I bloody love this series!

I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the first book, especially with no Tandri in this one.

But I am happy to be wrong, I loved being back in Viv’s world, becoming invested with a new rag tag crew of characters (Fern & Satchel have my heart).

Cosy and wholesome fantasy, with just the right amount of action.

I really appreciated listening to this narrated by the author and the vision of each character came through.

Omg and that epilogue, ahh!

Thank you to NetGalley.
5/5 ⭐️

There is something really special about an audiobook read by the author and I think that shows in Travis Baldree’s vision for the character voices which was done perfectly. I have loved being immersed in this series.

Another wholesome adventure with Viv, a new cast of foul mouthed, sarcastic characters with first loves and an adoration of books. Did Fern just become my new favourite character?

If you loved Legends & Lattes then this will live up to all your expectations. I have loved being back in Travis Baldree’s World and it feels like such a cozy, healing book to read after a long day.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this in advance in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh this book was so much better than the first!! Baldree has clearly learnt a lot through the process, and this book fixes every issue I had with Legends & Lattes. The characters are well-rounded, their relationship dynamics are varied and complex and feel far more genuine. Viv is such a wonderfully interesting character in her frustration; her desire to move makes the narrative move despite being stuck in place. The plot is far more interesting, with enough moving parts to keep the reader engaged despite a relative lack of action until the later parts. The description and scene setting also really pulls you into the world of the book. A special mention has to be made for the book excerpts throughout - I'm a huge fan of this trend in fantasy recently, and they really give depth to the world!

As for narration, Baldree has such clear visions of each of his characters, and it really shines through in his voice work here. It was easy to tell who was who, to differentiate between the narrative and Viv's internal/external monologue. Baldree also doesn't fall into the trap of just pitching his voice higher for all female characters which is a frustratingly common occurrence, so the book was really easy to enjoy!

Overall, I was so surprised by this book and will now definitely be on the lookout for more of Baldree's work!

If you liked legends and lattes you will like this book. This prequel gives us a glimpse to Vivs past.

It also makes me want to open my own bookshop!

This is another fun cosy fantasy by Travis Baldree

Audiobook: I enjoy listening to Travis Baldree voice on normal speed, but my usual speed is 1.75

An amazing follow up to Legends and Lattes, it’s the cozy fantasy book every should read this year.
Perfect setting, with the hero helping to save a run down bookshop whilst uncovering the reason a sinister character is lurking in a quiet sea town. Loved the characters, emotions flying from laughing to crying!

Narration was too notch, sometimes it really makes the difference with the author being in charge

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are 100% my own.

I enjoyed the cozy fantasy vibes of this book. All the characters were well thought out and each added their own fun elements to the story. This book felt more of a collection of sub stories, rather than one whole plot, but that was enjoyable as it broke up the book.

I really liked the narration of this audiobook. It really helped to distinguish and develop the characters. Travis Baldree narrating the book himself was a brilliant idea and it really helps the reader see what he was imagining whilst writing this book.

I don’t think this book felt like a prequel. I wish it had been explored more as to why Viv decided to specifically open a coffee shop within this book. I also advise readers to read legends and lattes first as the epilogue of this book contains spoilers.

I’m a huge fan of Legends & Lattes, so when I got approved for Bookshops & Bonedust, I couldn’t believe it!!!
Much like Legends & Lattes, this book brings me so much comfort, it’s so warm and a feel good book.
I loved young Viv, and seeing what she did before Legends and Lattes, and in her mercenary days.
Travis Baldree has once again created such heartwarming characters in the form of goblins, dwarves and ratkins who all bring something amazing to the book itself.
This books is perfect for a cozy day of reading with your favourite hot beverage and a tasty snack!
Thank you to Pan Macmillian, Netgalley and Travis Baldree for an ARC copy of this book!

I picked this up days after finishing Legends & Lattes and it was lovely to drop back into the world in this prequel. Bookshops & Bonedust gives us another side to Viv and is a gorgeous (audio)book to curl up with in the cooler autumn weather. I don't think I enjoyed this as much as the first installment but I was not disappointed with this one.

If you're looking for a wholesome, inclusive and cosy read for the autumnal season then this one is for you - especially if you enjoyed Legends & Lattes!

A sweet, fun backstory to the hit Legends and Lattes. Viv is a young orc trying to find her way as a fledgling mercenary when she gets injured and left behind in a small town by the sea. As she heals, she makes friends and becomes embroiled in a mystery adventure. Featuring baking, bookshops, found friends, and necromancy, Travis Baldree weaves in some very enjoyable nods and cameos from the first story. Satchel is the most excellent addition to the Legends and Lattes universe. When you've read it, that will make sense.

An emotional five stars for giving all those feelings all over again. Definitely read Legends and Lattes first.

