“It’s sweet, beautiful, and, most of all, kind. I hugely recommend this book.” Those words by Seanan McGuire motivated me to buy Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes. I read it in one day and discovered a new genre: Fantasy Cozy.

Viv, a battle-weary orc, decides to give up her mercenary life and aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. Most Fantasy novels I read feature plenty of adventures and quests and battles. Legends & Lattes tells the story of Viv’s efforts to start a small business and leave her combative life behind.

This novel, being a Fantasy, includes magic in the form of an ancient stone that’s supposed to bring Luck. Viv does have uncanny luck in hiring a master carpenter, a beautiful succubus as a barista, a young bard to play music, an incredible baker, and more helpful characters. Viv’s dreams are threatened by a local protection racket gang and a vicious enemy from her Past.

If you’re in the mood for something different in the Fantasy genre, something which is sweet and kind and earnest, Legends & Lattes hits the spot! GRADE: B