cozy fantasy – Page 2

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Cozy Fantasy
Length: 296 pages
Author: Travis Baldree
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: June 7th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

WORTH THE HYPE.

I enjoyed this quick fantasy read. I know it’s been dubbed cozy and I think that’s a great adjective for this whole read. I thought it was sweet that nobody knew what coffee was and that Viv took the chance at making her own shop to help herself and those around her do something different.

It’s a super quick audiobook (with great narration). As a heavy fantasy reader I think I was still missing that deeper plot line and overarching connection within the story. But I liked all of the nuanced characters who popped into the shop and even how they all came together when disaster struck. It was a good read, I think I’d be interested to see if there’s another book in the series. Still on I’d easily recommend to others. Legends & Lattes was a nice break and gave me those warm coffeehouse feelings.

Overall audience notes:

Cozy Fanasy
Language: some
Romance: kisses
Violence: low

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 405 pages
Author: Jennifer Kropf
Publisher: Winter Publishing House
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

There are ten golden rules to follow if you want to survive an encounter with a fae.

On a cozy fall morning, Kate Kole is nestled in a coffee shop in the city of Toronto reading her favourite novel when she accidentally kills a guy who’s being rude to the coffee shop’s cashier. Unfortunately for Kate, the person she killed was a fae assassin of the North Corner of Ever, visiting the human realm in secret.

From there, four deadly fae assassins come to the human realm to hunt her down for breaking a fairy law and killing one of their own. Leading them is Prince Cressica Alabastian, the most feared and deadly fae assassin of the North and heir to the North Corner of Ever.

After the assassins arrive in the human realm, things go terribly wrong. To Prince Cressica’s horror, his assassins unwittingly get roped into running a cozy café on Kate Kole’s behalf. To blend in, the fae assassins are forced to learn how to do basic human activities like cleaning up after themselves, driving without road rage, reading popular fantasy books at book club without getting into alpha male fights over what they’re reading, and in general, be nice, all to blend into regular human society.

With a temper like no other, and deadly power that’s unmatched, Prince Cressica seeks to get revenge on Kate Kole. But as he aims to strike where it will hurt her the most, the Prince finds himself enchanted by his human target in more ways than one. And when the darkness of the Ever Corners comes knocking at the human realm’s door, he needs to make a choice that could cost him everything.

Thank you to Book of Matches Media and the author for an eARC.

THIS WAS GREAT.

I picked this up for its unique premise and it did not disappoint. I loved the urban fantasy vibes and watching four fae assassin’s try to figure out life in Toronto. I laughed multiple times at the things they went through and thought the author did a fantastic job of bringing the humor to this type of novel.

The grump x sunshine romance between Cress and Kate was fun to watch. I liked their banter and especially in the second half when the romance picked up a bit more (I do wish there had been more throughout). There’s lots of good fall and winter moments and Cress is one of those protective fae heroes we love to see. I thought the ending was interesting and wrapped up a few specific plot lines while leaving room for more story (I’m hoping we get a book for each assassin??).

It is definitely in the cozy genre. There is some intense action sprinkled throughout, but a lot of it is Kate figuring out life while the assassin’s figure out her. It’s a great combination and I just genuinely enjoyed how different this was than my usual reads.

Overall audience notes: