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Unabridged Digital Audiobook
Runtime: 8 hours, 1 minute
Read by the author
Author Travis Baldree’s cozy fantasy Legends & Lattes introduced readers to a retired warrior who made a new life for herself in a small-town coffee shop. In the audio edition of the follow-up, Bookshops & Bonedust, readers get to explore one of her earlier adventures.
The story meets up with café-owning orc Viv long before she settled in Thune. After young Viv is injured in battle, she’s left behind to recover in the sleepy village of Murk. As she waits for her crew to return (or at least she hopes), she ends up wandering the town and discovering a musty little bookshop that’s in serious need of repair. But just as Viv begins making new friends and discovering an unexpected love of reading, a mysterious stranger arrives in Murk—and Viv realizes that her adventures may not have been put on hold after all.
Like its predecessor, this prequel is cozy and charming—a mostly easy-going story about friendship and love and good books, set in a quaint seaside village populated by orcs, dwarves, gnomes, and other magical creatures. Readers who fell in love with Viv’s coffee shop in Legends & Lattes will get the same warm and comfortable vibe from Fern’s rundown book store, where Viv passes her time while she waits impatiently for her crew to come back for her.
Of course, things in the town of Murk may seem rather dull, but danger always seems to lurk in the background when Viv is around—and she and her friends find themselves watched by a mysterious man in gray, who brings a whole lot of trouble to town with him. So while Viv spends much of the story reading books and helping a new friend with her struggling business, the tension and mystery eventually build into an action-packed conclusion.
Despite its mix of action and coziness, though, readers may find themselves missing the town of Thune—and the regulars of Viv’s coffee shop. Though the new characters are likable in their own way, they don’t seem to have the same energy and personality of the coffee shop crew.
Fans of Legends & Lattes will still enjoy the cozy drama and suspense of Bookshops & Bonedust—but if you were eager to reunite with the original cast of characters, you’ll just have to wait for the next book in the series.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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