Fun and captivating! Viv and company have my heart and I was so excited to jump back into this warm and welcoming world that Travis Baldree has built for us. I absolutely adored Legends and Lattes and so I was thrilled to receive an ARC for this prequel through NetGalley.

From the publisher, “When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.
Set in the world of New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.”

Fans of the first book will enjoy the relaxed setting, the grumpy but warm-hearted new characters, and the ever-optimistic Viv as new adventures and trials unfold in this wonderful prequel to Legends and Lattes!

This was such a cosy wonderful read! Loved it! I think I even enjoyed it more than Legends & Lattes and that’s saying something!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Legends and Lattes is pretty much considered the definition of the Cosy Fantasy genre. Nearly any discussion about the genre on social media will at some point mention Legends and Lattes. So to follow that up is going to be a lot of pressure and expectation.

Travis Baldree has definitely met those expectations, this time with a prequel title Bookshops and Bonedust. The characters are charming (and also a bit more sarcastic and sweary at times- which I liked), the setting of a run down bookshop was spot on, the baked goods sounded delicious, and the added bit of tension was at just the right level to counter balance the cosy.

The only thing I might say against it is that because it was a prequel you already knew how things were going to turn out. But, I would still highly recommend it to those that enjoyed Legends and Lattes.

I was SO excited to be accepted for this ARC. I absolutely adored Legends & Lattes and knew that I had to get my hands on the prologue ASAP, and I’m so happy to say I was definitely not disappointed.

The cosy fantasy vibes continued in this heartwarming instalment. Bookshops & Bonedust is such an easy, pleasurable read. Just thinking back to this book makes me feel all cosy inside!

Travis Baldree has quickly became one of my favourite comfort writers. The characters he creates are so human and emotional, it’s hard not to feel an instant connection. And if you loved Legends & Lattes there’s a special wee addition just so you don’t forget them! Travis’s writing is fantastic, I love his style and his creativity. Most importantly, I love his LGBTQ+ representation – Travis’s characters are just living their lives, there is absolutely no discrimination in this comforting and safe world.

I can’t wait to read what Travis thinks up next, I know it’ll be great. Would definitely recommend keeping an eye out for this novel, I know I’ll be buying a hardback edition for my shelf when it’s released!

Thank you again to Pan MacMillan (Tor imprint), Travis Baldree and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book
This was a cosy prequel and I just loved the setting- a seaside bookshop? Sign me up please
I fell in love with all of the characters. I already enjoyed Viv but I feel like I got to know her even more while she was doing a bad job of resting up post injury. Potroast was my favourite character and I love him. I want to feed him baked goods
This was a delightful read and it just made me feel very happy. I hope there will be many more books in this series, they’re like a warm hug
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I already want to reread this when the weather cools down

Ohh boy did I need this book. After being in a bit of a reading slump for the past few weeks, I finally sat down and read the rest of this book. I loved it. It was such a cozy-fantasy quick read and I genuinely enjoyed every second of it.

And can we talk about how cute Satchel is for a moment please????!?!?!?

Loved this! It's a prequel to Legends and Lattes and I think it's so perfect.

It's cosy fantasy at its best.

I thought the ending was a little rushed, but it didn't take away from the book.

I'll be reading them both again.

After being injured during a fight with the followers of a necromancer Viv is recovering in the town of Murk, boredom has her wandering into the local bookshop, where she discovers the magic of books and of friendship. While the residents of Murk are well written I was left wanting to know more about them, and what their lives were like after Viv moved on, my only complaint is that the final showdown with the necromancer is over far too quickly.

I wasn't familiar with Legends and Lattes prior to this but seeing Bookshops in the title of a fantasy book hooked me easily enough! It's book 0 in the series and is really about Viv, an orc and a novice mercenary with Rackam's Ravens. She is wounded badly while they are looking for a necromancer. Rackam sends her to a seaside city called Murk to recover saying that they will come through there after completing their mission and collect her if she survives.