Yesterday I got the ARC of one of my most anticipated books, Bookshops & Bonedust, and so I spent the whole afternoon and all evening reading it and this afternoon I finished it!
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The book begins with Viv and Rackam (and their group of mercenaries) against an army of skeletons! But a leg injury during the battle forces Viv to travel alone to a small seaside town called Murk where she can rest and heal. Soon, however, she begins to explore the city and meet all the locals with their shops and l a thousand adventures begin and will keep Viv occupied during her recovery.
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Bookshops&Bonedust is the prequel to Legends&lattes where we find a little younger Viv and also a little more stubborn and less wise struggling with adventures, loves and friendships.
The book like LegendsLattes is extremely cute, cosy and perfect for the fall season!
The small coastal village is fantastic and its citizens with their activities are all so cute!
We find a bakery run by a gnome, a doctor elf, an ow carpenter and my favorite, Fern, a very peculiar bookseller, full of reading tips and stories!
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I loved this book as much as Legends&Lattes and the last chapter + the epilogue almost made me cry 😭🥹
Highly recommended if you are looking for a super cozy reading and of course if you have loved Legends & Lattes !!
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Thanks to netgalley and travis baldree for providing me with this ARC!

Oh my, this was brilliant!
I didn’t know I needed a book that was largely set in a bookshop and so cozy that I had Becky Chambers vibes. Maybe I should have thought of that as a great combination earlier, because what reading and bookshop-loving person wouldn’t love a book about a bookshop?
It was simply amazing how much energy and love Viv (the protagonist) put into the small shop of a person who was a stranger at the beginning. (My heart just fluttered a little).

The way Travis Baldree set up his story was perfect in my eyes. It all started with a bit of fantasy action, only to go into this huge, cozy middle section that made me sigh contentedly and then ended with some more action and cozy vibes. It was wonderful to experience the everyday life of an (unfortunately injured) orc warrior in a city that is foreign to her.
I got to meet so many different characters with so many different traits that I don’t even know where to start. Many I just took to my heart from the start (Satchel!!!!!) And others were so pie-in-the-sky that I didn’t even know if I wanted to get to know them. (I’m talking about one particular gnome :‘D)

Yes, the book is really about Viv building relationships with various townsfolk, helping to boost a bookshop and solving the ‚mystery‘ (not the right word, but I don’t want to spoil either) because of which she was hurt and which won’t let her go. A bit of love and a hilarious elf (hope that was the right term) who writes moist novels are also part of the story.
I loved it!


Travis Baldree also read beautifully (his own book!) and I literally devoured the audio book. Baldree breathed endless life and love into his world. I loved the little subtleties in his performance - how he hinted at that laugh, how he slurred when the characters were drunk and how he brought across the sadness and also the joy. I can’t quite put it into words, I think you have to listen to Baldree to understand what I mean.
He performed each character wonderfully and imbued them with their own individual characteristics through vocal changes.
An audiobook I would recommend without reservation. <3

It was the Bookshops part of the title that drew me to Travis Baldree's engaging prequel fantasy, I have not read Legends and Lattes, although after this, I may well do so. I read and listened to this on audio, unusually it is narrated by the author, something that does not happen very often, for good reason, the skills that make a good author are not necessarily what makes a great narrator. However, this really does not apply to Baldree, he makes for a wonderful narrator, perhaps not surprising as he really does know hia material and his characters inside out, the audio is approximately 8 hours long. The feisty orc, Viv, is badly injured in the hunt for a powerful necromancer on the battlefield, and she is not happy when she is forced to rest and recover in the small coastal town of Murk.

Lodging at The Perch, Viv chafes at her physical limitations, longing only for the return of Rackham and the Ravens, so despite the pain, it is not long before she is venturing out on crutches and exploring Murk. She bumps into its residents, including Fern, the ratkin owner of a second hand bookshop with its crammed bookshelves and overflowing piles of teetering books. Not really being a reader, Viv finds herself succumbing as Fern recommends books that have her avidly reading as she begins to understand that books can mirror where and what you are and make you feel seen. Not to mention reading takes her into other worlds and makes time pass faster. It is not long before Viv is a daily feature in the bookshop, getting involved in book selling and other events. She becomes intimately connected with the community, this sees her in a fumbling summer romance, stealing a sword, trying to tackle the sinister grey man, fighting for the community and so much more.

What makes this book are the charm and variety of offbeat characters you cannot help but adore, from Fern, Pot Roast, to hands down what is my favourite, the animated horn skeleton, Satchel, who dares not dream of freedom. Viv's stay was always going to be temporary, and she would not have it any other way, but.....leaving is hard when you have become emotionally attached to Murk and those that have become important to you, such as a certain dwarf working at a bakery, but in life somethings are just not meant to be. But as the epilogue goes on to prove, there is a story past the end! This is a delightful read and listen that I have no doubt will appeal to a wide range of readers. Many thanks to the publisher for a ALC and ARC.

I actually screamed a little bit when I got my hands on this book. After loving Legends and Lattes I was desperate to get more of the gentle fantasy, with wonderful characters and all the found family vibes. And this did not disappoint.

Prequels are always something I approach with caution, is the author going to rewrite history, is it going to be believable for the character? This was prequels done perfectly.

The epilogue. I have no words. Can that be the next book please?

