Synopsis:
Legends & Lattes is a cosy fantasy about a retired adventurer orc who hangs up her weapon to pursue a life of making coffee.
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.
Review:
I’m pretty sure Legends & Lattes was my first ever low-stakes cosy fantasy. It took me a few attempts to get started with this as honestly at first, I thought this was boring. The first few chapters were quite a slog to get through as they’re pretty long considering not a lot was happening, but I pushed through and actually ended up thoroughly enjoying this book.
The descriptions of how to make coffee in an old fantasy town were brilliant. I’m a huge coffee lover and knowing how to make coffee professionally made the experience of reading this book so fun for me. I did find myself being a little critical of how they actually made the coffee though–which was all in good fun, I’m not that much of a coffee snob. I’m also a huge lover of pastries, so the descriptions for the cinnamon buns were heavenly.
Even though this is a high fantasy book the stakes really are low. There isn’t a ton of world building and magical systems to learn the weird names for (although the days of the week are named differently). It’s very much a ‘this is where you are, here’s how the main character fits into the world’ type of setting and that’s about it. Legends & Lattes is a really easy book to get into as you aren’t wading through chapters of lore and history. You start out by learning a little about Viv’s backstory and how she ends up owning a coffee shop in Thune.
The cast of characters that work in the coffee shop are extremely wholesome. I wasn’t a huge fan of Tandree to begin with as her personality seemed to change from cold indifference to “I will do everything I can to make this coffee shop a success” very quickly. But the change to wanting to succeed is what made me love her. The budding relationship between her and Viv was also extremely sweet.
The few parts that did involve some conflict and action kept the momentum of the book going. These came at times when the mundane activities of running the coffee shop (which I did actually enjoy) could have gotten too repetitive.
Legends & Lattes is the perfect book to read if you want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of coffee (or tea). It’s a pretty quick read that you could get through in just one sitting, depending on how quick you read, and it will leave you with a craving for a latte and a warm pastry fresh out of the oven.
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Great review! So happy to hear that you ended up really enjoying this one 🙂 It’s such a perfect cosy fantasy (it was also my first in cosy low-stakes reads) and until now, remains one of my favourites 🙂
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