Viv is badly hurt and it takes a while before she can stray far from her lodgings. She starts using a crutch and that hurts too but she can get further. She walks past a rather decrepit looking bookshop as she explores. On one outing she pops in and is less than impressed. However she does talk to the owner, Fern a rattkin, who suggest a book for her to read. Nearby there's a bakery run by a dwarf that is always busy and does having very good buns.

I suppose I wasn't really sure about this story initially. It really was rather lightweight. It has lesbian undertones - not an issue to me but I thought referring to some genres of books as "moist" was simply a bit odd.

As time went by this did pull me in (and I would have never stopped reading it anyway). I got into the characters and they are pretty good. There is not a vast cast in this but those that are are certainly good enough for me. The introduction of Satchel probably completed the hook for me. I'm not going to say anything more about him as a character other than saying he is important and was convincing (& entertaining). Indeed "entertaining" would be a good word to use about this book.

I could simply say that this is a book about bookshops (actually singular) and books and bonedust and strange creatures and magic and a bakery and buns and friendship and deeper feelings and… But some might not find that helpful - on the other hand if you don't this story might not be for you. I did like the Epilogue too - I will read Legends and Lattes when time permits. Often worth looking at books that are different from the usual "diet" and this was one! Certainly more than 4 by the end for me.

Bookshops and Bonedust follows Viv the hired blade as her leg is severely injured, the story covers her recovery in the small town of Murk, where she is ordered to rest and recuperate, albeit unwillingly.

Viv meets an unlikely group of friends, including the owner of a bookstore, and her furry sidekick, an adventurous young wannabe fellow hired blade, and a friendly master baker.

This book is a hot cup of chocolate in your hands on a winter’s day, cosy, interesting, and a perfect standalone. I would hugely recommend this to anyone who wants to delve into the world of fantasy. This is my first book like this - reminiscent of dungeons and dragons that is - and I am aware this is a prequel. You do NOT have to meet the characters of “Legends and Lattes” before reading - I didn’t, but I will be!

Overall, 4.5 stars, I felt the ending was a teensy bit rushed and could’ve been fleshed out a little bit more!

SOO maybe unpopular opinion but I don't think Legends and Lattes needed a sequel! This book wasn't bad at all, like it wasn't INCREDIBLE but I think legends and Lattes was a wonderful cosy stand alone and I get why this book was written but honestly it kinda took away from it. BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE BOOKSTORE ASPECT OF IT!! wHO DOESN'T LOVE BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS! It was a very quick cosy read still but I just don't think it lived up to legends and lattes sadly! BUt if you enjoyed l&l you will still enjoy this for sure!

I loved this book almost as much as the first one, but honestly, the first one was a very tough act to follow.

Bookshops and Bonedust is a prequel to Legends and Latte, taking place several years before. It features Viv the orc in her early years on the merc circuit. When we first meet her, she's young, reckless and a little bit cocky, and that soon proves to be her downfall, with an injury leaving her left languishing in a small seaside town while she recovers from an injury. At first she's resentful of this, but as she gets involved in the life of the town, she begins to understand the peace and quiet of the town, and that good things can come from taking it easy now and again.

As with L&L, it's the side characters that make this book. Each one of them feels very real and individual, with their personality shining through. Favourites include Fern, a foul-mouthed bookseller; Maylee, who runs the local bakery and has a fledgling romance with Viv; Satchel, who I won't spoil; and my little baby Potroast, who is the greatest.

Bookshops and Bonedust is a great read that is very hard to put down. It's light and funny, but has more steel than L&L, which is only fitting, given that Viv is a much scrappier individual at this point in her story. This does mean it's slightly less cosier and more plot-driven than its predecessor, but that doesn't mean that it lost its heart.

After reading Legends and Lattes as what I thought was a stand-alone book I was thrilled to be getting more from Viv’s world with this prequel and it didn’t disappoint!

