Review: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book Reviewscoffee / cozy fantasy / f/f romantic elements8 Comments
High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
Review:
Dear Travis Baldree,
My friend also tried Becky Chambers’ book and assured me that it is not going to be of the same variety and she was right! Legends and Lattes doesn’t have a suspense plot or non stop action plot, but that’s ok, because what we have is the main character Viv leaving her past life behind and trying to build a new life and to do so she is trying to introduce coffee to the people (I should say to beings of all kinds) that live in this town for the first time in their lives.
The plot deals with seemingly simple matters with Viv building her new business, trying to nurture and protect it, and acquiring some wonderful friends in the process.
There are definitely some fantasy elements besides who Viv is and who her friends are – some magical elements that is, I think calling the book “the novel of high fantasy and low stakes” was very appropriate. Overall it was a cute and sweet book, but also very engaging. It was a brand of sweetness that worked very well for me but it must be up to every reader to figure out whether this kind of sweetness will work well for them.
And be prepared to want to eat some baked stuff after and during finishing this story :).
There is also some romance, actually you won’t see an actual romance, you will see a building friendship and couple of kisses, that’s about it, but I still really loved it.
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This was adorable and definitely the low angst read I needed. I would like my own Thimble the rattkin please so I can have a steady supply of cinnamon rolls and midnight crescents. And a dire-cat too.
@SusanS: A dire-cat? What is a dire-cat?
@SusanS: so glad you liked it ! Yes , me too :). @Jayne: Oh it is a special brand of kitty ;-) very helpful in some situations when she actually decides to help lol.
I look forward to reading this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sirius!
I really enjoyed this one! I gave it an A-.
It’s a lot like a D&D quest to make friends and open a coffee shop. In another lifetime / pre-pandemic, I might have found it too slow or too obvious but it fit my mood perfectly for these times.
I liked A Psalm for the Wild Built better than you did Sirius, but I liked Legends & Lattes more, probably because a little more happened and I felt more emotionally connected to the characters.
I read this book this past weekend. It was slow at times, as it mainly is a book about beings opening a coffee shop, but it was also a delightful warm hug of a book, and it did have enough sense of threat to add some tension, as well as ultimately some action.
@cleo: “A Psalm for the Wild” is second or third book by Chambers ? I only read first one I believe. Yes, in this one I felt emotionally connected to the characters [email protected]Kris Bock: Very often I would choose the books with much more action, but this one has just enough for me and as you said it was a warm hug of the book and sometimes I need those too.
I loved LEGENDS AND LATTES, every character in it (mostly) and how each character’s uneven parts fit so well with the others. Wish fulfillment? Sure, and as others have said, exactly what I wanted and needed. @SusanS: Thimble can come to my house any day. Sirius, so glad you enjoyed this.