This is the COZIEST of cozy fantasies!!!  I don’t even like cozy fantasy, and I thought this was wonderful.  It’s got everything: found family, a quest for a missing daughter, a traveling fortune teller, magic, misshapen scones, a beloved mule, a phoenix,  a cat who may or may not be magical, and a very happy ending.  I highly recommend this to anyone looking to escape the world and  sink into a happy fantasy that gently carries you along  like a lazy river.  There is a strong story arc that keeps the reader engaged, but it is low stakes, there are no HUGE surprises, and nothing bad will happen.  There is plot tension, and there are a few tense scenes, but you can read with confidence, because everything always works out.   No one lies, there are no big deceptions, only small deceptions, to go along with the small fortunes.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free review copy.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC for early review.. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

4.5⭐, a wonderfully enjoyable cozy fantasy with only a few bumps in the road.

I found this to be a perfect little "curl up by the fire with your fur baby and a cup of cocoa" type of book, and I'm looking forward to more titles from Julie Leong.

The characters in this story are, even in-universe, pushed into D&D-like tropes. There's Tao, the mage, who is actually a Seer with very powerful magic, but she refuses to use it for anything more than small fortunes due to trauma in her past. There's Mash, the warrior, who is searching for his missing daughter, and Silt, his best friend and companion, a slightly reformed thieving rogue. And finally, Kina, the baker, who I'm convinced might actually have magic of her own. Joining them are Lahou, the mule, and Fidelitus, the cat whose gender no one bothered to check.

On the surface, this is a rather sweet story about finding home in friendships and making home where you feel loved, but underneath there's an undercurrent of discomforting dread? Which is hard to parse with the "cozy" tagline. The two countries in this story, Eshtera and Shinara, which represent Europe and China, are on the brink of war with each other, and Tao, as a Shinn woman, experiences racism on her travels across Eshtera. Mash's daughter, a very young girl, is thought to have been kidnapped by bandits and held captive for months. The threat of the mages on Tao's tail, hunting her for her magical power, also contributes to the pangs of unease. So, maybe the stakes are low, as they don't greatly affect the main characters, but they're still a great trouble on the horizon.

I found it a bit odd that Kina, the Eshteran baker, is the one to come up with the idea for fortune cookies. I didn't like the gender mixup with Fidelitus, the cat. I knew it was coming from the very beginning of the cat's introduction, and it seemed like a silly way to hide a plot reveal. I also didn't really love how queerness was portrayed in this story. One of the only queer characters who gets dialogue is a woman who has no interest in wedding a man and Tao sends her off to an all-girls nunnery. But their entire conversation is had in hushed tones and kept secretive, and no other queer characters appear. I'm not a fan of "cozy fantasy" where the setting isn't queernormative, because then can it really be cozy if there's the inherent worry of homophobia? This wasn't really explicitly one or the other but I would have appreciated less smoke and mirrors. I wish more time was devoted to Tao's practice of fortune telling and the expansion of her's, Kina's, and Mash and Silt's travelling professions.

Overall, it's another cozy fantasy that compares itself to Legends & Lattes and does a good job standing on its own, but you do have to be careful putting yourself up next to the number one cozy fantasy of the last decade.

"Theres no such things as greater good-there's just good, and the more of it we can do, the better."

This was a very cute and cozy read.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available for me.

This was a sweet book about a young woman who unintentionally acquires traveling companions and helps each of them overcome problems in their respective lives. In the process she also manages to make progress in making peace with her own troubled past.

This book was amazing. I loved the found family at the same time as reconciliation. You can read this book as a light-ish pallet cleanser, or as a conversation about politics and ethics. This is a book that felt like a Hiyao Miyazaki film.

Tao ran away from home and from the Guild. She hides her magic by traveling constantly, and telling small fortunes. But even a small fortune can change a life, and she finds herself on the road with friends searching for a treasure.

Why I started this book: Requested this book from NetGalley because of its cover. And I started reading this book because I needed a cozy fantasy in my life right now.

Why I finished it: Easily finished it in two days because even when I picked it up to just read a couple of pages, I found myself reading larger chunks. This book is a warm hug and a small adventure.

