I received this audiobook ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this. A fun story about what happens in between all the big, exciting parts of an adventure. A little bit of action, a sprinkle of romance, and a ton of heart

I received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this audiobook from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book for first time readers and seasoned book worms! As of this review, I have not read the first book, Legends and Lattes, and used this opportunity to see if this story can act as a good prequel or a great standalone in itself without having to refer back to the labeled "first" in the series.

I was not disappointed! I was hooked from the very first - Viv is a great character. Super funny and insightful but able to understand their own flaws. Seeing her reading a book for the first time and falling in love with it gave me sheer delight! Reading this prequel whetted my appetite and I need to know more about Viv and where she ended up.

I really liked the dialogue and the story had great secondary characters, although sometimes hard to tell which of the female characters was speaking.

I love the idea of a cozy mystery with fantasy/D&D elements and I hope that there are many more to come!

📚Book Review📚
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Title: Bookshops & Bonedust
Author: Travis Baldree
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Review:
"... Viv was grateful for all the wrong times that had led to this right one."

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for this honest review.*

Another wonderful adventure with Viv on her quest for found family! The prequel to Legends & Lattes has higher stakes and higher fantasy, without losing any of the charm that made us fall in love with Viv in the first place.

Baldree is a master at capturing the quiet awe of first love; whether it be falling in love with a person, a story, or that first sip of coffee. The fact that our author also narrates the audiobook gives us a more intimate look into the characters. Baldree’s wry voice is a perfect match for the dry humor of our protagonist, giving an extra layer of life to Viv and her friends.

I can not recommend this enough to literally anyone who will listen to me. READ IT!

I adored Legends &Lattes, so I was beyond excited to hear about Bookshops & Bonedust. Travis Baldree has really broken ground on cozy fantasy as a genre, and I hope it sticks around. I love, love, loved this book. The atmosphere, characterization, and inter-character conflict were top-tier. I also loved the splicing of the books Viv read and how they paralleled the main novel. As with Legends & Lattes, Bookshops & Bonedust was peak escapism. I'm typically a moderately paced reader, but I got through this book in two days! There was also a bit of strife in bookshop ownership that many of the librarians here will relate to. And the epilogue had me legitimately sobbing.

My only issue is with the audiobook formatting - my version would cut off the first few seconds of each chapter beginning, and sometimes where there was an audio cut.

edit: This was my first audiobook through NetGalley! I believe it is a formatting issue within the app, not the audiobook. Re-winding at the beginning of the chapter resets the audio and plays the first few words.

I liked this better than Legends & Lattes. It's a prequel, and goes into a rest that Viv took earlier in her career. The story is more developed than L&L, but keeps the cozy feel and adorable characters. And the Epilogue had me tearing up a bit. I'll definitely read new installments in this series.

I received an audio ARC from Netgalley for an honest review

I don’t know how to feel about listening to the audio book version. I did really enjoy the narrator as they brought the characters to life. But, right before listening to this, I had read a physical copy of Legends & Lattes and the two formats had different, but good, vibes. Also, where this one retained the cozy feels of Legends and Lattes, it also had a bit more action than it which I liked. Overall, although I liked the narrator, story and characters, I would have to rank this a little less than Legends & Lattes at a 4.5.

Another cozy fantasy book, which isn't my genre of choice but I loved the previous book so much I was excited to listen to this. Fantastic side characters, and the focus on books and story telling was very well done.

If you like the genre "cozy fantasy" this is for you. A prequel to Legends & Lattes Viv is in battle and is unexpectedly sidelined due to injury. She finds herself in the small town of Murk and needs to pass the time while she recovers and waits for her company to return. She finds herself in a run down bookshop and in the middle of a lot of trouble, friendships, summer love and sword play.

Favorite character hands down - Satchel. Bravo Travis Baldree on another brilliant story.

Loved the audio (narrated by the author). Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books on this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Comes out 11/7/23.

Travis Baldree, you did it again.

