Just like Legends and Lattes, this was a cozy, fantasy read that left my heart feeling warm and a wish for some coffee and dessert.
This was delightfully slow, domestic, and full of friendship, with just the right amount of fantasy and world building to keep the reader engaged but never confused. I loved the low stakes and taking my time reading this one. there will never be enough cozy fantasy in my life!!
I was very excited to read about Viv's younger days after how much I enjoyed Legends and Lattes and this hit the spot perfectly.
Very very much looking forward to more Travis Baldree books in the future!

It is a prequel, and I found it interesting to get more of Viv’s backstory. It was clear she had had a lot going on before we meet her in L&L, so I liked this peek into her history.

My favourite parts of Bookshops & Bonedust were the moments in the bookstore. I loved the changes and improvements that Fern and Viv slowly made at the store. I secretly wanted more of this and less of the actual villain of the story 😂

Knowing how Viv finds her happily ever after in L&L made it hard for me to care too much about her summer romance with Maylee. Rather, I was quite invested in Viv’s friendship with Fern, especially after reading the Epilogue 😍

So cozy and the perfect prelude to legends and lattes! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a quick, cozy fantasy to binge.

A prequel to Legends and Lattes, I knew I wanted to read this book.

Viv's career as a mercenary goes awry amongst and injury. She finds herself spending her days at a bookshop (enter all the bookworm lovers here). Adventures still arise for Viv as we learn more about her in this prequel.

This was a fun, light, book that kept me entertained. There was an entertaining cast of characters that gave us a cozy vibe with the location.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the gifted eARC.

It would have been so hard to top Legends and Lattes so Im glad Travis Baldree went with a prequel! I was so happy to be back in this magical cozy world, but now with the added coziness of a bookshop! I really did love this book, the stakes felt a little higher than in LaL and that really worked for me!

Travis has the ability to sweep you into a fantasy world like no other. I’ve never been the biggest fan of cozy fantasy until reading Legends and Lattes. With this sequel, I’ve been blown away again. Viv once again has my heart as this warrior bookworm who craves an ounce of normalcy and comfort.

In "Bookshops & Bonedust", Baldree's latest prequel novel in the "Legends and Lattes" series, we are reintroduced to the beloved character Viv during her adventuring days. In this novel was see a moment in Viv's life after she injures her leg and is forced to ride out her recovery in a sweet, charming seaside town. Her time is well spent though, she helps out a local bookseller, slays some necromancers (of course, she cannot avoid it), and enjoys a little love affair with a baker. Though we know as readers that these relationships will be short-lived, it was still a lovely pitstop to rest a while in.

It was so lovely to dive back into this cozy world. Baldree really had done it again. The novel was a bit more action packed in comparison to "Legends and Lattes" but that is to be expected. I cannot wait for further books in the series.

f you've already read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, you may have wondered what Viv's life was like prior to leaving the mercenaries and changing her life by opening a coffee shop. Well, luckily Bookshops and Bonedust fills in some of that information. If you haven't read Legends & Lattes don't worry as you don't need to have read it to enjoy this story.

The book opens with Viv already a member of Rackam's Ravens. Being young and eager to prove herself, Viv, in the heat of battle, forgets the rules and races ahead of the main fighters. Alone and quite a distance from the main group, she is terribly injured and bleeding out. Found by the mercenaries later, they patched her up and took her to recover at an inn in Murk. They paid for medical care and room and board and said they'd return to pick her up again when they were in the area.

Viv feels abandoned. She is frustrated, hurt, unable to move freely, and alone in a strange place. When she finally can manage to leave her room using a crutch, she learns she has much to apologize for and she rapidly begs pardon for her offenses while she was not coherent and in pain. With her crutch, she begins to explore and finds a bookshop and a bakery. She begins to make acquaintances and friends. Gains a young aggravating would-be-mercenary who sees Viv as her ticket to joining Rackam's Ravens.

The bookshop and its owner, Fern, become a key part of Viv's recovery. She suggests books for Viv to read. The books are a way Viv can maintain some patience with the slow pace of her recovery. There are snippets of the text of these novels interspersed along with later discussions of the story and characters with Fern. It's integrated so well with the main storyline that I often wished the books discussed were actually available. The things Viv learns and discusses with Fern help form part of Viv's character as she goes forward in life.

The main story of the Raven's search for the necromancer is not forgotten and Viv's involvement and knowledge of their target begins to intrude on this idyllic pause in her life. Something or someone is causing Viv to get the feeling that all is not right in this quiet seaside village and fortified town.

This is what is now being called cozy fantasy. However, there is still danger and battles to be fought as well as friendships to be made, romance to be had, and reading to be enjoyed. I'm so looking forward to more stories of Viv no matter where in her life's timeline they are placed.

I truly LOVED this book. Being back in this enchanting cozy world Baldree has created was so heart warming and so much fun. I always look forward to this authors work knowing it will be the vibe I need.

I loved this one! Baldree does it again with a cozy fantasy title with just enough stakes to keep it thrilling. I really loved to see Viv as she comes into her own, and enjoyed seeing those inklings of the character we'll get to meet later on in Legends and Lattes.

I'm in love with Travis Baldree and this world. Viv is such an endearing and relatable character. I loved getting to know her backstory in this book and the events that helped push her to open her coffee shop in Legends & Lattes. Plus, as a bookseller, the scene in the bookstore and Viv helping Fern revitalize the bookstore were both sweet and uplifting and felt so true to my work. Bookshops & Bonedust feels like a love letter to bookselling and D&D.