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a cozy, lighthearted fantasy novel that helped carry me through this past week. The story follows Tao, a traveling fortune teller who sets out on a quest of self-discovery and finds family and adventure where she least expects it. I loved the variety of characters in the story, especially those in Tao’s immediate circle. We have Mash, the cinnamon roll warrior searching for his missing daughter, Silt, the comical ex-thief trying to stay on the right path, and Kina, the amateur baker with a heart of gold. All together, these unforgettable characters make up the heart and soul of the story. There are epic caravan adventures, delicious baked goods, adorable animal companions, and plenty of heartwarming moments. If you’re in need of some comfort, I highly recommend you pick this one up!

This was a cozy fantasy story filled with an adventure quest, magic and tea. I really enjoyed the world building and magical beasts as they searched for a child. Overall a fun fantasy to get lost in.

This was so cozy and cute! Perfect for fans of the Irregular Society of Witches, this little book was the best fall read. All I needed was a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate in hand. I loved every page of this, and couldn't help but be transported to this magical world.

Enjoyed this cozy fantasy - took me awhile to get into the book, but the characters and found family were heartwarming. Everything wraps up neatly, too. Tao is a fortune teller, running from her family and feeling quite isolated. When a tree in the road stops her progress, she is helped by two men - Mash and Stilt. When she tells Mash what she believes is a simple fortune, she finds out his daughter is missing, and the trio decide to band together. In a nearby town, they take on a baker, who makes delicious but unattractive baked goods, and the foursome continue to journey on in search of Mash's daughter. When the government of Eshtera commands Tao to tell large prophecies as a Guild Seer, and takes her from her friends, the adventure begins. Very clean and wholesome, too, if that is what you are looking for.

THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong is a cozy fantasy debut that was chosen for the LibraryReads November 2024 list. Its beautiful cover reflects the warmth and good cheer which radiates from this story. Tao, a young girl travelling on her own is the title character. As she moves from village to town, she shares small fortunes with others, afraid to fully exercise her ability to foresee the future because of a past tragedy. It is on the road that she meets Mash, a former soldier looking for his lost daughter; Silt, a reformed thief and friend to Mash; and Kina, an apprentice baker. Together this unlikely group forms a community of sorts and their subsequent – sometimes dangerous – adventures bind them tightly together. This is a wonderful story about friendship and (found) family. Here is a favorite quote: "Aye, our lives are short and shaped by circumstance, and maybe we can't control most of what's to come. But we can control how we feel. We can savor the sweetness of a blackberry scone, and the company of our friends, and the warmth of the summer wind at night, and be grateful for it."

In its starred review, Library Journal said, THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES "is a delightful cozy fantasy that will appeal to fans of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree and A Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne." Enjoy!! Discussion questions are included.

Tao lives a solitary nomadic life brought on by the pain and rejection of her childhood, when she meets a band of new and unlikely friends on the road. This is a cozy fantasy that is very easy to read, pleasant, and endearing. No risk of stress or triggers in this one - just a good “palate cleanser” full of likable characters and a reprieve from darker books. It was a nice change of pace for me, and a sweet story with enough feeling and mystery to propel the plot.

This ended up being one of those books that was a right time, right book kind of situation. I just really needed something that felt full of hope and love, and I definitely got that with this book! I loved following Tao's story and watching her find people to surround herself with. There's definitely a lot of very timely topics discussed here as Tao faces a lot of racism, but the way those around her support her and treat her no differently than they would anyone else was nice to see. It's a low stakes cozy fantasy with found family and a little bit of a quest, and while we didn't go too deep into any of the side characters, I found that I didn't really mind that at all. I think if you're a fan of cozy fantasy then this will definitely be one to check out, it was so cute!

This is definitely different from my typical read but the beautiful cover and description caught my attention. This is a vibrant, beautiful debut that reads like Ghibli studio animation. This book gave me such good warm vibes with so much comfort and obviously the cat companion instantly had me. Tao (the main protagonist) goes from town to town telling people fortunes, some were happy to greet her, some not so much in fact after one “small” fortune, she’s roped into an adventure to find a missing kid with a ragtag group of four people. and a cat. Now that I think about it, this gave me Wizard of Oz feels as we are literally just picking up random people along the way. It’s truly a merry little band of misfits and I adored it. Now it was still slow paced, but as I mentioned before in previous videos, slow paced does not mean a bad book. For some reason labeling a book with that description means ew, it’s bad for a lot of people. Understandable so as the human attention span can only handle so much these days. But in my opinion no, not even in the slightest is it bad and I think it fit the low-stakes coziness within the pages. If you like found family, I really enjoyed that element to the book. Tao’s character development was my favorite part of the story. The book also touches on the struggles of identity and explores Tao’s immigrant experience. This is a low stakes, cozy adventure fantasy. Great for this time of year.