I wasn't sure anything could match the wholesome, cozy feel of Legends and Lattes but this certainly did! I loved the bookshop and the epilogue and and the necromancy and the characters and the epilogue and just everything about this book -- but especially the epilogue, wink wink.

Note: If you also thought this was a spin off of legends and lattes, just a heads up that it's actually a prequel! I was pleasantly surprised to find Viv was our MC yet again.

--- 4.5/5 stars

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Travis Baldree has done it again, creating a world and characters that I immediately cared so deeply about. Viv is young and fresh and eager for battle. She is strong and cocky, so when an injury takes her out of commission and forces her to recuperate in the quaint little beach town of Murk, she is anything but happy about it. She's so worried about rejoining her mercenary company, Rackam's Ravens, that she spends the first part of her visit lamenting her fate and giving off grumpy scary orc vibes. But when she wanders into a down and out bookshop, we see the beginnings of the hardworking, smart, levelheaded Viv that we know and love from Legends & Lattes.

While the stakes are a bit lower in this than in Legends & Lattes- we already know what is coming so we know that Viv does not stay in this quiet town- I felt the same warmth and happiness that I felt when reading the first book in this series. I absolutely loved the characters that Viv meets in Murk, especially the bookshop owner and the magical skeleton. I would have liked more development of Maylee's character- if we're going to have a summer fling I want to be crying when it has to end. The climax is action-packed, and we get to see magic as well as good old fashioned brute force battles. The addition of the epilogue really made my heart swell, and I hope it's an indication of what we can expect from the next book in the series.

The audiobook narration was really solid. It's read by the author, which always lends authenticity to the telling of the story, although I would have loved a woman's voice to really bring Viv to life.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Travis Baldree, and Macmillan Audio for sending this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 4.5 enthusiastic stars- if you love a traditional fantasy setting without the need for maps and glossaries, this is the book for you.

This was a great addition to the universe created in Legends and Lattes. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize this was a prequel but that had little to no effect on my enjoyment up to that point.
Across the board this evoked the same warm feelings its predecessor did. It’s a mood, a feeling, rather than just a story. It captures that satisfying joy of finding a good book and sharing it with others.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, but it did make sense in the relative scope of the plot and characters. That being said, I cried in the epilogue so.

At the end of the day this is a very good book to read in a soft quiet place with a steaming beverage and a delectable treat. I encourage you to do so.

An Orc, a Ratkin, a Dwarf, a Gnome, and a necromancer's Homonculous walk into a bookshop... and use their talents and burgeoning friendship to foil an evil necromancer's plan (and save a small town bookshop in the process)

This was delightful. I have not yet read Legends and Lattes, but I'll definitely check it out sooner rather than later now that I've read this prequel. In addition to the above premise details, we also have a sweet first-love plot line, reluctant and charming friendships, a love of bookshops and book recommendations, and just enough action to make sure our protagonist can demonstrate she is a badass.

The coziest of cozy fantasy books. I loved this book so much!

If you have read the first book in this series, you will already be familiar with the main character Viv. This book is a prequel to Legends and Lattes and tells the backstory of Viv as she spends time resting from an injury in a small village helping out at bookshop. Travis Baldree does an excellent job of telling a story and building this fantasy world. The audiobook was great and Baldree narrates each character with feeling and depth.

I highly recommend this book. In the top 10 reads of the year!

Travis Baldree does it again! I loved Bookshops & Bonedust. The characters were fun, the banter, and the setting were all a win for me. I liked that this was a nice balance of cozy, low-stakes, but there was also an interesting plot line. I felt more invested in the story than with Legends & Lattes because there was a plot outside of “learn how to establish a coffee shop”. The pacing was spot on. Fern’s story was so sweet and perfectly encapsulates what it feels like to love stories and fall in love with reading and I love that Viv gets to experience that firsthand.

