Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.
I really loved this story. It was a comfortable read filled with warm and cosy characters. I loved the whole concept of the story. The cast was a wild and unique mix of different backgrounds; you felt right at home while reading the book. It was everything you could wish for.

I could inhabit this book forever. Legends & Lattes is the comfort read version of drinking warm coffee on a long winter night.

Such a beautiful, big-hearted story, one that foregrounds deep meaningful friendships and queer love between women as something that heals, something to take up against the times like a sword and shield. I have such a reverent spot in my heart for the kind of fantasy that isn't about big extravagant conflicts, but which focuses instead on the quiet, tiny, daily moments between people just trying to eke out a decent life, capturing all the safe and easy intimacies of being in proximity of each other, of caring and being profoundly cared for, of making someplace to belong.
Legends & Lattes does exactly that.

In short, know the vibes are calamitously bad everywhere in the world right now, and I'm here to say, sincerely and without reservation, that if you are in need of someplace to rest, something cozy and comforting to disappear into, this story-about a butch orc who quits her mercenary job, opens a coffee shop, and finds fierce friendship, community and (sapphic!) love in the process -is for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pam Macmillan for providing me with this e-ARC! Legends & Lattes is out everywhere on November 10th!

This was a delicious warm slice of life fantasy. Listening to the audiobook I was completely melted by the authors charming voice and soon gobbled up this appetising story. The characters developments were just so lovely, I couldn't get enough of their everyday lives in such an extraordinary fantasy setting. There isn't the usual epic fantasy trope and that's what makes this high fantasy with low stakes so unique. It's full of the perfect ingredients that truly fills you up with its wholesome goodness
I adored Viv, Cal, Thimble & Tandri, they are the most scrumptious cinnamon rolls.
I have a feeling that this authors debut is going to expand into something quite spectacular!!

I. Love. Cozy. Fantasy.

Honestly, Legends and Lattes is my favourite type of book. A spoonful of wholesomeness, a dash of romance, a feel-good story sprinkled on top - I couldn't ask for anything more. Similar in vibe to House on the Cerulean Sea and the Wayfarers series, I absolutely adored it.

It was everything I'd heard about and so much more.
When Viv a warrior orc takes her payment from one last team job, she takes it to the town of Thune to bring the gnomish bean water drink to the township. After a lot of hard work, she builds a little corner of Thune and makes it her own- with a little help from some of the best friends she didn't know she needed. It genuinely is the cozy fantasy you never knew you wanted and now I want more! Team Thimble forever!!!!

Incredibly heart warming and cosy - this has become one of my comfort reads. The story is well paced, characters are delightful. A great blend of fantasy with a dash of modern living.

I had heard a lot of positive reviews about the self-published version of this book before I begun, and so was excited, but also cautious (what if it didn't live up to the hype?). However it absolutely did fulfill my expectations, and exceed my hopes!

This was an absolute warm cozy drink of a book, the kind where I was immediately transported into the setting as soon as I started to read, and where every page gave me happiness. One of my favourite (niche) tropes/sub-genres is the 'character starts up a new business/solves business problems and here's how they do it'. That is to say, the stories that show the details of how the character plan and expands their work, in a way that feels like the best highlights bit of Grand Designs or some kind of design show, but with all the work they do revealing greater things about the character(s) themselves. And this completely aces that! The development of the coffee shop running alongside the development of the community, and the burgeoning relationships, romantic and otherwise, worked so well that I felt I could see it emerge, smell the coffee, taste the delicious pastries! (I did end up eating a lot while reading!)

All the characters were beautifully written and I was sad to leave them behind - I could read books and books of all of their lives!

A gorgeous, delicious treat of a book!


