Title: Legends & Lattes
Series: Legends & Lattes #1
Author: Travis Baldree
Publisher: Tor
Publish Date: June 7, 2022
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+
Pages: 296
Format: Paperback

A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success—not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

This cozy fantasy book was just that: cozy. It had an atmosphere weaved into the pages that allowed you to sit back with your own cup or coffee or tea or favorite beverage and just enjoy the story of this mercenary-gone-barista. I found myself laughing out loud a few times, captivated by the ups and downs of the hope that the coffee shop brought to this town, and wishing for Viv to succeed.

The characters were the heart of this story, driving it in a direction that makes you want to root for Viv, Trandri, Cal, and Thimble. Viv is our main protagonist, a retired mercenary for hire who, on her last battle with her team, found a stone in a creature that was said to bring great fortune to those who would have it. And so, with the stone in hand, she sets off to a place where no one has ever heard of coffee and begins her work setting up a place to call her own and share the delightfulness of the beverage with. Along the way, she makes friends and hires people that she believes in her gut to be the best fit for the job that they’re assigned to do.

I found Viv to be quite likable because as a half-orc she’s already looked at as “other” by many people, and there are many stereotypes around half-orcs, but she shows that those stereotypes aren’t the only things that make up who she is, and that after a lifetime of battle and surviving lived, she was ready to settle down and just share something that she found to be dazzling in its own right. Viv is the kind of character you want to succeed, and that you want the best for. She was kind and funny, but stern and knew how to negotiate.

Tandri is another person we see often throughout the book as she is hired by Viv to help serve customers and manage the store. She’s a succubus, and that alone comes with its own slew of stereotypes, who does her best to fit in and make herself as calm and collected as possible. Though, when she tastes things that are to her delight, everyone nearby can feel those effects and are charmed by her. I found Tandri to be a good balance to Viv, someone who was creative in her own right and who seemed to understand business in ways that Viv didn’t think of.

Cal and Thimble were two side characters that made their appearance quite frequently along the way, Cal more so in the beginning and Thimble more so in the second half, where they were personally scouted by Viv and Tandri to help make this coffee shop dream a reality. They are extremely different (not only in race, since one is – I believe – a gnome of sorts, while the other is a mouse person) in personalities: Cal is gruff around the edges, but he’s very handy as a carpenter and he gives recommendations and praise in short bursts and gestures rather than being vocal about it. Thimble is a baker who is extremely soft spoken but he has a passion for what he does and is honestly just extremely cute.

The plot follows Viv as she makes her dreams a reality, hoping that the stone she got from the belly of a beast is actually true to the legends that proclaim it as such. There are many times where she gets frustrated or worried that the shop won’t do as well as she hoped, but even as things begin to grow in abundance, everything must come down. I thought that the events leading up to the fall were so cozy and warm, that it almost felt like you could forget that there could be potential consequences for everything going along so well. There was an undercurrent of worry, however, from early on, but even that worry turned out to be not as worrisome as what actually occurred. I’ll leave that up to you to read about, however.

Also, yes, there is a romance but it’s extremely subtle in the best ways possible, and the moments that you do see are ones that you can easily find yourself giggling to or wanting more of.

There were a couple of points in the book where I felt like the plot was either too loose, or that a few moments fell flat, or that things felt too convenient. However, those moments were few and far in between and didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Overall, this book was extremely enjoyable and one that was hard to put down. I believe I finished it in one sitting, and I just felt all sorts of warm and fuzzy by the end of it. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a short fantasy read as a palette cleanser for a lot of the beefier, heavier subject fantasy books that are out there. I also recommend it if you’re just looking for something cozy as this was my first cozy fantasy and I would definitely love to read more in these kinds of settings!

★★★★☆