By Jay Flood
There is no better feeling than drinking hot coffee with friends in the coziest of coffee shops on a cold, snowy day and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree embodies that feeling. A cozy fantasy with low stakes – this book captures the importance of community, friendship, found family, love, and will. An orc who’s spent a lifetime bounty hunting decides to leave that life behind and start something new. Viv brings coffee to a town that has never even heard the word. Through trial and error, Viv and some new friends turn an old building into a coffee shop, add new items to their menu, and eventually become a staple in the community. Viv learns to trust the kindness of strangers and open her heart to a succubus named Tandri.
Rated 4.26 stars on Goodreads, Legends and Lattes continues to be a crowd-pleaser. Many readers consider this a comfort read, as it allows them to relax, escape the real world, and read about fantasy characters opening up a coffee shop. The book is marketed as an LGBTQ+ cozy high-fantasy, low-stakes type of book. Readers who didn’t like the book were disappointed that the plot was slow. This book is definitely a book that is not fast-paced or intense, so if that’s what you’re looking for you will be disappointed. But, a break from high-stakes, stressful and intense fantasy can be good sometimes!
A subplot introduces the orc’s past as a bounty hunter, but even that isn’t enough to be stressful. All of the characters were lovely and experiencing the bonds forming between them was magical. Personally, I did not get attached to the characters or fantasy world as much as I expected myself to. I still question why it did not capture my love and attention like it should have. Reading the book felt like watching Narnians exist in between conflicts. It is the perfect fluffy, comforting book set in a world I wish I lived in. The romance was subtle, which is also something I love, especially when it’s a healthy sapphic romance with a good ending because there aren’t many of those.
Something I thought was lacking was the fantasy aspect. Obviously, all of the characters are mythical creatures and there are other elements that show it’s a fantasy book. However, I thought it could have had more. Before I read this book, I thought it was about mythical creatures opening a coffee shop that also had some sort of mythical element, like maybe magic coffee and pastries or magic machines to make the coffee. But, the entire aspect of the coffee shop was exactly like you would find in our world other than the fact that it was built and opened by mythical creatures. At some points in the story, I forgot I was reading about mythical creatures in a fantasy setting, which made the book boring. If it would have been more obviously mythical, maybe I would have liked it more.
Legends and Lattes is a perfect book for those who want to read a fantasy book without having to memorize a lot of information about a new world. The world building of this book was not detailed, but it didn’t need to be. The information we were given as readers was enough to help us understand the plot and the world without it being overwhelming. There are so many fantasy books I’ve read where the first half of the book took forever because there were so many world building details and rules I had to understand first. This book is not like that. All you need to know is that there are creatures in this world and in the town Viv escapes to, they’ve never heard of coffee. Some fantasy books are difficult to read because of how much detail there is, but with this book, it will be relaxing and easy because of how little detail there is about the world.
The next time there’s a storm, grab a hot cup of coffee and some pastries, light a candle, and cuddle up on your couch with this book. Reading Legends and Lattes is an experience everyone should enjoy at least once in their life. Take a break from the high-stakes, intense, heavy books and read a cozy, sweet, light-hearted book about an orc introducing coffee to a town full of mythical creatures.
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