Table of Contents
Preamble
I first heard about The Enchanted Greenhouse through a anticipated fantasy releases video from the booktuber Elliot Brooks in late July 2025. The book was released on July 15, 2025. I was lucky enough to get a library hold in before the book came out and got the book in the first wave of library holds for this book.
I think this may be the first time I have gotten a book this new through the library. Additionally, I think this is the first time I’ve seen a library copy of a book with sprayed edges. The hardcover version of this book has mint green sprayed edges. I am not a huge fan of the colour but I do appreciate the aesthetic consistency with the rest of the cover design and the contents.
This is my first time reading anything by this author. Going into this I was expecting a cozy fantasy novel – I thought after the heavier reading of the last few weeks, something like would provide some much needed comfort reading. I don’t regularly read cozy fantasy but it is a subgenre I like to return to every once in a while. The most recent one I’ve read before this is The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. In fact Sangu Mandanna is one of the author blurbs on the front cover of this book.
Let’s get into it.
The Book
The Enchanted Greenhouse follows the story of Terlu Perna, a librarian who gets convicted of the crime of performing magic illegally and gets sentenced to be turned into a statue. After six of years of which she ends up on a remote island and revived by the grumpy gardener and caretaker of the island’s many enchanted greenhouses.
There is a rather by-the-numbers romance woven through the story – between Terlu and the gardener Yarrow. Terlu is someone who lacks in self-confidence and Yarrow is a grumpy man with traumas who slowly thaws as his love and respect for Terlu grows which leads to Terlu gaining self-confidence. Some of the character development here is genuinely moving but the love story felt a little too saccharine for my tastes.
This is very much a romantasy book with more of a focus on the romance rather than the fantasy. There are of course some magical elements – the enchanted greenhouses, the magic done by Terlu, the sentient plants but most of the story revolves around Terlu and Yarrow and the romance.
This book is…fine. I cannot think of any major criticisms I have of any of its elements. The book delivers what it advertises, which is a cozy fantasy story. I just found myself more interested in the details of the magic system built on specific use of language and the failing empire of Alyssium – all of which are ancillary elements of this book.
To put it another way – the fantasy world was more interesting to me than the actual plot and characters in this book.
Conclusions
Romantasy continues to be a hit and miss genre for me. The Enchanted Greenhouse is unfortunately a miss. Not in a way that’s particularly bad or insulting, it is just rather boring. It was a good change of pace from the heavier reading earlier this month but nothing about it stands out. This is competently written cozy romantasy and that is about the highest praise I can give this book.
I suppose this is as a good place as any to recommend books similar to this one. If you are looking for a cozy romantasy – I enjoyed The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. If you are looking for a good romantasy, The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. Maclean is one I found to be a delight and I ended up buying a physical copy of it.
For those of y’all interested in reading stats – according to Storygraph this marks the eight book I’ve read in the month of July 2025. This is a new high as far as monthly book count goes this year. The total page count wasn’t as high as in May 2025 because the books were shorter. I continue to be quite happy my pace of reading this year and it is entirely possible I reach my yearly reading goal of 52 books before the end of this year!
That’s all I’ve got for y’all this time. See y’all in the next post.
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