A review by elderlingfool
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I picked this book up expecting another slice of life tale with fantastical beings so I was surprised by the mystery, necromancy and the action near the end of the book. Don't get me wrong. This is still a slice of life kind of book 90% of the time, but I wasn't expecting those elements to be present here at all. 

Legends & Lattes had a focus on coffee and building a business from the ground. This prequel focuses on books and saving an already existent business. Fern is the owner of a bookshop going through hard times and Viv, who is recovering from a leg injury, helps her to get other people innterested in reading. A lot of readers will be able to relate to certain moments in the story when Viv is finding out the joys of reading. This plot reminded me of the conversation around independent bookshops, but a big difference is that there isn't a big company causing competition. In this case, the people from this small location just don't have much interest in reading. The strategies to make others interested is something we see in reality, like wraping a book with paper that has a few key words in it so it can be a surprise that hopefully will appeal to the right reader. Even though most of the story is about books, it still includes delicious pastries because it is an essential cozy element in this series it seems. 

I did enjoy this book, even though a little less than the first one. At times I found myself a bit bored and thinking that the book should be shorter. However, those moments happened during action moments or when characters were trying to find a solution for a particular mystery so it could have been just the plot not matching my expectations. I do pick up these books for a simple relaxing time after all and my preference for cozy books tend to be shorter than 250 pages. Still, this was an enjoyable read and I believe that people that loved the first one will still enjoy this prequel.