Legends & Lattes

The cozy read everyone needs

Legends & Lattes first appeared on my radar thanks to the lovely creators of BookTok. It seemed my speed, so I mentally clocked it as a book to eventually get into. But it wasn’t until a certain BookTok creator posted about the book that I put it as an absolute priority. I was casually scrolling my FYP when a lovely video from Meg’s Tea Room came up talking about her pick for October’s Cozy Fantasy Book Club. 

A couple things happened here. First, the idea of a “cozy fantasy” genre was completely new to me. I am no stranger to the fantasy genre, and it would seem like a subgenre of “cozy fantasy” would already be in my card catalog but, alas, I am a person with a very full schedule who also fully enjoys spending free time cocooning myself away from people as a way to unwind. So while I hadn’t heard of cozy fantasy yet, I could immediately file away many of my favorite book titles into this subcategory (thank you Meg). Secondly, the video named Legends & Lattes as one of her all time favorite cozy fantasy titles, immediately launching the book to the very tippity top of my mental TBR list. 

A couple weeks later I was returning home from a week long bike tour of northern Michigan. I finished the book I was reading on my first flight home and found myself on a 5 hour layover at Reagan airport in Washington DC. I assumed my options would be limited to the small selection of thrillers and spicy fiction at a terminal newsstand and I assigned myself to this fate of options while on my first of many walking laps I made of the airport to pass the time when low and behold there was an actual full blown bookstore on the main concourse between terminals B and C. Legends & Lattes was prominently displayed at the front of the store and picked up a copy before I could even get both feet in the door. 

Let me just tell you, there is no better time to fully immerse yourself into a good story, especially a cozy story, than when you have time to kill, uninterrupted by work or kids, and a good pair of noise canceling headphones. 

This book was like wrapping up in a warm blanket, and really made me want a good cup of coffee the whole way through. I heard some feedback on BookTok that Legends & Lattes isn’t necessarily the best intro into the genre for non-fantasy readers. But I disagree. If you are interested in trying fantasy, what better way to familiarize yourself with non-human characters such as ogres, elves, dwarves, and succubus than with a story taking place in a coffee shop? Certainly, that is a better intro than anything high fantasy. And for all you spicy loving readers, while there aren’t any graphic spicy scenes there are sapphic undertones which were pleasantly welcomed. 

A second book is coming out in November and I can’t wait. I highly recommend curling up with this book and a delicious hot beverage!