Reviewed: July 31st, 2025
Released: July 8th, 2025
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
She’s always flying toward the next shiny idea. He’s resolve incarnate—literally.
Now they’re stuck together in an isolated mountain cottage with only one bed.
When Kovan, the strongest living avatar of a god, is tasked with removing a magical field preventing priests from wreaking destruction unchecked, he defects, leaving behind everything he knew for the sanctuary of the Quiet side.
Alone for the first time and unable to work the magic that has defined his life, Kovan finds Tasa, who has made her home on the mountain at the Quiet’s heart and knows about everything—unlike Kovan, who no longer knows how to do anything that matters, from baking bread to protecting her, let alone the Quiet side.
Tasa takes Kovan in despite the risk to her safe haven because no matter how his belief in her makes her feel, Kovan isn’t staying. No one ever does, and he’ll have more important places to be once he learns to stand on his own.
But when the priests come looking for Kovan, the sanctuary they’re creating one loaf of bread at a time is at risk… unless they can discover their real strength together.
Helen’s Thoughts: 5/5
If you love cozy fantasy with a grumpy sage having a mid-life crisis and a sunshiny outcast causing havoc in the local village, then this book is for you.
Kovan and Tasa are wonderful characters, surviving on the quiet side of the word, where since a magical explosion, there is no more magic to sustain the spells supporting everything they use. Add to that the fact they are tussling with some heavy problems, well Kovan is! and the fun begins. There is more trying to figure out how to live their lives than steamy romance, so although there is one scene of steam, it’s not rife throughout the book as you might be expecting.
This is a gentle cozy fantasy, where there’s only one bed and opposite’s definitely attract. A short read, would have loved for it to be longer, but it was a very enjoyable read.
I backed the Kickstarter for the the extremely pretty special edition hardback, and I love it. I hope you do too.
Purchase The Quiet Side
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook | Paperback
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook | Paperback
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If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series and now Harmony, a dystopian science fantasy.
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