Just a great story about the importance of found family. The characters are all someone I would live to meet and spend time with. Would definitely recommend

Thank you for the opportunity to review Bookshops and Bonedust. This fun fantasy was just up my alley, although it took quite awhile for me to get back on NetGalley to review it after starting a new job. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for similar books by Travis Baldree.

Thank you to Tor for sending me an eARC this early before its release!
so sad this wasn't 5 stars. i literally dont want to anticipate books ever again but i cant stop lol. it was a fun time, but i simply wanted more cozy vibes, less fantasy plot the way Legends & Lattes was, but I very much enjoyed the epilogue and the cute bookishness!

This low-stakes story was perfect to get me out of a reading slump. Friendship, pastries and books, what else do you need ?!

Travis Baldree is the KING of cozy fantasy! I will purchase every book he ever writes. He leaves you with such a warm-hearted feeling with his amazing characters and settings.

Viv's dreams are finally coming true. She might be a young and inexperienced mercenary, but what she lacks in knowledge she makes up for in enthusiasm. But she is green, in more ways than one, and after spending the best two months of her life with Rackham's Ravens on the trail of the necromancer Varine the Pale and her army, the worst thing happens. She's injured. Sidelined in the seaside town of Murk. Room and board. And boy is she quickly bored. She has to be in fighting fit when Rackham comes back through town in a few months. Whatever it takes she will be ready. To that end she starts roaming the streets to build her strength up. Though it's not so much her strength as shoddy workmanship that results in her crutch going straight through the boardwalk in front of a bookstore. And Viv is an orc of honor. She goes inside to confess her crime and hopes to offset the damage by buying a book. Something she's never done. The store's own, a rattkin named Fern, is intrigued by Viv and gives her a book with the caveat that when she finishes it she comes back and tells her what she thought. She's not to worry about payment, she can pay if she decides to keep it. Viv decides to keep it. She never knew that books could be exciting and sexy and a whole new type of adventure. In fact she not only pays for the book but she fixes the boardwalk outside Fern's store. In fact soon Viv is a regular at the store with her new friend Gallina, a gnome who wants to be a mercenary just like Viv. They start to fix up Fern's shop, hoping to bring in new customers. Well, actually, any customers. Fern's at her wit's end. This shop was the dream of her father and she doesn't want to lose the last thing of his she has left. Well, if Viv has her way, Fern won't. They source new furniture and make reading nooks and book displays and have baked goods from the sexy dwarven baker down the street, Maylee. It might not be the recuperation that Viv expected, but it's turning out to be the one she needed. Until a man in gray appears. He sends a shiver down Viv's spine. The next day he leaves behind a satchel in the bookstore and nearly kills Viv in a fight but Gallina comes to her rescue. All three brawlers end up under the gimlet glare of Iridia, the head Gatewarden. They cool their heels overnight, but when dawn comes the mysterious stranger is gone but in his place is the certainty that he worked for Varine. The fight Viv was sidelined from might be coming to Murk. And now she has something more to lose than her life.

My book club read Legends and Lattes. And if there's one thing about my book club it's that we have such radically different tastes when it comes to books that we will never agree on anything. So for those of you thinking that Legends and Lattes is a fairly innocuous book you'd be wrong. Because one member had "issues." Of course this is the member whose tastes I am the least compatible with. They actually tried to defend Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada, otherwise known as the book that almost did me in, as perhaps being written ironically. With that much hate and racism even if it was ironic the toxicity oozing out of the pages made me physically ill and put me in a reading slump for a long time. So their issues with Legends and Lattes? They felt that Viv didn't struggle enough in her decision to give up her mercenary lifestyle and that it was too much a fait accompli. They wanted turmoil and second-guessing. I personally didn't feel this because the journey of Viv wasn't her journey to realizing she wanted to change her life but to making her coffeeshop a success. So what they wanted was another book. What they wanted, ironically, was this book. When Legends and Lattes was chosen for book club I had just finished reading it the month prior and instead of rereading it I thought to myself, how about reading the prequel/sequel instead? Which meant that I could say, hey, you know all that lack of struggle you were complaining about? Read this instead. Because here we don't have a settled Viv, we have a young and hungry Viv who is in forced convalescence. She was trying to prove herself and waylaid by an injury she's a ball of pent-up frustration with no outlet. But I love that Viv. And I love that this is the proto Legends and Lattes Viv. You can feel her youth and her thirst for adventure, but you can also see how because of this injury and the friendships she's made in Murk this time was formative. This is where her love of reading started. As well as her love of baked goods... But what touched me most is Fern. Fern sees this injured orc shamble into her bookshop and sees someone who has never picked up a book. Someone who doesn't understand that adventure can be found on the page as much as on the trail of a necromancer. And she asks Viv to give her a chance to turn her into a reader. Because hasn't every one of us had a Fern in our life? Someone who hands us the right book at the right time and that's it. We're booklovers for life. Oh, and ironically, the fact that this book has a necromancer would have alienated a different member of my book club. We all might be booklovers, we just really love different things.

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended

I didn't realize I hadn't reviewed this one! Had a hard time deciding if I liked this one more or the same as the first. But this prequel is fun and beautiful and cozy. Everything you'd want from a follow-up.

I can't say I "dove" into this one as much as I did his previous novel, Legends & Lattes. It's the same world, and is there anything better than a bookshop? I think the fact that this is a prequel threw me off. I think if this were any other main character I would have absolutely devoured this book.