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tea_coffee_sam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Xenophobia and Stalking
cursed10fold's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Xenophobia and Injury/Injury detail
vivandtan's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual harassment
teabrewer's review against another edition
- 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
This book is not a romance, I know, and I absolutely agree it shouldn't be one. Even then, I think the romantic side o Viv and Tandri's relationship was given too little attention. In my opinion, they either should have stayed ambiguos friends or their romance should have occupied a little more of the story's time. -
I didn't like that Tandri became useless during the fire scene while Viv apparently became Superman
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Xenophobia
boba_n_books's review against another edition
- 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
Legends & Lattes was such a cute and fluffy cozy fantasy novel that helped me escape the world for a little bit.
Viv is a retired warrior looking to settle down and start a coffee shop. The only problem is that no one knows what coffee is and she's relying on a potentially fortuitous stone to help her through. Things seem to fall into place as Viv meets Cal, who helps her build up the shop; Tandri, who helps her advertise and serve the customers; and Thimble, who is constantly creating delicious new baked goods. Together, this band of four just might be able to create something so special it can succeed.
Going into this novel, I expected no plot and just vibes. There were definitely a lot of good vibes, found family, and friendship; but there was a bit of a plot with getting the coffee shop up and running as well as Viv's old gang coming back to town. The sapphic romance was a huge slow burn, but it was so sweet and worth the wait. I loved the vibes and the way the story showed how you can start over without forgetting your past.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and Sexual harassment
ashylibrarian's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Violence and Sexual harassment
shottel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Violence
iridiscent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Sexual harassment
infjkiki's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment
tinkeringcheck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
... But (and I hate that there's a but). The plot. What took me out of the story was how most of the plot beats are just recreating the elements of a Hip Modern Coffee Shop. Which was cute at first in a wink-wink nudge-nudge way, but when it became the entire plot it just felt... boring. These characters are deeply amazed by modern things like *checks notes*
Honestly, I think the plotting might have fallen victim to the low stakes promise - or at least one interpretation of it. Here, that meant the characters were facing molehill instead of mountain challenges with the same weight and payoff. And I think that can work, if woven into a bigger story. But here it's like the bigger story wasn't allowed any airtime because that would be too many stakes. And yet a mountain of consequences fall on the characters from that bigger story anyway, but now it feels like the characters had no agency to deal with it beforehand.
So I'd argue the story doesn't even stick to its low stakes claim in the first place. It's more like 90% 'low stakes' and 10% 'consequences from the interesting, higher stakes plot happening invisibly in the background that we decided not to use but still have its consequences air-dropped out of nowhere.'
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol and Violence