I haven't read Legends and Lattes, and "cosy fantasy" is not one of my typical genres, so I wasn't sure what I would think of this one. In spite of a few misgivings about diving in, I really liked it! I was quickly ensconced in the world, even without reading L&L, and the characters were compelling, distinct, and quite likable in spite of their foibles. The writing was excellent and I didn't find it "over-sweet" (my problem with some cosy fantasies). The plot pulled me along, and I absolutely loved the bookshop setting and the excerpts included throughout the novel. I'll definitely recommend this title to both readers who already read a lot of fantasy and those who don't!

I really don't know what to say because I loved Legends & Lattes! However, this one totally lost me. Every time I picked it up I was struggling to get through it and just could NOT get invested in the characters or stories.

This is Viv's story of young love and finding friends in an unexpected area. Listen, I love Travis Baldree, he is hella talented as a writer, narrator, game maker, and just about everything he does, but this book is a top book for me this year because of the swearing Ratkin, Viv (an Orc) discovering the worlds in books, and the young love portrayed. If you liked Legends and Lattes, you'll like this one too. I found it funny and sweet and exciting.

I honestly went into this book expecting it to not be as good as Legends & Lattes. But it was just as good!

Being back with Viv and learning more about her was so amazing. The nee friends we made in Merk and the cool new creatures introduced. Travis Baldree does an amazing job with cozy fantasy and it’s the perfect read for the -ber months!

This story was everything Legends & Lattes was but that epilogue had me in happy tears. I really hope we get a spin off book about the character mentioned (no spoilers here) based on that epilogue!

The stakes in the "cozy fantasy" genre may, admittedly, be lower than your typical world-saving adventure tale. This is even more applicable to Bookshops & Bonedust, since it is a prequel to the excellent Legends and Lattes. But while you may already know the eventual outcome of Viv's story, don't let that discourage you from enjoying Bookshops & Bonedust. I enjoyed every bit of it, and it was a comfortable and satisfying fantasy novel that contrasts nicely with more combat-centric fantasy works.

I think you're all going to be reading this one next month, let's be honest lol
This is the prequel story to Legends and Lattes and yes you can absolutely start with this one if you are the rare human who hasn’t read legends and lattes yet. This book had over 100 reviews already when it was a month out from release so I know ya’ll are excited. This follows the brief time in Viv’s life before she arrived in the small town of Thune so it’s like an introduction to her character before we get those main events in book 1. It still carries all of the small town cozy vibes. I do wish we could’ve gotten a sequel but maybe there is one in the works. I still really liked this one! Just felt more like a repeat of book 1 with not a whole lot of differences but why fix what's not broken?

Low stakes fantasy has become a guilty pleasure of mine. Travis Baldree created a beauty cozy fantasy novel including coffee and now we get it with books. Seeing Viv in her younger years makes me feel more love for her now. Seeing how she recovers from an injury and making friends. The small bits of romance had me giggling and kicking my feet! The small bits of action were perfect for a cozy fantasy. This world has been amazing to read and I feel like there might be more coming...

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Can you capture lightning in a bottle twice? This book suggests that the answer is yes!

I first heard about Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes from Seanan McGuire’s Twitter account. She often will talk about upcoming books that she loves, and she described it in such a way that I was very much looking forward to reading it.

It didn’t disappoint- it was a very nice, sweet, cozy story, and I really enjoyed it. It might have bordered on being too twee, and the inventions of cinnamon rolls and other coffee shop staples felt a tad too convenient at times, but that didn’t detract from the joys of the book.

So I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley gave me an eARC of the prequel, Bookshops and Bonedust. Set years before L&L, this book focuses on a Viv who is just starting out in the mercenary business when she gets injured and stuck in a seaside town to recuperate. The cast of characters was even more fun than the last book, and Viv seemed either to be more well rounded or just better written in this volume.

I loved revisiting this world and I cannot wait for Mr. Baldree to let us know more of what’s happening with Viv. This is a must buy for anyone who enjoyed the original.

I love Viv. She is such an honest character. This was a great prequel story but I did like Legends & Lattes a bit more. This had more of the battle scenes that a fantasy story normally has, although it is still very much a cozy fantasy. I hope that we will continue to follow Viv and her adventures in the future.

