Title: Legends & Lattes
Author: Travis Baldree
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, LGBTQIA+
Pages: 305
Publication Date: 2022
StoryGraph* Moods: Lighthearted, Hopeful, Relaxing
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: SciFi/Fantasy Book Club
Other Books by Baldree: Bookshops & Bonedust
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
This series had popped up in a few conversations over the years, and I’ve been meaning to read it – and I finally had managed to get ahead enough in book club reads to sit down with it. And I devoured it (and then the prequel Bookshops & Bonedust) fairly quickly.
Description: In this story, our narrator, Viv, is an orc looking to hang up her sword for a gentler life. She had it all planned out – earn enough money to open her own coffee shop in Thune and put the world of being a warrior behind her.
But no one has ever even heard of coffee, and some are unwilling to even try it…at first. But little by little, and with the help of a baking Ratkin, the shop becomes a success – and all of Thune is hooked on the beverage and the baked goods. This review sums it up nicely:
Don’t think it’s all coffee and roses, though – there are adversaries to be dealt with and magic run amuck. This, too, is handled in a cozy sort of way. From everything I’ve read about it, you will either love it or hate it. And I loved it. Can’t wait for the next one!
Why I recommend this book: It’s a cozy (which is NOT code for boring), low-stakes (also not a code for boring) sort of read – more character driven than plot driven, which is right up my own alley. (There’s a third, Brigands & Breadknives, set to come out later this year, as well as a short story prequel that comes in the L&L second edition.) If you like stories of friendship/found family, as well as some magic (or coffee!), give this series a shot!
“After twenty-two years of adventuring, Viv had reached her limit of blood and mud and bullshit. An orc’s life was strength and violence and a sudden, sharp end — but she’d be damned if she’d let hers finish that way. It was time for something new.” ~ Travis Baldree, Legends & Lattes
Ami Maxine 