*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

reading fantasy novels is something i don't do very often. i understand their appeal, and most fantasy books have such in depth and complex lore, which is astonishing if you think about that someone was able to conjure it. but bulky books are too intimidating for me, fantasy books are almost always a series and each book will never stray too far from the minimum of 400 pages. they put a lot of detail in their world building and history, so i suppose i cant blame them. however, to someone with ADHD, that's a lot.

the truth is, i went into legends & lattes, expecting a relatively fantasy-oriented book, splattered with the usual mouthful of geography, and explanation of different races. i came out of it completely enamored by what i had read. the fact that today was a gloomy, hazy type of day, and i was able to lazy around and curl up in my fluffy blanket also helped. all in all, it was such an enjoyable experience that i devoured this book in the same day.

in legends and lattes, we follow viv, a barbarian orc who renounces all she knows with the idea of setting up a café in a fancy town. the catch is, unlike in our reality, coffee is not that known in this book's universe. elves are the sole race who have a habit of making it and drinking it, so viv cashes in on their products to make this dream of hers a reality. she arrives at this new city, a stranger to her very core, and slowly builds what comes to be a well loved café with regulars who partake in this cozy, rustic environment, each one incredibly vital to the story. as much as viv is our main characters, the other are indispensable and are put in so perfectly in the scenes of this story that it's impossible to find any flaw.

there's a little bit of everything in this book, and maybe that's why it's so easy to read and love. you have romance, action, comedy, drama, and most importantly, that slice-of-life everyone enjoys.

i am permanently warm, like the stoves thimble loves so much, from reading this book. what a pleasure it was.

If you're in the mood for a cozy, slice of life fantasy about an orc running a cafe with the best possible quirky staff, then look no further. I read this book in a day, I could simply not put it down after I started reading. Highly recommend!

Legends & Lattes is the reading equivalent of making yourself a hot cup of coffee, snuggling down under a blanket while rain is lashing down outside and watching someone else stream playing Stardew Valley. Keep reading, I mean this in a nice way.

We follow orc Viv as she settles down after her life as barbarian to open a coffee-shop - and that's pretty much the entire plot. We follow her build and upgrade her coffee-shop and making friends and even family along the way. The obstacles are fairly minor and easily overcome. What's the point then, you ask? The stakes aren't high enough! you say. Nothing happens! you say.

Well maybe. But that's the whole point. At a time when the world outside is quite literally on fire and watching the news is enough to give any sane person an anxiety attack, this book is the chicken soup to your sore throat, the plaster and healing kiss to your scraped knee. It's gentle, and it's wholesome, and positive, and it will take you by the hand and take you along. Legends & Lattes tells you of new beginnings, that it's never too late for any of us, that we all can find love and friendship and that family isn't who you're born with but who you vibe with. You'll never be in doubt that this ends well. It has all the comfort of re-watching your favourite comfort movie for the 4536874521th time, only this time with a new plot. And I think the darker the times are, the more we need books like this, books who don't set out to educate us of challenge us or to make us somehow more, but that let us be and tell us it's going to be okay.

After all, the godfather of modern fantasy himself, J.R.R. Tolkien once said about escapism in fantasy, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . . If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”

So if you're in the mood for a gentle, wholesome read, themes of found family and friendship and an LGBTQ romance, you can't do better than picking this up. Readers who like high-stakes fantasy with uncertain endings, bloodshed and great evil will not like this, but they already have plenty of other books to choose from.

I want to thank PanMacmillan and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here expressed are my own.

Antes de crear auténticas maravillas como Baños Pleamar, Isaac Sánchez forjó una de las palabras que más impacto tuvo en los comienzos de YouTube en España: la “batamanta”. Sin llegar yo a aspirar a crear tendencia así, la verdad es que deberíamos empezar a usar el término “libromanta”, para definir esas novelas que te calientan el corazón y que te hacen disfrutar con la lectura como un chocolate caliente en una tarde otoñal.