I’m cleaning up my Feedback bookshelf and trying to give reviews for past books I’ve read. I listened to this as an audiobook and recall that I really enjoyed the narrator. The story itself was good, but I did find myself losing interest in what was happening and sort of waiting for what was next and wondering where the story was going. I listened to this book first because I saw it was a prequel but now I’m wondering if I should have read Legends and Lattes first because this book didn’t pull me in and I doubt I will pick up Legenda and Lattes

I should state up front that I never read Legends and Lattes, and I had no idea of what a cozy fantasy even was until I picked up this book. Call me a new genre fan!

Viv, an orc, is a recently injured mercenary who is recuperating in Murk. Despite her circumstances and initial resistance to resting, Viv quickly finds a place in the community. She spends her days in the local bookshop, finds her first love, and makes some new friends. All fantasy creature doing very human things like running a pub, saving bookshop, and so on. Hence, the cozy fantasy appeal!

This prequel is absolutely delightful, and I cannot wait to read Legends now. If you are like me and haven't read it, you will still enjoy Bookshops and Bonedust. No knowledge of the other book is required.

Orc Viv is just starting out in her mercenary career when she receives a brutal leg wound that takes her out of the action for a significant recovery period. She's laid up in Murk, a seaside town that is way too boring for someone who'd much rather be hunting necromancers and the like. But as she slowly heals, Viv ventures out and discovers a shabby overstuffed bookshop owned by Fern, as well as a mouthwatering bakery owned by supercute Maylee, and starts to find a home in Murk, albeit a temporary one.

This is a prequel to Legends & Lattes, and is just as cozy and heartwarming as that book (which is set at the end of Viv's marauding career). It's a love letter to the power of books and community and friendship without getting overly twee. I loved it, and I can't wait to read more books by Baldree.

This was another of my most highly anticipated reads of the year. I was a little sad, at first, to hear it was a prequel and we wouldn't get the full cast of characters that I loved in Legends and Lattes however I was quickly back to being excited. This book goes backwards in Viv's timeline but continues with the legacy the first book began of feeling like I'm reading a hug in book form. I hope we get even more from this world in the future.

Bookshops and Bonedust is a cozy fantasy read and a prequel to Legends and Lattes. Viv is a mercenary with an injury…and she’s forced to recover in the small beach town of Murk. To help with boredom as she heals, she wanders into the local bookshop and meets new friends. Can she protect these friends when her mercenary world collides with her new one?

This was such a sweet, cozy read! As this is a prequel to Legends and Lattes, we get to see Viv during her mercenary days and I loved how the two stories tied in together, while still being independent. This world is so vibrant and lovely! I absolutely adored the side characters as well, they were so vibrant and well rounded - Pot Roast and Satchel were so fantastic!

Overall this was a five star read! Absolutely loved it and can’t wait for more from this author! This book did have a small romance plot line so one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of cozy fantasy reads with wonderful characters, beautiful world building and all the found family vibes, then absolutely pick this one up! While these can be read independently, I do feel like you’ll appreciate the story more if you’ve read Legends and Lattes.

Baldree has certainly made a name for himself as a peak cozy fantasy writer! He balances the fun aspects of fantasy like rich world-building and action-packed adventure sequences with deep, thoughtful character development in those we meet on our journey. I'm always thrilled when there's emotional dialogue and tension/chemistry between characters that just leaps off the page and causes me to have an emotional reaction (all the while demanding that I read JUST ONE MORE CHAPTER).

This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside by the end (and don't even get me started on the Epilogue!!). All I can say is that lovers of Legends & Lattes will relish and come to cherish the stories and new characters that they meet in Bookshops & Bonedust. After all, "Ever book is a little mirror, and sometimes you look into it and see someone else looking back."

As Fern says at the book's conclusion, "See you in the story past the story."

This book was an absolute delight to read. We first met Viv in Legends & Lattes, and now we get to spend time with her again at a much earlier point in her adventuring career when, due to an injury, she's got to stay put in a little seaside town called Murk while she heals up. While she's there, she can't help getting to know some of the local folks and get just a little involved in their concerns.

