Genre: Fantasy
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Lesbian, Trans MTF
Reviewer: Sherry
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About The Book
Sil was perfectly content as the manager of the village plant shop. That is, until a certain wizard, Wixen Anders Kessel, requested a fire curry plant to add to what Sil assumed was his growing graveyard of helpless greenery. Thoroughly convinced of Anders’ proclivity to kill every plant he purchases, Sil is determined to thwart the disastrous wixen’s intentions, both for his garden and recruiting a magically disinclined apprentice.
Sil and Anders return from the beloved short story, “The Wizard’s Garden”, to grow in friendship, companionship, and perhaps even more. Together, they encounter a variety of local magical creatures, spells, and obstacles as Sil resists the idea that he might actually have a talent for magic and that he might want something more from the hopeless wizard after all…
The Review
“That was how someone ended up a wizard’s apprentice – or worse, friend.”—Sowing Spells
What a charming little tale this is. “Sowing Spells: A Field Guide to Becoming a Wizard’s Apprentice” started out as a short story in an anthology. After author Cay Fletcher learned the anthology readers wanted to know more about the characters Fletcher had created, the spell, no pun intended, was cast.
The novel is epistolary which makes for an entertaining read. Pages from the wizard’s spell field guide and a recipe or two are inserted as appropriate channel markers or summaries of a sort. This gives an immersive, intimate experience but also allows for several points of view to be told as it toggles the activities between Sil and Anders.
Sil is a manager with a green thumb at the village plant shop. Anders is a quite crochety wizard in search of a plant needed for one of his spells. However, being a wizard doesn’t insure a green thumb. When Sil learns about it and that Anders is also looking for an apprentice, he takes matters into his own hands. What ensues is fanciful romp through a sweet friends-to-lovers and found family story.
There are three headed geese, gnomes, wixen, and dragons and even a bit of wizard rivalry. Plus, there are wizarding book deadlines (see the aforementioned rivalry). So, as Sil and Anders navigate the related small challenges and large, Sil begins to understand something more magical is developing between himself and the lonely, persnickety wizard.
My one complaint—if it can even be called that—is it would have been enjoyable as well, to see some on the page obvious affection or perhaps the occasional demonstrative kiss between the characters who are so clearly in love. The lack of it though, I think is offset by the introduction of the loving community and its individuals which surround them.
A four-star review of a wholesome friends-to-lovers story that has room for the expansion of the series to include detailed stories about side characters or on the continuation of the Sil and Anders one.
The Reviewer
Sherry Perkins has worked as a licensed practical nurse for more than thirty-five years and has experience in psychiatric/addictions nursing, nursing-care coordination, and risk management. She earned a BS in health sciences from Campbell University and has spoken at public health functions on topics such as addiction prevention and treatment, prevention of teenage opioid deaths, and connecting patients who are resistant to treatment with appropriate services.
A mother of four, Perkins lives with extended family on the Delmarva Peninsula, where she enjoys collecting shells and sea glass; reading and writing mysteries, science fiction, and fantasy; doing organic gardening; and following the Dave Matthews Band around the East Coast
