Board Games and Broomsticks by Selina Spellman

Every witch knows that playing with magic is a risky game...

Nyssa Hawthorne is at the top of her as a high-flying mage leading a coven, she has everything she’s ever wanted. But her job requires long days, late nights and endless spell-casting - this witch is burnt out! And when a simple enchantment almost goes disastrously wrong, Nyssa realises she needs to hang up her broomstick and put herself first.

Retreating to her late grandmother’s lakeside cottage – a place she’s avoided for the last decade - Nyssa rediscovers her collection of beloved board games with endless worlds to escape into. Vowing to share this magic with the locals, Nyssa opens a board game café in the village with well-worn sofas, a stove in the corner, and blankets covering every surface. Soon, she’s surrounded by friends old and new.

When an old enemy arrives on her doorstep, Nyssa mixes her witchcraft with the boardgames in the ultimate roll of the dice - but is it worth the risk to protect the true magic she's finally found?

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PRE-READING

This is almost aggressively up my street. A witch, a board game café, a lakeside cottage, a coven and, I assume, enough blankets to furnish a small country?

Also: Selina Spellman is an excellent name for someone writing a witchy cosy. I feel as though the author arrived at the publisher's office and said, "I have a name. The rest will follow."

And, yes, I would quite like some enchanted board games, please.

POST-READING

Board Games and Broomsticks is a sweet, gentle cosy, and I mean that in both the complimentary and slightly wary senses of the word.

There are some lovely things here. I particularly liked the way the book handles Nyssa's burnout and the negative self-talk that comes with it. Her problem isn't simply that she's doing too much; she's internalised the idea that she should be doing more, that stepping back means she's failing, and that her value is tied to how useful she can make herself. Watching her begin to question that is probably the strongest part of the book for me.

It also gives the trials she faces some genuine weight. Even while Nyssa is beginning to doubt whether she really belongs in her coven, the magical problems don't become completely consequence-free. That helped keep the story grounded when some of the cosier elements were getting perilously close to feeling as though nothing could really matter.

Because that was my one reservation: this is very soft. There were moments when I could feel myself drifting towards the edge of is anything actually at stake here? territory. Fortunately, the psychology kept pulling me back in. Nyssa's struggles with exhaustion, self-worth and overwork give the story something more substantial underneath all the blankets and board games.

The new friendships are another highlight. I enjoyed watching the group come together rather than having everyone instantly become Best Friends Forever™. And the romance is sweet without feeling rushed, which is always welcome. There's room for the relationship to develop rather than simply appearing because the book has reached the point where it needs a romantic subplot.

And then there is Nix.

Nix is the cat familiar.

I would like one.

That is all.

Actually, no, I would like an enchanted board game and a cat familiar. If this is a shopping list for witches, I'm making demands.

Overall, this is a good, comforting read. It comes very close to being too sweet and simple for my particular tastes, but the genuinely thoughtful treatment of burnout and negative self-talk gives it enough substance to keep it on the right side of that line.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I'd recommend this to readers who like their witchy fantasy very cosy indeed, particularly if the idea of a board game café full of magical games and warm friendships sounds like your idea of a good afternoon.

If you need your cosy fantasy to have a little more bite, this might occasionally feel too gentle. But if you enjoy stories about people learning that they don't have to destroy themselves to deserve a place in their community, there's something worthwhile here.

And if you are particularly susceptible to fictional cafés and magical cats, frankly, you're doomed.

MUSIC PAIRING

“The Book of Love” — The Magnetic Fields

Soft, warm and quietly affectionate, with just enough whimsy to suit a magical board game café without turning the whole thing into a musical number.

VIBE CHECK

Autumn has arrived properly. The windows are misted from the warmth inside, there's a fire or a stove ticking away somewhere in the background, and somebody has just put another pot of tea on.

There's gentle chatter from the tables around you, the occasional clatter of dice, and the quiet scrape of a chair being pulled closer to a game. Outside, it's getting dark early. Inside, nobody particularly minds.

There is absolutely a cat asleep somewhere it shouldn't be.

Probably Nix.

TAROT CARD PULLED

Nine of Swords

This might seem like a surprisingly gloomy card for such a cosy book, but I think it gets right to the heart of Nyssa's story.

The Nine of Swords is the mind turning against itself: worry, exhaustion, self-criticism and the tendency to keep going because the voice in your head insists that stopping would be worse.

Nyssa isn't just tired. She's been taught to measure herself by what she can accomplish, and when she begins to falter, that becomes ammunition for her own internal critic. The magic and the cosy setting are lovely, but the real thing she has to learn is that resting isn't failure.

And sometimes the most important spell is telling your own brain to shut up for five minutes.

THE TRUE QUESTION

What happens when you stop measuring your worth by how much you can do?