Pride Reads: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

There are numerous lists (yay!) of amazing books to read during Pride Month, and all year long! Here is one of my favorites!

Available now

If you are looking for a low stakes, soothing, warm hug of a book, this is it. It’s the perfect way to spend a few hours, lost in a world that is just discovering the joys of coffee and pastries, and the community that can be built around the mysterious concept of café.

This book is lovely.

Set in a fantasy world, Viv is an orc who is tired of fighting and pillaging. Determined to make a fresh start, she follows the ley lines to discover the perfect location for her next business venture: a café. But not just any café, it will be the first café in the area. With the help of some new friends, and a purse full of coins, Viv begins to turn a ramshackle stable into a place of warmth and community. But, not everything goes smoothly. People from her past are determined to make life difficult and there’s a pesky mob group demanding protection money.

Reader Friends, this book is perfect! I love it so, so much. I was looking for something light and you can’t get any lighter than this one. It is just a delightful account of people coming together as they transform a run down stable into a beautiful little shop. It’s full of shopping lists, shopping trips, and thoughts on decorations. It’s about making menus and arranging furniture. It’s about discovering new foods and the processes needed to make those foods. It’s about people becoming friends and being oblivious when the friendship develops into something more.

It’s just so lovely. If you are looking for something light that is both humorous and sweet, I highly, highly recommend this one.

If you would like to add this delightful book to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (RePost)

Hey all! This has been a long and stressful few weeks so I’m going to bury myself in blankets and tea and enjoy a re-read of this cozy, warm hug of a book.

Available now

If you are looking for a low stakes, soothing, warm hug of a book, this is it. It’s the perfect way to spend a few hours, lost in a world that is just discovering the joys of coffee and pastries, and the community that can be built around the mysterious concept of café.

This book is lovely.

Set in a fantasy world, Viv is an orc who is tired of fighting and pillaging. Determined to make a fresh start, she follows the ley lines to discover the perfect location for her next business venture: a café. But not just any café, it will be the first café in the area. With the help of some new friends, and a purse full of coins, Viv begins to turn a ramshackle stable into a place of warmth and community. But, not everything goes smoothly. People from her past are determined to make life difficult and there’s a pesky mob group demanding protection money.

Reader Friends, this book is perfect! I love it so, so much. I was looking for something light and you can’t get any lighter than this one. It is just a delightful account of people coming together as they transform a run down stable into a beautiful little shop. It’s full of shopping lists, shopping trips, and thoughts on decorations. It’s about making menus and arranging furniture. It’s about discovering new foods and the processes needed to make those foods. It’s about people becoming friends and being oblivious when the friendship develops into something more.

It’s just so lovely. If you are looking for something light that is both humorous and sweet, I highly, highly recommend this one.

If you would like to add this delightful book to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

Repost: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 

Originally posted June 2021

Available Now

This is such a fun and sweet romance! McQuiston has this gift of taking an imaginative and wild concept and making it feel realistic and relatable. Intent on taking control of her life, August Landry moves to New York City, enrolls in college, finds an eclectic group of roommates, lands a job, and falls in love with a girl on the subway. Seems like everyone’s fantasy, right? But August falls in love with Jane Su, a young woman who is fascinating, beautiful, smart, kind, and seems to know everyone. She also seems to always be on the train. As August falls more and more in love with the punk rock loving Jane, she also discovers that Jane doesn’t just seem to love a different time, she is literally from another time. Jane Su went missing 45 years ago and her connections to August’s life run far deeper than a school girl crush. 

As the two discover more about Jane’s past and what may have trapped her on the train, August and her incredible group of new friends do everything they can to save Jane from living on the train for eternity. 

I am a true sucker for a found family and August definitely won the lottery with her amazing roommates. Niko, bartender by day and part-time psychic, knew August would be a great fit through a handshake. Myla, artist and engineer, instantly goes out of her way to make August feel at home, but you also learn that she is always the warmest and kindest person in the room. Wes, former trust-fund baby now cut off from his family, is madly in love with the drag queen next door and has an adorable dog Noodles. The four roomies are instantly inseparable best friends and their bond carries over to saving Jane, and August, from a devastating fate. I loved that August was able to find this close connection to such an amazing group after a childhood spent with just her mother. We quickly discover that there is more to her and her mother’s relationship than a love of true crime and the quest to find her missing uncle, an uncle that went missing before August was born. When the truth comes out about why August and her mother were such a tight team, August needs her new friends to fall back on for support. 

Also, there’s subway sex. Friends, that’s right, subway sex and it’s beyond hot!

Full of heart, hope, and witty banter, One Last Stop, is a smart and hilarious story of otherworldly love that transcends time. 

If you want to add this lovely love story to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this title. The pleasure, as well as opinions and mistakes, was all mine. 

This post also contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Available now

If you are looking for a low stakes, soothing, warm hug of a book, this is it. It’s the perfect way to spend a few hours, lost in a world that is just discovering the joys of coffee and pastries, and the community that can be built around the mysterious concept of café.

This book is lovely.

Set in a fantasy world, Viv is an orc who is tired of fighting and pillaging. Determined to make a fresh start, she follows the ley lines to discover the perfect location for her next business venture: a café. But not just any café, it will be the first café in the area. With the help of some new friends, and a purse full of coins, Viv begins to turn a ramshackle stable into a place of warmth and community. But, not everything goes smoothly. People from her past are determined to make life difficult and there’s a pesky mob group demanding protection money.