Baldree does such a wonderful job writing characters that are lovable folks you can't help but root for. I especially love how proactive Viv is when she gets an idea and just jumps right in to make it happen. And while there are just enough stakes to keep the story interesting, and a couple spooky touches that make this an excellent autumn read, this book still falls very much into the cozy fantasy vibe complete with cozy reading nooks, tantalizing baked goods and everyday folks supporting each other doing everyday things.

This read is definitely one for the book lovers. If you've ever enjoyed the smell of an old book, supporting a local bookstore, or felt the thrill of recommending a title and watching someone fall in love with reading all over again, there are moments that will definitely speak to you.

3.5 rounded up. I can totally understand why people love this series but it was a little bit of a struggle for me. I don’t read fantasy much so that could be why. I had a hard time keeping the names and different things straight. Still, this was overall a nice story that was a quick read and I loved the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

While I did really enjoy this one, and once again we have characters that have stolen my heart, I'm not sure it's quite as good as LEGENDS & LATTES. Or maybe a tiny bit of that extra love goes to the novelty of book one. Not sure. But if you wanted, or needed, more action even though you like the coziness of the first? I think you'll be very happy.

Once again though it's the romance that doesn't quite work for me. In this one it's hardly as prevalent, more just a taste of something that could've been possible, but it still didn't do much for me despite how much I wanted it to. I really enjoyed the friendships, the little found family, all of those aspects. That's where the strength was. Though Gallina did irritate me more often than not. But it was Potroast. It was Fern and her potty mouth. It was Satchel and his sad sweetness. They more than made up for it. Oh, and Viv too of course.

From coffee shop style AU to bookshops, Baldree is giving readers what they want. And that lovely little treat of an epilogue means we might see the two combine. Or at least we can imagine it. Delightful.

This delightful prequel to Legends & Lattes continues the tale of the orc Viv whose heart is as big as her biceps; this one is set during the start of her career as a warrior. It is also near the beginning of her recovery, as an overeager newbie in Rackam’s Ravens team, she has broken her leg as a result of her overzealousness and been sent to backwater Murk to heal. Here she is consumed by FOMO; the mission was to capture the necromancer, Varine the pale, and her skeletal army, and now the band has moved on without her. An orc’s cabin fever is not pretty to behold and in her desperation, Viv finds a a rundown very funky bookstore run by Fern, a young rather salty mouthed ratkin who has a passion and uncanny ability to match the right book to the right reader… that is if only more beings wanted books. She also encounters the very suspicious eyes of the fearsome local law enforcer, the Gatewarden, a host of eccentric local residents, .and a bakery with incomparable baked goods run by Maylee, a gifted and badass dwarf proprietor who offers the possibility of romance. But perhaps the most significant encounter of Viv’s enforced convalescence is the one that Fern introduces her to, the celebration of falling into a good book. Viv goes from an avoidant-at-all-costs reader to a fully committed bookworm, and the seemingly lost cause of saving Fern’s bookstore becomes her own. The marketing campaigns to expand the business become as engrossing as battle campaigns, and the victories, as triumphant, while being considerably sweeter, many of them involving a self-awareness and ethical self-examination for Viv and some of the other Murk inhabitants. And Varine the Pale, is not out of the picture either. All of the character and plot arcs work, for author Baldree is a cultivator of atmosphere and location. There is magic and action, but much like Legends & Lattes the cosy feels are the forefront of the story and the vicious fights and 'big bad' more of a background element. In the category Hygge Fantasy, this novel deserves a front and center place. Bookstores & Bonedust, shows how a prequel can stand on its own while also making its predecessor (and antecessor) stronger in retrospect. I was loathe to leave Viv and the community she created in the first book, this time it’s even harder. Recommended!

If you liked the first book, you’ll love this one too. It has the same level of cozy vibes and low stakes fun. This book had a difficult task of coming behind one that readers absolutely loved. Part of what they loved were the characters. So it is a bit of a letdown to not get to see more of those characters even though these were good too.

For the newness and lovable characters, I think L&L will always hold a special place in my heart and it is hard not to direct care. But I’m glad I read this and will definitely read anything else in the series. I’m sure most people who liked the first will feel similarly.

I did consume this via audiobook which does make the experience different. Baldree is an excellent narrator and really makes the characters individuals.