Legends & Lattes is a cosy fantasy that feels like a hug in a book.
For anyone wanting a high fantasy but low-stakes novel then this book is perfect. With a cast of delightful characters, a coffee shop you’ll be dying to visit and a little sprinkling of romance Legends & Lattes is the perfect book for cuddling up with in the colder months.
What is Legends & Lattes About?
Legends & Lattes is a cosy fantasy. If you’ve never come across cosy fantasy before (which I hadn’t before this book) then a good way to sum up the genre is low-stakes, feel-good stories within a fantasy setting. There’s no world-building, no epic quests and often a happy ending.
Legends & Lattes takes place in the city of Thune where Viv, a retired bounty hunter orc has decided to start a new life. On one of her last jobs, she discovered the delights of coffee but hardly anyone knows what the hot drink is.
In a bid to leave her blood-shedding days behind her Viv decides to open a coffee shop but if people don’t even know what coffee is, how will she make a success of the place?
As Viv begins to renovate an old building and turn it into the cafe she dreams of she finds that more people are willing to help an orc out than she imagined. But Viv has a secret, one that she believes is the key to her success because surely a barbarian orc can’t actually be making friends without a little extra help. Or can she?
Old enemies and new rivals might just be the undoing of everything that Viv has worked hard for and soon the orc will realise that she needs these new people more than she’d like to admit.
Book Review for Legends & Lattes
Legends & Lattes was one of the first books that I came across when I started watching BookTok content a few months ago, way before I even thought about making my own bookish content. I’d always been adamant that I wasn’t a fantasy reader, the genre had never appealed to me before, and I’d never even heard of cosy fantasy.
Once I learned more about the genre though, there was something about Legends & Lattes that kept pulling me in. Then I started seeing more fantasy books that I wanted to read. I figured Legends & Lattes was the perfect way to dip my toes into fantasy without getting lost in world-building.
As someone who has never read any fantasy before, I did have to Google what some of the characters were in the book. It has a high fantasy feel to it but it wasn’t intimidating and the fact I did have to research some things wasn’t at all off-putting because it was all part of learning and delving into a genre I’d never touched before.
The book definitely has a cosy feel to it and the characters are absolutely amazing. There are probably only a couple of characters by the end that you’re not supposed to like, the rest and just so unique and likeable. I think my favourite throughout was Cal, there was something about him that I liked from the second I met him in the book.
I will say that if you’re used to reading epic fantasies then this might not be the book for you. It’s pretty much solely centred around the coffee shop and even the more perilous moments in the book are fairly light and over with quite quickly. If you like books with big quests and lots of detail about the world it’s set in then you won’t find that here.
The found family aspect is done really well with this though and although there is a romance within the book, it’s a slow burn and very much only suggested. You don’t get to really see anything played out. It is classed as sapphic as it is two female characters falling in love. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a little more of Viv and Tandri’s relationship but it didn’t lose any points from me for not going down this route.
Legends & Lattes is an LGBTQ+ novel but if you’re looking for a fantasy novel that explores this more then you might be left feeling a little disappointed with this book.
I loved this book, it felt like a big, warm hug and it was perfect for curling up with on cold nights. For me, I couldn’t have picked a better book to get me started on my fantasy journey though I appreciate it might be lacking in some things for those more used to fantasy books.
If you’re after a light-hearted, cosy read with a host of loveable characters (including a pretty cool cat) then Legends & Lattes is the book for you.
I’m excited to read the second book – Bookshops & Bonedust and I hope it’s just as good as this one!
Have you read Legends & Lattes? Do you have any other cosy fantasy recommendations? Let me know in the comments below!
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