Warm, witty, and filled with magical charm.
Sophie Spellman Brownlee, a grumpy faerie with shaky magic, is stunned to learn she has inherited her Aunt Dragonfly’s beloved bakery, the Rhyme ’N Riddle Bakeshop. Running it feels like the perfect opportunity to pursue her passion—until she discovers the infuriating clause in her aunt’s will. For a full year, Sophie must employ and provide room and board to Teddy Barker, a fastidious blond werewolf who has never set foot in a kitchen. From the moment Teddy arrives, it’s clear they are a disastrous pairing. Sophie can’t understand his obsession with order and feng shui, while Teddy is baffled by Sophie’s messy habits and her unpredictable magic. He’d rather mop the floors than bake cookies, and she bristles at his constant tidying. Yet their reluctant partnership quickly becomes more complicated than either imagined. As sparks fly and banter turns into something softer, Sophie and Teddy start to see past the irritation to glimpse the vulnerabilities beneath—Sophie’s fear of failure, Teddy’s ache for belonging, and the way they both privately hope for something more. Amid jealous rivals, supernatural mishaps, and plenty of flour-dusted chaos, their forced proximity slowly transforms into a sweet, fated-mates romance.
Toni Cabell has a beautiful sense of balance that is applied to every emotional moment of this enchanting story, resulting in a delightful mix of paranormal whimsy and heartfelt romance that truly captures the magic of opposites attracting. Though it’s an age-old storyline that you can see coming as soon as our charming pair arrive on the scene, that doesn’t take away from the magic of how their love story comes about for a second. The witty banter between Sophie and Teddy sparkles on every page as you head towards hope in a cozy, feel-good romance that balances all that sweetness with a surprisingly enjoyable amount of sass. The scenery and surrounding world of Riddle Hill are enchanting, both magical and relatable as they match with the tender, funny, and swoony moments of the slow-burn romance. With character work that is second to none, and Sophie and Teddy’s odd-couple dynamic is pure rom-com gold as Cabell weaves laughter, longing, and a touch of faerie dust into all of their scenes to help readers believe in all the different kinds of magic on offer. It’s also a unique read in the genre of clean paranormal romance, proving that tension and chemistry don’t need spice to sizzle. Warm, witty, and filled with magical charm, Rhyme, Riddle, and Romance shows that love, like baking, is messy, unexpected, and worth every risk.
