A Fellowship of Games & Fables

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On top of exposing me to books that I normally would not pick out for myself and unearthing other ways in which I can be interpreting the books that I read, being part of a book club has made me really appreciate the different reading experience I get when I read a book recreationally. It occurred to me recently that a lot of the books that I've consumed over the years have been as part of some sort of assignment: university, the 1001 project, and now book club. I have just closed the cover on J. P. Penner’s third instalment in the Adenashire series and, perhaps it’s been the winter weather, perhaps it’s been a stressful workweek, but the hours I was able to steal cosying up with this book that I was reading for me and no other reason have really been some of the most enjoyable.

Jez is not looking forward to the Adenashire Yule Games. She’s not a fan of the cold weather or the large crowds. She would much rather be allowed to sleep the entire Yule season away. But a drunken encounter lands her right in the middle of the festivities with a wager to beat a boastful human team. Not only that, but she must also fake a relationship with her friend Taenya, a woodland elf. Plagued by long-standing insecurities about her worth and a sense of pride that won’t let her back out of her mess, Jez tackles each Yule Game event with cold pragmatism. But the more time she spends with Taenya, the warmer her demeanour becomes. Could she be falling for the elf, and would a romance ruin a perfectly good friendship?

A Fellowship of Games & Fables is the third book in Penner’s Adenashire series: a collection of incredibly cosy fantasy reads that are best enjoyed with a cup of tea and some form of warm baked-good. Each book is a sweet little romance novel, following a trio of protagonists introduced in the very first instalment:  A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic. Book three follows Jez, an aloof and emotionally closed-off fennex and, similar to its predecessors, it chronicles a sweet and wholesome story of self-discovery and romance.

Similar to book one, in that the central drama is in the form of a competitive situation, where Games & Fables surpasses Bakers & Magic is in its solid establishment of drama. It could be that book one was Penner finding her feet with the series, but the low-stakes quickly went down to no-stakes and the thrill that should have come with a competitive setting just didn’t. This is not the case with book three. Penner works with the knowledge that readers are immediately going to side with Jez and uses that character misdirection to create a good sense of drama and suspense where the narrative requires it. It’s a fun play on the idea of the unreliable narrator, without the omniscient narrator doing any real misleading – just letting the reader do all the work based on their relationship with the character.

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Written in a prose accessible to a wide audience-range, A Fellowship of Games & Fables is a delightfully cosy read filled with drama, romance, very cute scenes of social awkwardness, and complete with recipes in the back! I have since discovered that there are yet more instalments in this series and I am quite excited to get them on my shelf.

Author: J. P. Penner, 2024,2025

Published: Poison Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Illinois, 2025