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mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Writing: 4.25⭐️/5
I think the writing serves the story extremely well. At moments, Baldree chooses to include extraneous details, which sometimes feel interesting and sometimes feel unnecessary, but these moments are short-lived and do not get in the way of the story. I really liked how he combined the lightness of the story with the starkness of the world, and I found really vibrant moments of beautiful prose.
Characters: 4.5⭐️/5
I really loved the dynamics of the characters. An orc who wants to give up adventuring and open a cafe, but is still bound by her need to keep to herself? A brilliant character. I loved our love interest, and her dynamic with the MC. Where I wanted a bit more from the characters was with Viv’s old crew. I felt a distinct lack of understanding of what drove them, other than their need for adventure. For a group of people who spent a lot of time together, they were relegated to a small role and little screen time.
Plot: 4.75⭐️/5
I really loved the plot. While I wanted a bit more from our adventuring party to fully understand their connection with Viv, I loved the cute way this story progressed. I really enjoyed how the story started with the end of a final adventure, how we slowly uncovered her plans, and how we saw her work hard towards her goals. I thoroughly enjoyed the choice to go against the grain with this work of high fantasy as well. Normally, we see the epic adventure, but I enjoyed the chiller story and plot, the after-the-adventure story. Well done.
World 4.75⭐️/5
The world is well understood and conveyed. It felt big and bright, without being overwhelming with its detail. I really loved how Baldree chose to introduce us to the world, jumping right in while adding a little detail when necessary. I think it’s a cool world that I enjoyed reading about.
Who Should Read This Book?
- Fans of D&D
- Fans of high fantasy novels looking for a change of pace
- Someone looking for a chill, cozy read with a cute romance
Content Warnings?
Fire, fire injury, blood, violence, injury, injury detail, grief, sexual harassment, bullying, stalking, emotional abuse, toxic friendship,
Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
Aw. Cute. Love Viv and Tandri. <3
Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Stalking, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
beepbeep101's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual harassment
mobymaize's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The tagline “High Fantasy, Low Stakes” applies in such incredible fashion for this novel. I’ve read so many stories with combat & bloodshed at their core, so reading a calming story about a gay orc & gay tiefling making a coffee shop is a very nice departure from that stress.
ALSO I LOVE THIMBLE SO MUCH MY SWEET BABY BOY AAA
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Medical content, and Death
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Death
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I loved this! It was so sweet and cozy and light-hearted. I was in the feels the whole time.
I love Tandri. She’s fierce and adorable and loveable. I loved the journey through learning about coffee. As they added more items to the menu and enjoyed more items it was adorable to see. The romance was subtle but very adorable. Viv was someone who was so passionate and persistent you couldn’t help but root for her.
Definitely a low stakes book to read when you want to feel cozy and reminded of the power of friendship (corny I know but so true). Absolutely loved.
I love Tandri. She’s fierce and adorable and loveable. I loved the journey through learning about coffee. As they added more items to the menu and enjoyed more items it was adorable to see. The romance was subtle but very adorable. Viv was someone who was so passionate and persistent you couldn’t help but root for her.
Definitely a low stakes book to read when you want to feel cozy and reminded of the power of friendship (corny I know but so true). Absolutely loved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
creationwing's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I cried with and for the characters. A lovely cozy story outside of my usual reads. The premise drew me in, but it was the characters that kept me. The ending tied loose ends a little too nicely for my taste, but I think that's more on the cozy low-stakes vibe the story has than any fault of the writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny and Murder
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I quite enjoyed most of this book. It was cute and sweet and cozy. The conflicts were dealt with well in ways that challenged Viv to grow and to stay on the path that she had chosen for herself. The barely-a-subplot romance was sweet, if underdeveloped. I would happily read sequels focusing on the coffee shop, the community as a whole, or basically any of the individual characters from this book.
The pacing was definitely strange. I read most of the book quickly, but some sections dragged a lot, particularly the ones with more action and more challenges.
I read another review that said that Legends and Lattes reads like fanfic of someone else's Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and I absolutely agree.
Now, this was originally a NaNoWriMo novel that was self-published and then picked up by Tor for traditional publication, and I totally understand why and how all of that happened. It's fun and charming and easy to read, and it got a LOT of hype, and there's nothing overtly wrong with it, so it went on to traditional publication virtually unchanged despite the occasionally weird pacing and what I am calling the coffee problem.
What is the coffee problem? It's that Viv, a person from outside the culture (gnomes, apparently, but only certain gnomes since the one in Viv's former adventuring party does not seem to have familiarity with it) that created coffee, brings it to a community far from its origins and marks it as an "exotic beverage." Now, I don't regard this as overt racism or anything like that. I just regard it as laziness. And laziness is fine in your NaNoWriMo novel, but I would love it if people publishing novels would think for about ten seconds about the potential real-world implications of what they're writing. I think if Legends and Lattes were less an overt coffee shop AU--if, say, it were focused on a fictional drink that Viv brings to this community, either from her travels or from her own place/culture of origin--this would be a total non-issue. But it still made me feel weird and made me wish that there had been more conscious thought put into the construction of this world beyond D&D coffee shop AU.
I really enjoyed this book overall, but it felt escapist to the point of laziness at times in its construction, and I'm not ultimately the target audience for that approach.
The pacing was definitely strange. I read most of the book quickly, but some sections dragged a lot, particularly the ones with more action and more challenges.
I read another review that said that Legends and Lattes reads like fanfic of someone else's Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and I absolutely agree.
Now, this was originally a NaNoWriMo novel that was self-published and then picked up by Tor for traditional publication, and I totally understand why and how all of that happened. It's fun and charming and easy to read, and it got a LOT of hype, and there's nothing overtly wrong with it, so it went on to traditional publication virtually unchanged despite the occasionally weird pacing and what I am calling the coffee problem.
What is the coffee problem? It's that Viv, a person from outside the culture (gnomes, apparently, but only certain gnomes since the one in Viv's former adventuring party does not seem to have familiarity with it) that created coffee, brings it to a community far from its origins and marks it as an "exotic beverage." Now, I don't regard this as overt racism or anything like that. I just regard it as laziness. And laziness is fine in your NaNoWriMo novel, but I would love it if people publishing novels would think for about ten seconds about the potential real-world implications of what they're writing. I think if Legends and Lattes were less an overt coffee shop AU--if, say, it were focused on a fictional drink that Viv brings to this community, either from her travels or from her own place/culture of origin--this would be a total non-issue. But it still made me feel weird and made me wish that there had been more conscious thought put into the construction of this world beyond D&D coffee shop AU.
I really enjoyed this book overall, but it felt escapist to the point of laziness at times in its construction, and I'm not ultimately the target audience for that approach.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Violence and Sexual harassment
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment
jessereadsthings's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
3.0
Overall cute and very fun to read. The romance needed a bit more time to grow, but was still nice. Definitely interested in reading the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment
sandwiiche's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
such a comfy and cozy read! it was v different to my usual style of books (fast paced, action packed) so it was a nice change. i especially enjoyed it because i would also like to open my own food related business one day ☕
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment