“The Teller of Small Fortunes” is the definition of cozy fantasy. It reads just like a cozy video game that makes you feel happy and warm inside.
This book tells the story of Tao, who only tells small fortunes, as she believes they come with “lower consequences”. We follow her and her new found friends, as they embark on their traveling adventures.

It took about half the book for it to pick up. Again, very “low-stakes”, but mesmerizing all the same. With lovable characters and a warm feeling all around.
The perfect read for this time of year and reading while enjoying a warm pastry is highly encouraged.

This book was the perfect fall book for me. It had just the right about of action but still remains a mostly cute and cozy story of found family and reunited family. To say that I sobbed the last 4 or 5 chapters wouldn't be an exaggeration at all, I kept having to wipe my eyes to see the pages.

This was such a cozy story.

It follows Tao, the teller of small fortunes, as she travels between villages. Along the course of the story, she adds people - a semi-reformed thief, an ex-Mercer she, and a baker- and a cat to her group. They travel together in search for a lost child.

I loved the way this group came together. The journey they take, how they open up to each other, and support one another.

Read if you like books featuring
~ found family
~ adventures
~ a hint of magic

Thx Berkley for the eARC.

4+ stars

Utterly delightful and heartwarming!! The blurb is absolutely right that this is perfect for fans of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna!

We have Tao, a traveling teller of small fortunes, and the friends she gathers along her travels: Mash, a former mercenary looking for his daughter, Silt, a former thief and Mash’s friend, and finally Kina, an apprentice baker. Nor can we forget the friendly mule and the scraggly cat! This is found family to perfection. This ragtag group has small adventures as they travel, but they have big impacts.

I cannot emphasize enough how heartwarming this story was. I definitely teared up several times, and the ending had me grinning with tears in my eyes.
This is the perfect low stakes cozy fantasy you’re looking for, and I highly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

I really can’t resist a cozy fantasy anymore. I love the knowledge that no matter what, there’s likely to be a happy ending for the characters and this provides the perfect escape from busy daily life. The Teller of Small Fortunes initially caught my eyes because of the vibrant cover art and the title itself, which intrigued me.

The Teller of Small Fortunes follows Tao, a young immigrant woman who ran away from home after getting tired of her stepfather controlling her life and her mother’s emotional distance. She set off to become a fortune teller, using her gifts in small ways to earn money and fund her nomadic lifestyle. When we meet Tao, she’s been traveling alone with only her mule for company when she’s joined by two men called Mast and Silt. Mast is searching for his five year old daughter who was stolen away by bandits and Silt is his friend and companion in this quest. Though Tao at first dislikes the company, she soon finds the companionship welcome, even when their group gets a little bit bigger.

This is a relatively low stakes story that still has enough danger and minor conflict to keep the pace moving and the story engaging. Despite Tao’s care in only telling minor fortunes, a mage hunter is still after her and determined to bring her back to the Guild tower. She’s constantly on the lookout for him and has to periodically hide so she isn’t taken back and forced to join the guild and use her magic against her will. Mast is always on the lookout for information about his daughter and Silt is trying to figure out who exactly he is aside from a semi-reformed thief. Another woman, Kina, joins during their travels and she’s looking to see more of the world and hone her baking skills. 

Overall, The Teller of Small Fortunes is a charming story with meaningful character relationships and barely any romance at all (for those of you wondering). As with many cozy fantasy stories, the drama is small scale which is a nice change of pace from epic fantasy where everyone is worried about saving the empire or the world. There is a particular scene where the characters seem like they’re about to embark on a more epic quest, but it turns out to be rather short lived. This didn’t quite fit with the overall vibe of the story, but I think the author made it work out well in the end.

This was a delightful cozy fantasy with relatively low stakes and a really lovable found family. It was a very quick read that was entertaining yet comforting. I would recommend this to people who enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild-Built and Legends and Lattes.

This cozy fantasy follows Tao, a seer who sticks to telling low-stakes small fortunes on her traveling cart led by her trusty mule. One of these small fortunes, a vision of a father giving a kitten to his small daughter, causes grief when the father tells Tao that his daughter is missing. Tao joins up with a baker, a reformed thief, and the father to cross the countryside in search of this missing girl. Along the way, Tao must decide if she will use her vision to help her country. For fans of feelgood fantasy with a hint of mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of ARC.

If you are looking for something cozy to read, I would recommend this book.

It was a really enjoyable read. I did take me a while to read, but not for lack of interest. I feel like this is one of those books that are best read as a book. (Like physical vs ebook.) I of course read it on my phone, as it was an ARC from NetGalley.

I will probably read more of the author's work if she writes more books.

I DNF'd this book. It wasn't written in a style that I enjoy, but I can see it becoming very popular with others.

Tao is a teller of small fortunes, traveling through the rural areas of Eshtera, the country she was brought to as a child, alone except for Laohu, the mule who draws her wagon. When her route is blocked by a fallen tree Mash, a massive bear of a man and Silt, a former thief, chop it away and as a reward she tells Mash, that he will give his daughter a kitten in the future. Instead of being a small fortune it is major as the two rough looking men are hunting for Mash's 4 year old daughter who has been missing for months. As they travel looking for her, they add Kina, a baker to their party and face multiple difficulties and dangers. This cozy fantasy featuring stalwart companions, found family, little magics, politics, and bits of major adversity feels like the books that turn readers into lifelong fantasy fans. I hope the folks on the Alex Award committee will consider it. It is a great fantasy novel for adults and their teen and middle grade kids.

TL;DR:
This was such a sweet, low-stakes, lovely fantasy story! I thoroughly enjoyed the found family and the themes and the ending had me tearing up several times (happy tears).

Characters:
I really liked that our MC here, Tao, was a quiet, fade-into-the-background type. Not only quiet out loud but kind of quiet in her own head too. She is just perfectly content to sit back and let others do most of the talking in a situation. She's so down-to-earth and chill and I really enjoyed following her.

And the found family was ADORABLE and lovely -- Silt and Mash are such a fun unlikely pair, and Kina was just the sweetest most innocent darling. And the animal companions were also adorable and fun.

For a low-stakes, cozy fantasy I thought this had just the right amount of depth and character development, too. We still are able to see them grow and learn more about themselves, simply through spending time together and opening up their minds and hearts.

Plot:
Even though our characters are mostly just traveling from one village to another, with a pretty loose goal in mind, I never found the plot to be dull or dragging at all. Because the point of the story wasn't the plot, it was the characters. I'm not a particularly character-driven reader -- I tend to be much more plot-driven -- and I still carried along just fine with this more relaxed plot.

Themes:
Obviously the found family theme is strong with this one, and I thought it was done so well. Our little family of friends just fit together so well and learned so much from each other.

And then there is a conversation happening around cultural identity -- our main character Tao was born in another country so she is racially different from most everyone where she moved to as a kid and now still lives. She deals with racism and xenophobia from some people, and also deals with her own internal struggles over not being connected to her culture and feeling that loss.

This is cozy fantasy for your fall reading, with an earnest tone and eclectic characters. A low stakes story with a happy ending, a glimmer of romance, and cats: think Travis Baldree.

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley, Ace Books, and Berkley Publishing Group for this advanced copy! You can pick up The Teller of Small Fortunes on November 5, 2024.

I absolutely adored this cozy fantasy! Tao was a brilliant protagonist with fascinating magic, and I loved the relationships she formed throughout her journey with Mash, Silt, and Kina. While there's no main romance, the bonds of friendship and family (old and new) propel the story along perfectly. We see Tao confront her past guilt, overcome her loneliness and distrust of others, and welcome this band of misfits into her heart. The ending did make me cry, and it just left a warm feeling in my heart after turning the final page.

I can't wait to see what else Julie Leong might put out, and I hope everyone picks this one up come November!

I liked this one though I think it was a little slow for me, I did enjoy the characters and the setting but I think the party is not entirely for me.

I'm so happy that I'm seeing more diverse cozy whimsy mystery/fantasy books coming out that feel like they are being given more popularity. This book is so good and cute and It felt like such a hug.

This book is absolutely the most wonderfully cozy, heartwarming read I've had in quite awhile. There are oodles of relatable scenes and characters that make it so surely anyone would be able to find something to identify with. It's also quite interesting that even though our fortune teller 'gives away' plenty of events or happenings throughout the book, you never feel like knowing the end results takes away at all from the story of getting there. A very sweet story, and interesting from the beginning to the end.

The Teller of Small Fortunes felt as delightful as sipping a nice cup of tea while under a cozy blanket. It had just the right amount of adventure, found family, cats, heartfelt moments, and baked goods. All the characters felt unique and interesting, and I was rooting for them all to have a happy ending. Overall it was just really charming and an enjoyable read.

Tao lives a solitary life, traveling to small villages to tell her small fortunes, with only her mule Laohu as a companion. She’s an outsider, and doesn’t want to attract too much attention. But that quickly changes when she encounters Mash, Silt, and Kina along her travels, stumbling into quite an adventure. I loved spending time with these characters and witnessing how their friendships shifted and grew over time. (And of course, I loved Fidelitus the sweet and cranky cat). I was drawn to the book because of its gorgeous cover, and was delighted to find it more than lived up to it. I will be recommending it widely at the library, especially to fans of T Kingfisher and Becky Chambers, and I look forward to reading more from the author.

The perfect blend of cozy fantasy and traveling adventure, with a dash of found family and a sprinkling of true friendship. Great world-building and excellent character development. Highly recommended.

Tao makes her living by traveling across the land telling small fortunes. A fear of the past keeps Tao from using more of her prodigious magical power, but when she’s swept up in a search for a child (alongside an ex-mercenary, a bombastic thief, an adventurous baker, and a magic cat) she discovers the strength to confront her fears and abilities. While many cozy fantasies promise found family, this read really delivers. Every friendship and new connection glows in Julie Leong’s fantasy novel debut.