This is a truly delightful cozy fantasy novel. I loved the characters, the prose, the charming way that the characters' lives unfolded and their friendships blossomed over the course of the book. It was full of sly winks to the fantasy genre in general, which I greatly enjoyed. Highly recommended!

Thank you to Berkley and Ace Publishing for the free book. These opinions are my own.

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a slow-paced cozy fantasy that grows more intriguing over time. It highlights Tao, a traveling fortune teller. She never stays anywhere for long, as she avoids the ramifications when people learn her fortunes are accurate.

As she travels, she slowly gathers a group of people, including the warrior bard, rogue, mage, and more. They become an adventuring party with a quest and various potential side quests. And they also travel with great animal friends. This felt like such a love escape and reminded me of D&D games.

At the same time, it raise some big topics including questions of predestination and fate. And it also spoke to themes of immigration and racism. I had seen the author speak and knew that a big part of her own motivation in writing this book was grappling with her father's illness. And I found those themes as well.

The book was thoughtful and helped me to slow down and reflect as well.

A warm, gentle cozy fantasy story of kindness and found family. Magical elements infuse the story with a sense of fun, but it's the characters who truly shine. This is a sweet and lovely read.

A someone who historically has not been a cozy fantasy fan, I find myself with mixed feelings (though overall positive) on this one. There were a lot of individual elements and moments that I really enjoyed in this book but particularly in the second half, I found myself a bit dissatisfied by elements in the plot and some of the side characters.

What I enjoyed most in The Teller of Small Fortunes is the wry sense of humor that underlines it all and the almost Pratchett way that it points out the foibles of humans and society via underdog characters just trying to make their way in the world. Tao herself is very sympathetic, even when she's making a choice to run away from rather than confront what scares her. I also really appreciated that despite being cozy fantasy, Tao is dealing with racism and layers of class structure and some trauma relating to her family so it never felt like there weren't at least personal stakes. And unlike most cozy fantasy, I actually really enjoyed following Tao on the road with her band of fellow unlikely travelers who become found family.

Where I struggled with the book is in the second half, when the larger world stakes start to come into play. I don't mind there being a larger world threat in cozy fantasy (mostly because truly no stakes is just boring to me) but the downside is that it feels sort of in between cozy and more traditional fantasy and thus left me feeling like it was too convenient and surface level.

Leong touches on how these larger ruling systems can leave people on the ground confused and scared by what they're not being told and doing things for "the greater good" gets challenged, which I appreciated. It just felt too neat at the end for a story that's tackling these elements. Though honestly, that might just be a disconnect in what I want as someone who doesn't love cozy fantasy versus what the book is trying to provide.

Overall, for a cozy fantasy, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. I really liked Tao, I loved the humor and the commentary on humanity and power and I even enjoyed the quieter moments. Despite my dissatisfaction with parts of the plot, it's still one I'd recommend for fans of cozy fantasy that don't need truly no stakes.

This was so cute and heartwarming, but with a bit more substance than your average cozy fantasy. Tao is a traveling fortune teller who stumbles upon a band of misfits and ends up traveling along with them. The unexpected found family includes a father searching for his daughter, a "former" thief, a baker of ugly but delicious goods, and a feisty cat. The tale becomes a bit episodic as they have several adventures on their quest to find Leah, including Tao's own journey to reckon with her past. Definitely recommend!

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a cozy fantasy reminiscent of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, what with the traveling wagon, only with a bit more actual plot and the added bonus of found family. The characters are likeable and their little group of travelers has a D&D adventuring party vibe to them. The plot isn’t what you’d call action packed (though it has its moments of excitement) but the story is still interesting. And best of all, it lives up to the “cozy fantasy” subgenre, with warm fuzzy feelings aplenty. Five stars!

Representation: POC characters, LGBTQ+ characters