Prepare to be enchanted! This debut is a magical tapestry of heart and adventure. The blend of whimsical elements and heartfelt moments makes this story both refreshing and deeply satisfying. It's a delightful exploration of trust and belonging, wrapped in fantasy with a sprinkle of wonder.

What a charming book! "The Teller of Small Fortunes" by Julie Leong is a delightful cozy fantasy that follows the adventures of a wandering fortune teller. This is exactly the kind of book I love, and it exceeded my expectations!

Tao is a lonely immigrant fortune teller who travels between villages with only her mule, Laohu, for company, telling only "small" fortunes to avoid the notice of the Mage Guild and stay under the radar. While on the road, she meets Mash, an ex-mercenary who writes bad poetry, and his friend Silt, an ex-thief. Before she knows it, she joins their quest to find Mash's missing four-year-old daughter. Along the way, they are joined by a baker (Kina) and a slightly magical cat (Fidelitus). Thus begins a grand adventure as they try to dodge the magefinder sent by the Mage Guild after her.

I loved the book! It reminded me of two series I love: Legends & Lattes and the Monk and Robot books (especially the tea ceremony in the latter). I enjoyed the growing friendship between the crew, the character development, and the setting. The characters were finely drawn and came to life as their interactions revealed bits of their past. I could almost smell the baked goods, taste the tea fragrances, and see myself sitting by their campfire, listening to Mash quote his poetry.

The reader is quickly wrapped up in the lives of the characters - great characters you can deeply connect with and care about. The book explores themes of friendship, loyalty, mutual support, racism, political conflict, grief, parental neglect, free will vs. fate, family, identity, and belonging. The experience of an immigrant caught between cultures was well-etched and resonated with me.

The pacing of the book is well-balanced - not too fast or too slow - allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves in the characters' journey. This steady pace complements the cozy, nature of the story, making it easy to savor each moment. The ending was satisfying and left me yearning for more.

In sum, this is a feel-good and heartwarming book that leaves you feeling all warm inside. Very engrossing and sweeping, I loved every minute of it and highly recommend it! If you enjoy curling up with a good book and being whisked away to another place, this is the book for you!

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Teller of Small Fortunes. This book has a cozy charm, but also does a lot of work to deliver an amazing fantasy world that rises up to meet the characters as they follow their path.
Great character development, and each character feels like they are growing over the course of the story. I wanted to be sitting around their campfire eating pastries and swapping stories. I couldn't ask for more.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was cute! I was hoping for a little more character growth throughout, but there were certain moments of quiet that really sang. I loved the main character and her donkey, the added characters started to chafe a little

In Teller of Small Fortunes, the main character uses her magic to tell fortunes - but only small ones, since a fortune told as a child had grave and severe consequences. On her travels she collects a group of companions that flesh out the rest of supporting characters of the story. One of these companions comes along because of a small fortune that turns out to be Very Important indeed.

Overall I enjoyed the book. Typical cozy fantasy where the reader can rest assured that no great tragedies will disturb a pleasant afternoon of reading. However, one interlude in the middle of the book seemed jarringly out of place - it felt like it was cut and pasted in from a D&D writing assignment with no purpose other than to pad the word count. (Stranger in the dark woods accosts the party with promises of fortune and luck if they complete the quest!) If it hadn't been for that section I would have rated the book one star higher.

This was such a lovely cozy fantasy! I loved this whole cast of characters and their most wonderful found family. Also I'd like to note that there was no romance for the main character which was a refreshing change of pace from the cozy fantasy I've previously read.

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a gentle story along the lines of the Monk and Robot books, or Nghi Vo's Singing Hills books. It's kind and character driven, with pretty low stakes for anyone ouside the immediate main characters. The characters are diverse, loveable, and interesting, and they all have noticeable growth. I especially loved the cat who travels with them, and the secret lesbian nunnery. I cant wait to see what Leong writes next and will obviously be buying a copy for my personal bookshelf.

What an excellent and unique cozy fantasy novel!!! After the success of Legends and Lattes, I feel like the cozy fantasy genre has been inundated with a lot of very similar novels. But this one was very different, with a fun and diverse cast of characters, and interesting quest, and a likable main character. It was so comforting to read, and I’m absolutely OBSESSED with the cover design!!

🌈Queer rep: Secondary lesbian character, FF couple

How adorable! Much of the tea ceremony (set-up, tea, the daily problems of the villagers) will feel very similar scenes from the Monk & Robot series ([book:A Psalm for the Wild-Built|40864002]) but it doesn't feel like a rip-off. The rest of the story is set up around a D&D -type cast of characters: the grizzled fighter with a softer side (he composes bad poetry and is on the road looking for his lost daughter), the trying-to-reform thief (he's not very good at reforming until he faces what he's afraid of), and the... baker? (she's brand new to adventuring but she wants to be friends with everyone she meets).

The main character spends the whole book running from her magic, so the magical system of this universe isn't really explored. The door is open for a possible series, although the story is adequately wrapped up on its own.

The world is generically historical-European, while the main character is clearly Asian, with the Asian-inspired continent across the sea and at war (or nearly so) with the quasi-European culture. So much about the main character's home culture feels lifted from China that the story is set in a frustrating in-between space. It doesn't need to be set in an alternate universe, it can be set in our world in an alternate/magical history. This would have allowed the story to use and reference more cultures without having to create them from scratch. If the story has to take place in an alternate universe, it's awesome to have one that's Asian-inspired! But in that case, there needed to be a lot more world-building to establish this as *inspired* and not just lifted.