Reader Friends, this book is perfect! I love it so, so much. I was looking for something light and you can’t get any lighter than this one. It is just a delightful account of people coming together as they transform a run down stable into a beautiful little shop. It’s full of shopping lists, shopping trips, and thoughts on decorations. It’s about making menus and arranging furniture. It’s about discovering new foods and the processes needed to make those foods. It’s about people becoming friends and being oblivious when the friendship develops into something more.

It’s just so lovely. If you are looking for something light that is both humorous and sweet, I highly, highly recommend this one.

If you would like to add this delightful book to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Available Now

In the latest installment of space drama set in the Galactic Commons, our characters spend more time on land than in space. In a refreshing take on space-based science fiction, we get a glimpse into the lives of the travelers who make the Five-Hop, One-Stop the most delightful and inclusive travel rest stop in the galaxy. Ouloo and her teenager do their very best to make guests of all species and shapes as comfortable as they can while they wait for access to the wormholes that connect the different worlds in the Galactic Commons. 

When an incident causes a catastrophic communications failure, the guests at the Five-Hop, One-Hop, as well as everyone on the planet are stranded until further notice. During their impromptu lay-over, the various guests of Ouloo’s travel stop do what they can to minimize the stress of the travel delays that while inconvenient for some, could be life-changing for others. As the guests spend more and more time together, they discover that with all of their differences: political, physical, spiritual, and ethical; they have more in common than they ever could have imagined. 

I just love this series. It’s so imaginative and hopeful with an emphasis on characters that don’t default to human. In The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, we are introduced to the Laru Ouloo and Tupo who have four paws, long necks, and choose their gender after adolescence. In my mind, Tupo was always the little Llama from the Anne Dewdney series…I’m sure that’s wrong but xe was such a grumpy teenager that it seemed fitting. 

There is also the first methane-based life form, Speaker, that I have read and it was fascinating how much detail went into allowing Speaker to interact with the other guests and the obstacles that she had to overcome to do so. There is a scene, not a spoiler I promise, where someone brings up food around Speaker. When Speaker questions the guest as to why Speaker never eats around them, they assume it’s the ingredients. Nearly all the guests haven’t considered that Speaker would die if exposed to the air that they all rely on for life. Speaker spends her time on the planet in a type of robotic space suit that allows her to breathe and move, but no one takes into account if she’s every comfortable or if they could arrange for food to be brought to her so she can participate fully in the spontaneous parties that Ouloo keeps arranging. 

Becky Chambers gave a really interesting interview on Imaginary Worlds, an excellent nerdy podcast, about how she developed her characters and the attention to detail that is needed to create non-oxygen breathing humanoids. While the characters in The Galaxy, and the Ground Within are some of the most unique and otherworldly that I’ve read, the issues discussed amongst them such as gender, politics, families, and personal choice are incredibly familiar. 

My favorite scene in the book involves Speaker and Pei, two individuals who have incredibly different views on a long-running war and have to work hard to maintain civility when around each other. When Pei realizes that she has a choice to make that is loaded with personal, political, and cultural significance, Speaker quite calmly explains that not wanting to do something is always a valid decision. We can always choose to not do something simply because we don’t want to. It’s a short but incredibly powerful conversation between the two and the fact that two would be enemies in any other situation carries so much weight. Chambers writes it beautifully and it’s one of those scenes that will stay with me for a long time. 

Unfortunately, this is the last book the Wayfarers series. While I’m always sad when a series ends, this is one that can be re-read over and over again, each time coming away with something new. Also, I can’t wait to see what Chambers brings us next. 

If you would like to dive into this imaginative and diverse world, you can find ordering information here: 

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (Copy)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 

Available Now

This is such a fun and sweet romance! McQuiston has this gift of taking an imaginative and wild concept and making it feel realistic and relatable. Intent on taking control of her life, August Landry moves to New York City, enrolls in college, finds an eclectic group of roommates, lands a job, and falls in love with a girl on the subway. Seems like everyone’s fantasy, right? But August falls in love with Jane Su, a young woman who is fascinating, beautiful, smart, kind, and seems to know everyone. She also seems to always be on the train. As August falls more and more in love with the punk rock loving Jane, she also discovers that Jane doesn’t just seem to love a different time, she is literally from another time. Jane Su went missing 45 years ago and her connections to August’s life run far deeper than a school girl crush. 

As the two discover more about Jane’s past and what may have trapped her on the train, August and her incredible group of new friends do everything they can to save Jane from living on the train for eternity. 

I am a true sucker for a found family and August definitely won the lottery with her amazing roommates. Niko, bartender by day and part-time psychic, knew August would be a great fit through a handshake. Myla, artist and engineer, instantly goes out of her way to make August feel at home, but you also learn that she is always the warmest and kindest person in the room. Wes, former trust-fund baby now cut off from his family, is madly in love with the drag queen next door and has an adorable dog Noodles. The four roomies are instantly inseparable best friends and their bond carries over to saving Jane, and August, from a devastating fate. I loved that August was able to find this close connection to such an amazing group after a childhood spent with just her mother. We quickly discover that there is more to her and her mother’s relationship than a love of true crime and the quest to find her missing uncle, an uncle that went missing before August was born. When the truth comes out about why August and her mother were such a tight team, August needs her new friends to fall back on for support. 

Also, there’s subway sex. Friends, that’s right, subway sex and it’s beyond hot!

Full of heart, hope, and witty banter, One Last Stop, is a smart and hilarious story of otherworldly love that transcends time. 

If you want to add this lovely love story to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this title. The pleasure, as well as opinions and mistakes, was all mine. 

This post also contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.