Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

💜

Travis Baldree’s debut fantasy novel is not one to miss. I found this title through TikTok, from a fellow librarian I follow who couldn’t recommend it enough and I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself a copy. And let me just say, one of the best purchases I made. Ever.

I saw one person describe this as a cozy fantasy and I couldn’t agree more. It is everything one could want in a low-stakes, slice-of-life fantasy story. It hits all the buttons and then some.

The story follows Viv, a retired orc barbarian, tired of the adventurer life and looking to settle down and open a coffee shop in a little town that had never even heard of coffee. And while at first glance it looks like this will just be another coffee shop story with a fantasy background, it’s not. It is so much more.

Baldree gives us elements of found family, the importance of old friendships, and building new relationships. And oof the relationships. I loved the quality of characters Baldree gave us. There weren’t many characters which made you feel a little more attached to the few we had.

And as we follow them through the rest of the story and watch Viv build the life she always wanted for herself it also starts to give the ready an urge to build the life they want for themselves as well. If she can do it, why can’t we? She gave up everything she knew to start something she had only the basic knowledge of and on a hunch. It inspiring.

One of my favorite reads of the year so far.

5/3/22

*This review was previously posted on my google site.

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