Letters from the Last Apothecary(Tressport Magic, Book 1) by Bita Behzadi

Letters from the Last Apothecary(Tressport Magic, Book 1) by Bita Behzadi, author

Narrated by E.M. Wylde and Samara Naeymi

Rating: 4 star rating

This audiobook is a cozy fantasy romance set in a magical apothecary in the city of Tressport that’s barely staying afloat.

The main character is Josephine Pinova. She’s a young woman just trying to get steady work and prove she can handle herself. She’s hardworking, pays attention to details, and really wants to do well, but she’s also kind of figuring things out as she goes. She ends up in this apothecary job that slowly turns into a lot more emotionally complicated than she expected.

The shop is run by Aufidius Reid, who is very serious, controlled, and honestly pretty hard to read at first. He runs the apothecary tightly and expects things to be done right, but he’s not great at explaining himself or opening up. He and Josephine don’t really click at the start; they misunderstand each other a lot, and there’s constant tension, but there’s also clearly more going on underneath.

Aufidius also has a couple of friends who show up around him and give you a better sense of who he is outside the shop. They’re more relaxed and social than he is, and you can tell they’ve known him long enough to see past his serious exterior. They also kind of nudge him, in their own way, towards dealing with things instead of shutting down.

Then there’s a bit of outside danger mixed in with everything; an encounter involving a local mobster like figure tied to the city’s underworld. This reminds you that this apothecary isn’t just struggling financially; it’s operating in a world where magic, business, and crime all overlap.

There’s also Elric Vance, the person Josephine corresponds with through letters. He represents someone she’s slowly opening up to in writing. What makes it difficult is that the emotional connection in the letters is very real and vulnerable, while in person, everything is awkward, tense, and misunderstood.

A big part of the story is watching all these parts overlap; workplace tension, secret emotional connections through letters, and the pressure from outside forces that threaten the apothecary’s survival.

Overall, it’s a slow-burn romance with mistaken identity, emotional buildup, a bit of underworld tension, and two people who are much closer than they realize, while still trying to figure each other out in real life.

This is a great read that you should listen to. The narrators bring the characters to life and make the story become real. I look forward to listening to this complete series. This is a must-read to listen to.

There is some slow heat for those looking for a clean romance that may want to be warned.

Thanks to NetGalley,Penguin Random House, Bita Behzadi author, and E.M. Wylde and Samara Naeymi, narrators for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

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#SamaraNaeymi narrator

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