The Enchanted Greenhouse

384 pages

English language

Published 2025 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-33398-8

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium.

This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home.

But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them …

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium.

This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home.

But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again.

This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.

Funny, kind, and forgiving, The Enchanted Greenhouse is a story about giving second chances—to others and to yourself.

5 editions

Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (Spellshop, #2)

A lovely cozy fantasy involving enchanted greenhouses, a lonely librarian and a handsome gardener

4 stars

A lovely 'cozy fantasy' about a former librarian who finds her skills put to good use when she ends up on an island with enchanted greenhouses that are failing, and she has to figure out why and how to stop it. Throw in a handsome gardener and a group of talking plants, and you have an enchanting story about recovering from loss, overcoming your fears and finding love and companionship among an unlikely group of people.

Terlu Perna was punished by being turned into a statue in the Empire's library for the crime of being lonely, and using magic to make a plant come alive for companionship. Years later, she wakes up human again on an island with only an uncommunicative (handsome) gardener who needs the help of a sorcerer to stop his magical greenhouses from failing. Terlu decides to help him by investigating the notes of the former …

A lovely 'cozy fantasy' about a former librarian who finds her skills put to good use when she ends up on an island with enchanted greenhouses that are failing, and she has to figure out why and how to stop it. Throw in a handsome gardener and a group of talking plants, and you have an enchanting story about recovering from loss, overcoming your fears and finding love and companionship among an unlikely group of people.

Terlu Perna was punished by being turned into a statue in the Empire's library for the crime of being lonely, and using magic to make a plant come alive for companionship. Years later, she wakes up human again on an island with only an uncommunicative (handsome) gardener who needs the help of a sorcerer to stop his magical greenhouses from failing. Terlu decides to help him by investigating the notes of the former sorcerer who created the greenhouses. In the processes, she breaks the Empire's laws against magic again by bringing other plants to life.

As more greenhouses fail, Terlu convinces the gardener to ask for help from his estranged family, now living on other islands. With their help, Terlu makes progress and may finally discover why the greenhouses are failing. But to stop it, she will need the help of the gardener, his family and a host of magical creatures who all call the greenhouse home.

In the process Terlu and the gardener find themselves falling for each other, and they would need each other to help heal their hurts over being left alone and living in a world that does not appreciate them for what they are.