Glancing around, Viv decided that she was extremely proud of the shop’s interior. It felt modern and forward-thinking, but also cozy and welcoming. The combined aromas of hot cinammon, ground coffee, and sweet cardamom intoxicated her, and as she brewed and smiled and served and chatted, a deep contentment welled up. It was a glowing warmth she’d never experienced before, and she liked it. She liked it a great deal.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Dipping into something cozy and soothing is a concept most of us came to appreciate during the last difficult years, I believe. With the pandemic, but also our hectic modern life, enjoying the simple things and the conncetion to others became something to strive for again. The retreat into the sanction of the home or one of the places that give comfort (say bookshops, cafes, nature…) has been something society celebrates periodically (just think of the Biedermeier era in germany in the 19th century), and now is the time to fully give yourself to that again. Or so I tend to daydream about that.

Cozy fantasy is a fairly new genre (well, at least in its specific characteristics and branding) and I longed to dive into that for a long time. And I did so with the book that a lot of people associate as one of the cozy fantasy book of our time: „Legends & Lattes“ by Travis Baldree. Highly popular and hyped to no end, this book that was written during NaNoWriMo by the author and first self-published gained a lot of traction in the reading world – and I wanted to finally know what all that hype was about. I also am no stranger to searching comfort in reading, at least to counterbalance my love for not-so comfy books. But so far I mainly tended to go to cozy murder mysteries (Agatha Christie, all time favourite) and non-fiction for that. My first encounter in this genre, now that I think of it, was probably T.J. Klune’s „The House in the Cerulean Sea“, which left me so emotionally activated that I really cried happy tears (so also not so cozy parts in there). Another one was „The long way to a small and angry planet“ from Becky Chambers‘ Wayfarer Series (picked that up again recently after I put it to the side halfway through in the past). But now to „Legends & Lattes“, which I read for the specific reason to huddle down on my sofa with a warm blanket and a heating pad and to just make myself comfortable in all the possible ways.

Plot: The plot is super chill and unexcited and just follows our main character Viv, an orc and former mercenary basically retiring from her adventurous life by settling down in a small town and opening a coffee shop. She is meeting new friends there and step by step builds something that really sparks joy. That sums up about at least three quarters of the book I would say. The pacing is super slow, but I think it really needs to be to fulfill its cozy premise. By keeping it that simple Travis Baldree really manages to make the reader slow down as well. Speaking in neurobiologic and psychologic terms, our nervous systems needs tuned down input to calm down as well. So this is just perfect. I used the book to counteract a thriller I was reading alongside it and I made sure that „Legends and Lattes“ was the book I read right before going to bed (or in bed), to make sure I really calmed down and had sweet dreams 😉

Characters: The characters are so so loveable and friendly and you must be a person without a heart to not feel a warmth spread around it, when you read about their interactions between each other and the good they bring into their world. Highly recommend to get to know them yourself!

World Building: The world building was not something that was top priority here and it didn’t need to be for the book to work. We learn something about the world, but most stays unexplained (or is not explained in much detail), which is really fine. The focus here is more the immediate sorroundings and happenings and the atmosphere and feeling that is transported. That as well is something that falls into the category of tuned down input and I appreciated it as that.

Food: Yes, because food in books is a special category here on this blog 😉 The food part was satisfactorily depicted here and I found myself not just once with a watering mouth reading the delicious descriptions of various coffee shop foods. There even is a specific recipe at the end of the book, which gives bonus points. I love to cook foods from the books I read (let me know if that would be of interest to you, because i might share some of it in the future then).

Summary: This was everything I wanted and needed it to be and I enjoyed myself so much! I had a feeling that cozy fantasy would be my jam and it definitely is (next to my usual high fantasy, sci-fi and all the other books I read, of course). Travis Baldree is so good at writing feel-good content and I bow to that in gratitude.
Thankfully, Travis Baldree didn’t stop with Legends and Lattes and there will be a second book in the series. The story we encountered in book one will not be the center of the book though. We will follow a whole new storyline, that is set in the same town. So keep your eyes open for „Bookshops and Bonedust“, coming out on the 9th of November 2023. Apart from that I am so much looking forward to diving more into cozy mystery. I start by reading „The long way to a small and angry planet“ by Becky Chambers again and also looking forward to „The very secret society of irregular witches“, which was gifted to me (subscribe if you don’t want to miss that). So, to end this, I would love to know: Have you read any cozy fantasy so far? And if so, what did you think of it?

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4,5 stars from me!

This if for you, if…

… you want to feel cozy and snuggly while reading

… reading is something you turn to for comfort

… you love the trope of found family

… you don’t need a lot of big things to happen to feel entertained

Trigger Warnings: None