In Bookshops and Bone Dust were reintroduced to Viv after she leaves her mercenary group after a leg injury. She enter a cozy in where she comes off a little cold, but she’s also worried about being perceived by the towns people.

We also meet Mel who own the Bookstore in this town and they become fast friends and Viv shows interest in new books, and in exchange for books offers services to spruce up this dusty shop.

I was reading this as I was opening my own book shop and LOVED every second of this.

There’s a flirtatious baker, a necromancer with less than savory motives, and a little adventurousness to pull it all together. If you liked Legends and Lattes you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.

Returning to Viv's world was a delight.

Find out how Viv's adventuring started with a bakery, a bookshop, and bone dust.

I loved getting to learn more about Viv. This prequel was just as fun as the first book. The perfect cozy fantasy novel that sucks you in. This one had the perfect amount of action and adventure. Then ending sets up perfectly for Viv's story to continue.

This is a winner of a sequel/prequel! There is a challenge to life when we are derailed from the expected plan, only to find clarity and inspiration in the derailment - I feel like this explained Viv's inspiration in LEGENDS & LATTES beautifully.

When an injury throws Viv, a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek. Recovering from her injury in the small town of Murk, she wanders into a chaotic bookstore, and discovers talents she never knew she had. I really enjoyed this prequel to "Legends & Lattes"! The fantasy world Travis Baldree has created is full of adventure, necromancy and incredible characters that make for a very enjoyable visit. I look forward to another trip to this enchanting world!

Series Info/Source: This is a prequel in the Legends and Lattes series. I got an ebook of this through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this a ton. This is a prequel to Legends & Lattes and has the same cozy fantasy feel to it that book has.

This book takes place right after Viv starts working for the mercenary company Rackam's Ravens and gets badly injured. She ends up having to take time to heal in the quiet beach town of Murk. She finds a strange comfort in the town bookshop, which can barely make ends meet. Surprisingly she realizes that she has some ideas about how to help the proprietor drum up business. However, when a suspicious traveler and a strange bag of bones come into play things get a lot more dangerous than expected.

This book was full of amazing characters and had a well done plot. I enjoyed the day to day of Viv trying to figure out what to do with herself during her convalescence. However, the danger brought into Murk because of the necromancer's presence made me love the story even more.

The story has a cozy feel to it, with hints of danger as well. It makes you think about your day-to-day life and emphasizes the things that are really important. This was an excellent read and I think I might have enjoyed it even more than "Legends and Lattes".

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this book. It has a cozy fantasy feel to it but also has a good mystery with some danger, action, and magic. I loved getting this peek into Viv's earlier life and really enjoyed the characters and plot here. I am eager to see what Baldree writes next. I just love this swords and sorcery cozy fantasies that he is writing so much!

A super sweet slice of life fantasy. In both of Travis Baldree books the supporting characters are great and deserve their own books to explore them more. I hope we get a book three where the past and present and meet.

Who knew cozy fantasy could be so.. cozy. I read Legends & Lattes last year a fell in love with the world and characters. When I saw there was gonna be a prequel, I knew I needed it asap and y’all it did not disappoint!

Travis has an incredible writing style that’ll have you sucked in from the beginning. I love the characters and the world building so much. I really enjoyed getting to see Viv in her younger years before Legends and the majority of the story is within a bookshop.. CMON WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT!?

This is such a feel good, heartwarming, comfort read that I’ll definitely be coming back to in the future. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend picking up Legends and then reading this beauty! Releases on November 7th!

Thank you SO much to Tor and Netgalley for blessing me with this beautiful e-arc!

Last winter, we were introduced to Viv and the world of ‘Legends & Lattes.’ This fall we are treated to the tale of Viv, many years before Thune and the coffee shop, and find her meeting a new group of townsfolk to befriend. With Viv recovering from an injury, she stumbles into a bookshop in Murk, there she finds friendship and a new mission of sorts - to revamp the bookshop!

This book was equal parts fantasy, adventure, and an absolute love letter to small bookshop owners. If you loved the first book, you will absolutely adore this fitting prequel!

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc. For context I decided to DNF this book at 61% (page 205).

I loved Legends and Lattes when I read it so was definitely interested in reading this prequel. However this one didn’t have the same effect on me. I found myself bored while reading and didn’t connect with the plot or the characters like in the first one.

I feel like this story would have been much stronger as a novella with a tighter plot. This would have also fixed my issue with the feeling that this was too similar to Legends and Lattes without enough differences to warrant an entire novel.

Overall, I would still recommend this book to someone who loves cozy fantasy and slow plots, it just wasn’t for me.

How much do I love Viv?