I was sad to say goodbye to these characters — even though I knew it was a prequel and we’d eventually move on it still made me tear up. The epilogue has me SO EXCITED for a potential future story in this world and perhaps the reappearance of Fern!? Please!

Overall, a 5/5 read for sure and the audiobook was excellent.

Thank you so very much to Travis Baldree and Macmillan Audio for the ARC on NetGalley! I’m extreme grateful!

This book had a similar vibe to Legends and Lattes. I loved the new characters. They always have such great little quirks and lots of spunk. I listened to the audiobook and again Travis Baldree does a wonderful job voicing his characters. Listening to him read is calming to me. It was still cozy but with a little more action. In this story we see Viv get a glimpse of what another life, besides battling and traveling, could be like. It also encounters the difficulties with change and letting go. “Sometimes we aren’t the right people yet.” “You’re going up and I’m going down.” I think it was a nice representation of the bittersweet moments of life.

I was a huge fan of Legends & Lattes and did not thing I could love it any more - enter Bookshops & Bonedust. Being able to hang out with Viv and a brand new cast of characters was such a fun time. Baldree really knows how to write a group of people that you just want to meet in real life and hang out with. I adored Fern and the juxtaposition of a cute mouse who swears so much. If we don't get another book - or even a novella - about Viv and Fern working next door to a each other in a coffee shop/bookstore combo, I may riot. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ahead of time. I will definitely be recommending it to everyone.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this since I was such a huge fan of Legands and Lattes but i was super pleasantly surprised by how much i loved it.

A cozy read for all the romantic bibliophiles.

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Viv, a member of the fearless mercenary group Rackam's Ravens, finds herself injured and dumped off in the town of Murk to recover. Slowly, with angsty curiosity, Viv befriends the local bookshop owner and her own adventure starts. Who is the man in gray? What's in the satchel? Who is the powerful necromancer?

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"Bookshops & Bonedust" is a button-nose of a novel with adventure and romance. I enjoyed the pacing of Baldree's book as well as the portions of all the good stuff: mystery, romance, adventure, anticipation, and foul-mouthness! I would recommend this book to all the readers who need a little break from life. The audio book of this title was narrated by the author, and it was fantastic-- I would recommend the audio book.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan for providing users with a great title.

Listened to this one and read the first, and my opinion is that if you enjoyed the first cozy fantasy, you will enjoy this one!

Cozy Fantasy • Found Family •. Sapphic • Low Stakes

Travis Baldree is back with a new lovable cast of characters including my favorites: a gentlemanly skeleton with the heart of a poet and an excitable pet griffin, a cuddly ball of fur and feathers. Fans of Legends and Lattes will be tickled to learn Viv's origin story, how she meets Gallina and acquires Blackblood.

This is a cozy book about books first, and a verrry low stakes fantasy and love story second and third. Themes of friendship, belonging and found family leap from the pages. You'll love this one if you value the cozy journey over the destination & suspense. If you're here for faster-paced action and epic battle scenes, look elsewhere.

When Viv is laid up with an injury that keeps her from hunting a powerful necromancer with her normal crew, she finds herself recovering in the seaport town of Murk. There she discovers The Perch Tavern, Thistleburr’s Bookshop, and of course there's a bakery - Sea Song, serving up scones and lassi buns 🤤. Viv finds herself renovating the bookshop and helping Fern revitalize sales using methods that booksta readers will find very familiar. The blind-date-with-a-book descriptions had me chuckling and trying to guess which title went along with which description:
"Travel, Romance & Heartbreak"
"Adventure, Bounty & Bloodshed"
"Treason, Clockwork & Horticulture"
"Knitting, Murder & Wine"
"Treachery, Alchemy & Brotherhood"
Spicy romances are given the “Moist" descriptor 😂🌶️

The epilogue is exactly what it needed to be👩🏻‍🍳💋🥹

🎧 Baldree's voice narration cannot be beat, so for full experience, I highly recommend this one on audio.

Releases on Nov 7!!
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for granting me early access to this audiobook.