Dastardly Pirate Dreggs, and family to meet and struggle to win over. Start at the beginning of the series.