There's so much that I didn't need to know about her backstory, but I'm so glad that I got to learn. Her ability to think really outside the orc-shaped box, from bookshops to coffee to who knows what's next, is fun to explore. She's also not easily flappable - just look at Satchel, her new homunculus friend/ally. It's also interesting how she seems to have problems with the gatewardens wherever she goes and yet they seem to be ironed out by the end.

My only very, very minor quibble is the ending. No spoilers, but leaving everything open would have been just fine.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

In this prequel to Legends and Lattes, Viv is a young orc ready and eager for battle. When she is wounded in a battle with the undead army of a feared necromancer, her comrades take her to the sleepy seaside town of Murk to rest and heal. But Viv is restless, and not eager to stay put and rest. She explores the town and comes across a shabby bookshop and its sweet but foulmouthed owner. Viv learns the joy of reading and finds herself enjoying her time in Murk by helping bookshop owner Fern revamp her shop. But when the necromancer she had been searching for seems to be coming a little to close to her new home, Viv must decide who she wants to be.

Like its predecessor, Bookshops and Bonedust is a joy to read. Make sure to read with your favourite hot beverage and baked good beside you!

This was truly JOY!!!

I absolutely loved Legends and Lattes for its cozy fantasy vibes and this absolutely delivered on that front.

I really loved getting to fully delve into Viv's background in this prologue and explore her life pre-coffee shop! The book lover in me was OBSESSED with the bookstore and all the bookish moments.

I think knowing where she ends up, I wasn't as invested in Viv's relationships in this book and it overall made me a little sad.

Despite that, this story has a lot of quiet moments in between the adventures of Viv's future life and it was a joy to read!

Thank you Travis Baldree, TOR, and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I haven't read Legends and Lattes, and "cosy fantasy" is not one of my typical genres, so I wasn't sure what I would think of this one. In spite of a few misgivings about diving in, I really liked it! I was quickly ensconced in the world, even without reading L&L, and the characters were compelling, distinct, and quite likable in spite of their foibles. The writing was excellent and I didn't find it "over-sweet" (my problem with some cosy fantasies). The plot pulled me along, and I absolutely loved the bookshop setting and the excerpts included throughout the novel. I'll definitely recommend this title to both readers who already read a lot of fantasy and those who don't!

I really don't know what to say because I loved Legends & Lattes! However, this one totally lost me. Every time I picked it up I was struggling to get through it and just could NOT get invested in the characters or stories.

This is Viv's story of young love and finding friends in an unexpected area. Listen, I love Travis Baldree, he is hella talented as a writer, narrator, game maker, and just about everything he does, but this book is a top book for me this year because of the swearing Ratkin, Viv (an Orc) discovering the worlds in books, and the young love portrayed. If you liked Legends and Lattes, you'll like this one too. I found it funny and sweet and exciting.

I honestly went into this book expecting it to not be as good as Legends & Lattes. But it was just as good!

Being back with Viv and learning more about her was so amazing. The nee friends we made in Merk and the cool new creatures introduced. Travis Baldree does an amazing job with cozy fantasy and it’s the perfect read for the -ber months!

This story was everything Legends & Lattes was but that epilogue had me in happy tears. I really hope we get a spin off book about the character mentioned (no spoilers here) based on that epilogue!

The stakes in the "cozy fantasy" genre may, admittedly, be lower than your typical world-saving adventure tale. This is even more applicable to Bookshops & Bonedust, since it is a prequel to the excellent Legends and Lattes. But while you may already know the eventual outcome of Viv's story, don't let that discourage you from enjoying Bookshops & Bonedust. I enjoyed every bit of it, and it was a comfortable and satisfying fantasy novel that contrasts nicely with more combat-centric fantasy works.

I think you're all going to be reading this one next month, let's be honest lol
This is the prequel story to Legends and Lattes and yes you can absolutely start with this one if you are the rare human who hasn’t read legends and lattes yet. This book had over 100 reviews already when it was a month out from release so I know ya’ll are excited. This follows the brief time in Viv’s life before she arrived in the small town of Thune so it’s like an introduction to her character before we get those main events in book 1. It still carries all of the small town cozy vibes. I do wish we could’ve gotten a sequel but maybe there is one in the works. I still really liked this one! Just felt more like a repeat of book 1 with not a whole lot of differences but why fix what's not broken?

Low stakes fantasy has become a guilty pleasure of mine. Travis Baldree created a beauty cozy fantasy novel including coffee and now we get it with books. Seeing Viv in her younger years makes me feel more love for her now. Seeing how she recovers from an injury and making friends. The small bits of romance had me giggling and kicking my feet! The small bits of action were perfect for a cozy fantasy. This world has been amazing to read and I feel like there might be more coming...