Set 20yrs before Legends this book follows a wounded Viv left behind in a sleepy town to recover while her crew carry on chasing their current bounty. Cue the introduction of a cosy bookstore and a delicious sounding bakery and we have all the elements of the perfect tale.

This book offers all the cute cosy fantasy vibes that Legends has as well as the inevitable adventure and action that our main character always finds herself entangled in. I absolutely adored every second and it may even (just) be better than Legends.

Loved that the epilogue left things open for more stories from this world and I truly hope that we get many more as I’ll be first in the line to devour anything else this author puts out there!

A beautiful story, with just the right amount of cosiness and action sequences. A must read for every booklover!

Bookshops and Bonedust opens with a brilliant battle scene, we meet a younger Viv, who’s full of life and eager to make a name for herself. However after getting stabbed through the leg, Viv is left to recuperate in the sleepy seaside town of Murk, whilst the rest of the gang head off to fight the Necromancer.
Viv meets a brilliant, but potty-mouthed Ratkin named Fern, the owner of the failing local bookshop. Maylee, a dwarf and ex-mace wielding mercenary turned baker, owner of the very successful bakery, and we meet the knife wielding gnome, Gallina, a familiar face from Legends and Lattes.
What I love about this book and indeed Legends and Lattes, is that the character development, the relationships they create and the bonds they build, is just as important, if not more so than the action and the battle scenes. (Which there is also more of this time around!) There’s is so much charm and depth to this fantasy world, the links between this and Legends and Lattes were subtle enough that you don’t need to read them in any particular order, but the nods to the original story were so lovely and much appreciated. There is however a little spoiler at the end but it was so heartwarming it had me sobbing!
It is the prequel we didn’t know we needed, and I cannot wait to read more from Travis Baldree.

For a tough, bloodthirsty bounty hunter, Viv is just so nice! She really cares about people, especially the underdog. I think she can't help helping others. I really love the way Viv's people end up drawn to each other, its just so warming.
My only (very slight) complaint is the paragraphs from books that Viv is reading which are sometimes quite long and which I found boring. They were nowhere near as good as the actual book! That aside, I really enjoyed the book and hope there will be more in the series.

I've been so busy, and finding time and brainpower to read has been hard so it's taken a while to get through this, but I love that I have spent a long time in this world and savoured every moment of it.

Travis has this wonderfully descriptive writing that really pulls you into the world and makes you never want to leave, I felt it with Legends & Lattes and the magic hasn't left. I think overall I'd rate this 4.5 because I think I enjoyed L&L a bit more even though there's actually a whole load more plot going on in this one.

Also I never expected the prologue to make me almost ugly cry, but it did. It was the most perfect ending and I cried and I am not ashamed of it.

Again, thank you Netgalley and thank you Travis for writing some of the most perfect books to ever grace my eyeballs.

This is a wonderful book and serves as a great prequel to Legends and Lattes. It gives the back story to Viv and how she becomes the orc she is in Legends. I can't wait to read more of this series.

A wonderfully sweet prequel to an already gorgeous book. My only wish with Legends and Lattes was that there was a little more adventure, and Bookshops and Bonedusts delivers! I'm so glad to have spent more time in this world.

This was the perfect prequel to ‘Legends and Lattes’.
I devoured this in 2 days (my silly job got in the way), and am already wishing there was more.
As a tabletop adventurer who plays an orc Barbarian, as well as being a bookseller by trade, this book had everything I wished for.
The plot felt like a year’s campaign being told by the notes of a player and reading this kind of fantasy tale, makes me feel like the author may have rolled to see how certain things played out.
We are introduced to a wealth of new and unforgettable characters, with Potroast having been teased already by the author himself, and we see how Viv became the orc we all know and love.
I’m going to be very sad come November when the hardback is published here in the UK and everyone around me will get the ‘reading-it-for-the-first-time’ feeling.
Thank you to both Travis Baldree for the gift of his words, and to Pan Macmillan for the ARC.