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A review by inuyasha
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
3.0
liked this surprisingly more than i thought i would given my mileage with "cozy" stuff is incredibly low. i found this to be more authentic than a lot of the "cozy" derivative shit people on here and booktok normally push, likely due to it's self-published origin, but it mostly felt like i was reading post-campaign fanfic for someone's D&D PC where i didn't know the characters or the campaign, so it was hard to care. although i did love tandri, and the little rat man who made the cinnamon rolls. that was nice.
i'm kind of ontologically opposed to the concept of "cozy" stuff - because what even does that mean? anything can be cozy. i think it's no coincidence that cozy is becoming its own marketable genre when political neutrality is at an all time high - but this is maybe not the place for That Rant. just know i find cozy games and books to fit in the paradigm of "The Worst Person You Know Loves Hello Kitty". legends and lattes, at the very least, was pretty queer in its storyline. and i don't even mean that in terms of the romance (if you can call it that.... for one of this book's main selling tools, it sure did feel nonexistent) but rather the plot motivator. the urge to escape from the socioeconomic confines of what you were born as and make a new life for yourself, one where you feel safe and comfortable to enjoy softness combined with the concept of real, true community and viv being a union loving profit sharing icon was like ... okay queer leftism!! did not enjoy the neoliberal "if ur mean back to the people who are literally threatening you and harming you ur just as bad as they are" overtures though, but i've come to accept that this is impossible to avoid in modern fiction.
anyway. this was cute. the audiobook was really good. it was nice to read on my couch with a big bag of cookie dough bits. i probably won't think of it again or pick this author up a second time, though.
i'm kind of ontologically opposed to the concept of "cozy" stuff - because what even does that mean? anything can be cozy. i think it's no coincidence that cozy is becoming its own marketable genre when political neutrality is at an all time high - but this is maybe not the place for That Rant. just know i find cozy games and books to fit in the paradigm of "The Worst Person You Know Loves Hello Kitty". legends and lattes, at the very least, was pretty queer in its storyline. and i don't even mean that in terms of the romance (if you can call it that.... for one of this book's main selling tools, it sure did feel nonexistent) but rather the plot motivator. the urge to escape from the socioeconomic confines of what you were born as and make a new life for yourself, one where you feel safe and comfortable to enjoy softness combined with the concept of real, true community and viv being a union loving profit sharing icon was like ... okay queer leftism!! did not enjoy the neoliberal "if ur mean back to the people who are literally threatening you and harming you ur just as bad as they are" overtures though, but i've come to accept that this is impossible to avoid in modern fiction.
anyway. this was cute. the audiobook was really good. it was nice to read on my couch with a big bag of cookie dough bits. i probably won't think of it again or pick this author up a second time, though.