Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz Review

A powerful plant witch and a grumpy alchemist must work together to save their quiet town from a magical plague in this debut cozy fantasy romance about starting over, redemption, and what it really means to be a good person.

Guy Shadowfade is dead, and after a lifetime as the dark sorcerer’s right-hand, Violet Thistlewaite is determined to start over-not as the fearsome Thornwitch, but as someone kind. Someone better. Someone good.

The quaint town of Dragon’s Rest, Violet decides, will be her second chance-she’ll set down roots, open a flower shop, keep her sentient (mildly homicidal) houseplant in check, and prune dark magic from the twisted boughs of her life.

Violet’s vibrant bouquets and cheerful enchantments soon charm the welcoming townsfolk, though nothing seems to impress the prickly yet dashingly handsome Nathaniel Marsh, an alchemist sharing her greenhouse. With a struggling business and his own second chance seemingly out of reach, Nathaniel has no time for flowers or frippery—and certainly none for the intriguing witch next door.

When a mysterious blight threatens every living plant in Dragon’s Rest, Violet and Nathaniel must work together through their fears, pasts, and growing feelings for one another to save their community. But with a figure from her past knocking at her door and her secrets threatening to uproot everything she’s worked so hard to grow, Violet can’t help but wonder…does a former villain truly deserve a happily-ever-after?

A former villainess hoping to put her evil past behind her and an alchemist who can’t let go of his past mistakes share a greenhouse, retail space, and work together to solve a mysterious blight disease in this delightful cozy fantasy book. Emily Krempholtz’s pitch-perfect debut novel features a wonderful mix of elements that smartly takes the best inspirations from a variety of popular genres and wraps them up in botanical and small-town cozy goodness while balanced out by a conceptually heavier story. Featuring very likable and charming characters, good storytelling, great comedic timing, respectable fantasy arcs and a romantic angle that has a classic romance novel feel to it, Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore is a solid and well-rounded feel-good fantasy story and an especially good one for readers who want narrative substance in their cozy reads.

“One day at a time. One step, one breath, one heartbeat after another. However slowly, they’ll move you forward… I want to be good.”

Set after the demise of the dark sorcerer Guy Shadowfade, the story follows Violet Thistlewaite’s attempt to turn over a new leaf in the rural town of Dragon’s Rest, a village located across the land she previously terrorized as his powerful right-hand Thornwitch. Looking for a fresh start by applying her affinity for botanical magic for something deemed good, she opens a flower shop while renting space from the grumpy, logical, and closed-off alchemist Nathaniel Marsh. Struggling to pay the bills with his sister Prudence Marsh to keep their late parents’ apothecary alive, the two find themselves sharing a greenhouse, neighboring townhouse units, and neighboring shops as a mysterious blight and suspicious individuals with connections to Violet threaten her future in Dragon’s Rest.

Reviewing Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore is a bit tricky due to how cohesive and well-presented it is, one of its best qualities being how well its various elements are incorporated into a story that has heavy topics while still maintaining a wonderful cozy and warm tone. On a surface level, the book utilizes tropes such as a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, opposites attract, and small-town romance, but simply listing them out alone feel like they undersell the book. Contrary to the common romantasy genre classification, this book also features a prominent fantasy story as well as unexpectedly great character writing, with the featured romance complementing the other narrative elements rather than being the focus. This is on top of Violet being an absolutely delightful and charming main character who is so easy to root for, complimented by her opposite counterpart character and POV, Nathaniel.

While first and foremost a cozy fantasy novel, this book smartly pulls inspirations from various other genres such as contemporary romance, fantasy romance, women’s fiction, and more. The setting of Dragon’s Rest not only is narratively connected to Violet’s past as the Thornwitch, but also captures the cheery small-town feel complete with gossipy neighbors and a close-knit community that Violet feels awkwardly out of place joining. Featuring farmers markets, floral gardens, enchanted plants, and magical familiars, the vibe is impeccable. Her budding flower shop Rough Around the Hedges, as well as Nathaniel’s struggles to keep his family’s apothecary alive have aspects of a start-up company narrative, both shops’ innovations and growth being understated yet interesting side developments. Combined with the book’s generally light and swoony style of romance writing, the resulting read feels almost like a modernized spring-set Hallmark movie crossed with Legends and Lattes.

On the fantasy side, the book’s story is also solid despite it playing more of a supporting act and framework to facilitate the character writing which does the heavy lifting in the novel. The main story involves the uncertain void left following Shadowfade’s demise, paired with a mysterious blight affecting organic material in the area are strong narrative hooks for readers that ordinarily would not be interested in the book’s romance and cozy appeal. Not only related to Violet’s botanical affinity, Nathaniel’s scholastic background as an alchemist is also utilized for these plot points which are well balanced against the book’s character development. While it isn’t particularly specific or detailed, the book also has a loose magical system that revolves around energy and one’s inherent limitations; exceeding one’s magical capacity causes painful magic burn. Lore involving a magical serpent and lost mythological relics also provide interesting world-building details that are otherwise only highlighted in Violet and Nathaniel’s backstories.

While this novel has quite a lot of narrative elements for a cozy fantasy book, the heart and soul of the story is its characters, which are very likeable and well-written. Violet’s redemption arc, background, and hesitancy opening up to others given her dark history is gracefully handled, and her underlying hope and desire to do better is constantly heartwarming to read about. Her character strikes the perfect balance between one of power and resilience while also earnest and almost innocent at times given her new independence. That is all layered on top of her clear understanding and regret for the pain she’d caused that haunts her at every turn, even by the current residents of the town. Meanwhile, Nathaniel serves as a great foil to her character, one who is more rigid, gruff, and disillusioned. Though the book is marketed as a grumpy x sunshine romance, both characters are more developed than the trope would imply, Violet being measuredly hopeful and Nathaniel pessimistic and skeptical. Both POVs are solid, though Violet’s feels slightly more personable, while a few of Nathaniel’s chapters occasionally feel like they could’ve been omitted or edited down slightly.

While the two have good romantic chemistry to be expected, they also have great platonic chemistry that follows a general rivals-to-friends-to-lovers arc. Sharing great banter and amazing botanical puns (chapter headers often include pop-up shop signs with opposing puns poking fun at each other), the two also complement each other due to their contrasting histories. While Violet arrives at Dragon’s Rest hoping to turn over a new leaf and leave her past behind, Nathaniel is trapped in the past, haunted by mistakes, regret, and adherence to tradition. Marsh Apothecary struggles due to its inability to adapt and innovate while Violet’s Rough Around the Hedges floral shop flourishes, bringing fresh ideas and literal color to the town. Both characters go on a wonderful journey of self-discovery and acceptance supported by each other’s strengths and resilience. Violet’s story in particular features great material such as her complex relationship with Shadowfade, feelings of abandonment from her family, and questioning whether she deserves to live, which are darker topics than typical for the genre.

“That was the thing no one had ever understood about her relationship with Shadowfade, what Violet herself still struggled with. It wasn’t just that she’d worked for him, it wasn’t even completely that he’d raised her. It was that he’d encouraged her, trained her, empowered her. Guy Shadowfade had loved her. He’d done terrible things as well-to her and to others-and she wouldn’t, couldn’t, forget that, but moons, how she’d loved him too. And even now, with the full knowledge of what he’d done to her and what he’d taken from her, Violet knew that part of her always would.”

While this book is definitively a fantasy romance book and one often categorized as a romantasy, I personally found the romance to be surprisingly lighter than expected, which worked very well for me. While there’s a notable romantic interest early on, the romance is a slow burn, one that starts with curious interest rather than the more common and popular thirsty gazes and lustful thoughts. A note I jotted down early on in my read was that this book reminded me of an old-school classic romance novel that feels slow, organic and sweet in its delivery. Instead of shirtless abs or curves catching the eye, Violet notices Nathaniel’s nice arms and face card while he is drawn in by her distinctive smell, aura, and curly hair. Instead of lustful undressing stares, developments are more innocent like a sense of shared camaraderie, unexpected soft brushes, and daydreams of each other interspersed with the book’s fantasy elements. There is a bit of adult content for those that enjoy spice, but it’s fairly limited and done quite tastefully with lovely magical flourishes. While this style and approach to romance may not suit some current BookTok reading tastes that lean spicier or may prefer the romance to be more upfront, it’s nonetheless a really refreshing choice that perfectly complements the book’s cozy and warm tone.

While this book has a good variety of narrative ingredients that are incorporated smoothly into the overall story, there are a few areas that could be a bit tighter. While Violet’s desire to be good is a great theme connected to every part of the story, the book can be a bit on the nose and heavy-handed with it, Violet reminding herself verbatim a tad too often with little subtlety. The plotting and character writing are already effective and on brand, so the constant callbacks are unnecessary for a novel targeted for adult readership. Though the ideas around Violet and Nathaniel’s regrets and guilt are good on paper, their reflections and depth may not go quite far enough to satisfy some readers. The same could be said for the book’s worldbuilding, which is mostly serviceable and appropriately scaled for the story it’s telling but can still feel lacking at times. The legend of the serpent in particular feels like it could’ve been introduced earlier given how important it is in the back half of the book; clues are there in the right place but they’re a bit too subtle and can come off as circumstantial despite being quite intentional. Some of these points can be forgivable given that this is more of a cozy fantasy romance book and less of a high fantasy one, but though it’s good as is, it’s so close to being great. On a side note, this book being announced to be a part of a recently expanded three-plus-book series makes the limited worldbuilding more understandable since additional lore and details will likely be expanded on in subsequent books.

A hopeful and heartwarming story of regrets, redemptions, and acceptance, Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore is a wonderful and refreshing fantasy romance book. Although it has a lot of narrative elements and pulls inspirations from multiple genres, it’s a well-crafted story that blends them together smoothly with many subtle and smart creative choices. Featuring excellent character writing, solid chemistry, good fantasy elements with vibrant and enchanted visuals, this book has so much to like, all while maintaining its marketed cozy vibe. This is all the more impressive given it’s Krempholtz’s debut novel, though her experience in the editing and writing industry and understanding of readership trends is clearly evident in this book’s execution. It goes without saying that this is a great book for cozy fantasy readers but is a particularly standout recommendation for readers that may find other popular cozy fantasy titles lacking in narrative substance, scope, development, or being more vibe reads than story. As a fan of traditional SFF books that often finds cozy fantasy books a tad underwhelming, this is a new personal favorite, and I’m really looking forward to Prudence Marsh Is Not A Nobody due to be published in two months!

Side Note: While not relevant for most potential readers, I read the beautiful Owlcrate edition of the book, which includes an author note where Emily talks about being an existing Owlcrate subscriber, which is a cool full-circle “she’s one of us” moment.