If you loved books, baking, bones or big swords this is the book for you.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of the book

A charming and easy-reading fantasy adventure. I haven't read the first book - Legends & Lattes - so this prequel was a new world to me. Gentle adventures, quirky characters, and a little light bookshop refurbishment. It reminded me of the fantasy books I read as a kid, with slightly more adult themes. Filled an unexpected gap in my reading repertoire. I could see readers new to fantasy finding an entry here. Personally, I look forward to reading more stories set in this world with these characters.

LEGENDS & LATTES is one of my favourite books and was the first to introduce to the idea of cozy fantasy as its own distinct, named genre, so I’ve been really anticipating BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST.

Unfortunately, I didn’t fall for this one as hard as I’d hoped I would. I did enjoy BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST, and its still one of the better cozy fantasies around, but something about it just doesn’t click the same way.

Partly, the nature of it being a prequel might be to blame – we already know where Viv ends up.

Or perhaps that there wasn’t as big a focus on the mouthwatering food (although when it did come up, it sounded delicious).

Maybe the bookshop just wasn’t the setting for me. I do tend to prefer bakery cozy mysteries to bookshop ones anyway, and although we’re told the bookshop is failing, there wasn’t as many ‘challenges’ or ‘stages’ to work through when it came to getting it off the ground as there were in the sequel.

There were, however, some great characters in BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST, and the plot has actually a little more ‘traditional fantasy’, slightly higher stakes angle, so this might best suit readers who thought LEGENDS & LATTES had too little action.

BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST is a good book, and I think anyone who enjoyed LEGENDS & LATTES should pick it up, but I don’t think it’s quite in the same league.

Narrated by Travis Baldree: I don’t know that I’ve listened to an author narrate their own book before, so this was interesting. Baldree has a voice that really suited the cozy vibe of the story. He did a really great job on giving distinct and enjoyable voices to a large group of very varied characters.

This is an absolutely delightful prequel to Legends and Lattes, which was already in my list of favourite books. This gave me the same warm and cozy feeling as L&L and was a delight from start to finish.

I was a little concerned when I realised the audiobook was read by the author as those can be a bit hit or miss but Travis Baldree has a voice that suits fantasy books, I don't know how to explain that but I listen to a lot of fantasy audiobooks and his voice absolutely works for it. I ended up looking him up after finishing and it made sense when I saw he had narrated books previously.

We meet a very young Viv, just setting out on her adventuring days when she's injured and forced to rest up in a small seaside town. Rather than let the boredom set in she gets to know the residents and makes herself useful. The elements of found family and creating a safe space in the world for yourself and those you love run as strongly through Bookshops and Bonedust as it did through L&L.

Although I was worried that knowing Viv has to make it through to set up a coffee shop in 20 years time would detract from the feeling of danger, it had the opposite effect for me. We know we see Viv again but the rest of the characters are fair game to danger. I loved the characters in this book, every single one of them adds depth to the storyline, the world of the books and Viv's character.

This was an absolutely perfect addition to this universe and I'm hoping for many more books about Viv and all the others from Baldree.

I don’t know if I was supposed to have read Legends and Lattes before this, but I felt like I was lacking in information about the world when reading this. I found it quite slow paced and I didn’t like the narrator which took away any enjoyment from the story. I liked a couple of the characters and the idea of the plot. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

I enjoyed listening to this follow up to Legends and Lattes - I may even have liked it better than the first because I really liked getting to know more of what developed Viv into the character that we loved in Legends and Lattes.

This had the same cosy, easy read feel and I found myself listening to big chunks at a time. There were similar themes to book 1 such as friendship and found family which induced those warm cosy feels that mean you enjoy the read so much. The bookshop setting for this story was also a big winner for me.

The only drawback in some respects was that with this being a prequel there was some inevitability in how the end was going to turn out, knowing where Viv eventually ends up if that makes sense, so I felt myself holding back when it came to investing in certain aspects of the story.

Overall a great cosy read, engaging narration and a must for those who enjoy a bit of low stakes, whimsical fantasy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my audio of this story.

This was cute and sassy. I haven’t read Legends and Lattes, but I have seen a lot of love for it all over Bookstagram, so when the opportunity to read a prequel came up on NetGalley it was too good to miss. I’m so glad I picked it up! Listening to the audio was an absolute delight, as it’s read by none other than the author himself, who imbues his colourful characters with so much life, it’s almost as though he’s mastered the art of necromancy to lift them from the page.
A delightful, fun, snarky and inclusive read. Five stars from me and a big thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan U.K. audio for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a prequel in this world but I actually ended up enjoying it more than Legends and Lattes.

If you've read the OG, you know what you're in for with this - a cosy slice of life with everything you want from a lower stakes fantasy. We're introduced to young Viv as her questing days are abruptly put on pause. She finds herself much more stationary than the average orc mercenary.

One of my favourite things about Baldree's writing is how effectively he makes you care for all the characters, and the same was.true here. No matter how small a mention, each and every one was strong enough that I truly felt I knew the town and it's inhabitants and I could easily have spent another 300 pages just watching them live their daily lives. If we end up with a full series of Big just recounting every somewhat interesting day she's ever had, I'll cosy up and read every book.