A fun book from an author with promise! eARC from NetGalley.

Oh my gosh, what a lovely book! It was so adorable and really a lot like a warm hug. It delivers exactly what it says: low stakes and vibes, sure, but enough plot to keep you interested until the very end, and I enjoyed how it all works out. Full of lovable characters and so much heart - it felt like hanging out with friends at the renaissance faire. I will definitely be recommending to fans of cozy fantasy. (And I will never judge a pastry by its appearance again!)

I finished this book in one day. It was a lovely book. A novel of friendship and forgiveness. The character development was perfect and the settings were described so clearly, that I could easily picture the places in my mind. Tao, tells "small fortunes", enough to earn a living, but not enough to get her noticed by the Mage Guild. She travels from town, to town, never staying long enough to form relationships or friendships. That all changes one day, when she is helped in her travels by 2 friends, A traveling Mercenary and his partner, an ex-thief. Later they're joined by a Baker seeking adventure, and an intrepid cat.

I highly, highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of Becky Chambers Monk and Robot series, books by TJ Klune, and the Legends & Lattes books by Travis Baldree.

I am in my cozy fantasy era, and here is another book that ultimately delivers! I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cozy book that will make them forget all their other troubles for a while. It is adorable and a perfect read for fall. Highly recommend!

This was at the top of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it didn't disappoint! Leong created such a cozy, inviting fantasy world where we follow the adventures of a travelling fortune teller named Tao. Initially, I was drawn to the book because of the beauuuutiful cover, and the story holds the same exact vibes inside!

The story was crafted with the perfect blend of warm, feel-good vibes and meaningful subjects. I have found that a lot of "cozy" books have either too much coziness or too high of stakes, so it was refreshing to find that this book balanced the two seamlessly. We also meet some incredibly sweet and imperfectly perfect characters along the way that warm your heart. It's a beautiful story full of magic, fantastical adventures, found family, and growth.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ace Books for the free advanced copy of this book.

This was such a great read! I loved the cozy feel and I highly recommend if you are a fan of the cozy fantasy genre!

A traveling fortune teller with a painful past and the people she meets on the road that refuse to let her be alone anymore. This was such a warm hug of a book, with the kindness of humanity shining through even when the world at large can be so cruel. Found family may seem like a cliche these days, but this book has wholly rejuvenated my love for a group of people in pain coming together to help each other evolve and heal and then choosing to stay together because of the love and understanding that has grown between them. Julie Leong created such a loveable cast of characters and devised the perfect adventure for all of them to glow individually. A perfect cozy fantasy for anyone who wants just a bit more worldliness than that genre usually provides.

A cozy fantasy world wrapped around a heart of pure gold, demonstrating a truth that runs deeper than mere magic, THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong is one not to miss.

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

"Yet it was a very hard thing to leave the only place one had ever known... Familiarity could look very much like love from a certain angle, if one didn't look too hard."

"<i Everyone deserves a home /i>, Tao thought... And what was a home but somewhere you wouldn't have to feel quite so alone?"

This book was lovely, like a cup of delicious chai: complex, comforting and sharp all at the same time. The sharpness isn't meant to wound, though, but to express the ways we can find healing from harm. It is very much about found family, and I can easily see why it is recommended to people who enjoy the Legends & Lattes series. At the same time, this book is profoundly tied to the main character's experiences with the dark aspects of human behavior, as well as a commentary on war and social justice. Definitely recommend this title for anyone with a taste for cozy(ish) fantasy.

For sensitive readers, there are depictions of racism, misogyny, violence, traumatic childhood experiences, and neglect. A child is presented as possibly being in danger throughout the book as well; no physical harm to children is depicted.

A light and fun adventures with a bit of magic. This novel fits perfectly in the newish subgenre of cozy fantasy. If you like your scoundrals redeemable and charming, your ends happy and loose ends tied up then this is a great choice. There are diverse characters and while set in a western setting there is eastern lore and culture throughout.

Imagine the comfiest blanket in the world and, through some magic, turn it into a book. If you succeed, then chances are the book you'll get will be called The Teller of Small Fortunes, and it would be written by Julie Leong.

The Teller of Small Fortunes is one of the funniest, coziest, most thoughtful, and most therapeutic books I've ever read. That's not me exaggerating. Oh, no! That's me selling this story short. Honestly, you can just do yourself a favor and get this book and spare yourself the rest of the incoherent ramblings in this review because words won't be able to do it justice. This story is simply something to be experienced.

You're still here? Fine, let me paint you a picture. Imagine a cat. It's the best cat in the world. An incredible cat, and it knows it because, well, it's a cat. Now, imagine that cat surrounded by one of the most incredible, most colorful crews you'll encounter in fiction or in real life. Now imagine that group discovering one town after another in an adventure that wraps a blanket around your shoulders, gives you a cup of hot chocolate, and tells you in the most comforting voice possible, "We're going to do something epic. But everything is going to be fine. Probably. We'll see."

But in all seriousness, Julie Leong's debut, The Teller of Small Fortunes, is fantasy at its best. It evokes the wanderlust in its readers' hearts while also providing a cast of incredible characters. It's thoughtful, funny, deep, cozy, and will simply leave you feeling so many emotions when you are done reading it. Seriously, do yourself a favor and read The Teller of Small Fortunes, or you'll be missing out on something truly special.

A lovely story about a teller of small fortunes and her found family that she collects along her way. I’m a big fan of the cozy fantasy genre; this is a great addition to the field.