Travis Baldree ha acertado de lleno con este Legends & Lattes, una novela ni demasiado larga, ni muy intensa ni con mucha acción, que sin embargo te encandila y hace que más que leerla la saborees. La protagonista es Viv, una orca guerrera que decide retirarse de su vida de aventuras, colgar la espada en la pared y abrir una cafetería, en un pequeño pueblo donde ni siquiera saben lo que es el café. El libro es solo eso, un pequeño relato de sus comienzos como emprendedora, de lo que le cuesta dejar atrás la violencia como solución a todos sus problemas y de cómo va encontrando gente que le ayuda a cumplir su sueño. Se podría considerar una novela costumbrista, aunque el escenario sea fantástico-medieval, la magia es un elemento más pero no tiene gran importancia. Hay un gran desfile de personajes secundarios de distintas razas (súcubos, enanos, gnomos…) y todos aportan su granito de arena a la formación de la cafetería Legends & Lattes. El conflicto es mínimo, pero es maravilloso ver cómo se van desarrollando las amistades y las relaciones entre personajes que a priori no tienen nada en común.

La prosa es funcional, es dulce como los postres que acompañan al café de mi nueva cafetería favorita. El ritmo está bastante bien llevado para ser la primera novela del autor.

Es un libro que genera bienestar en el lector, confianza en los planes de futuro y en el ser humano en general. Una pequeña joya autopublicada en un principio pero que gracias al boca a boca ha tenido la oportunidad de que la publiquen dos grandes casas editoriales.

Reading this book gave me the same warm, comforting feelings as drinking a hot cup of coffee. What a treat! I ended this story feeling like I had to try some of Thimble’s incredible recipes (and the e-arc even came with one at the end… you bet I will give it a go!).

In this book, we follow Viv the retired bounty hunter/everyday mercenary orc on a professional reconversion journey to become a café owner (and mayhaps find love in the process). Along the way, she meets Cal, a handy grumbly hob, Tandri, a mysterious misunderstood succubus, Thimble, a quiet baking genius rattkin and more. And let me tell you! All of these characters had such vibrant personalities, I just wanted to be there with them, too. On top of that, Baldree’s prose is impeccable, and flows so well! I giggled and had big smiles plastered on my face so many times while reading this book, you would not believe it. Truly a cosy fantasy for the ages! I would so happily read a sequel… Maybe I’ll cross fingers and toes for it…….

If you’re looking for a cosy, gentle adventure with characters who still face sizeable hurdles (although resolved fairly easily, let’s say), a found family cast that makes you want to hug your own, then this is definitely the book for you. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you need something cozy, this is for you! Orc Viv has had enough of adventuring life and opens up a coffee shop in a big city, gathering friends along the way. It's heartwarming, cozy, and just the perfect book for a rainy day in autumn. But don't forget to bring some snacks and some coffee, because you will get hungry while reading!

Before Legends & Lattes I never hear about the author, but my first read from him truly hooked me. The story following Viv the Orc who after decades adventuring with her crew, decided to embark new career path. A really big one.

She want open her own coffee cafe. Alone in the city whose never hear about the special beans, she starts build her dream business and gather loyal friends in the way. All characters are flesh out and seem mismatch but complete each other. I enjoyed saw their banter and funny interaction.

The plot was simple, mostly about detail construction and how Viv built her business relationship. But I love how author injected the storyline with mini "How to do your first startup" courses. This book also offer one recipe of the famous bread from the cafe, interview with the author and snippets of how Viv found Coffee.

Although the plot was simple, this story offered comfort cosy reading experience. It remind me alot of Hallmark movies or chicken soup books vibes. This book will become perfect gift for beginner into fantasy genre or all fantasy readers who want something different, cosy and light to read after long tired working days.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor from Pan Macmillan for this delightful copy. I am grateful and my thoughts are my own. Legends and Lattes will release at 10 Nov 2022

A fun, cosy, light fantasy read that will appeal to fans of TJ Klune. All sorts of fantasy characters make an appearance in this coffee shop and the theme of strangers becoming friends and then family is touching. This could easily be recommended to a 14 plus market.