Review of Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Legends and Lattes

by Travis Baldree
read by the Author

Macmillan Audio, 2022. 7 hours, 19 minutes.
Review written April 15, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I discovered Travis Baldree from an interview in Writer’s Digest Magazine. When they described his books as “cozy fantasy,” I decided to try them, and I am completely delighted. When I read this one, I wished I had started with it, instead of the prequel, Bookshops and Bonedust – which in the Epilogue gives away a bit of how things turn out, so I wasn’t in as much suspense. But it was a minor thing and didn’t ruin my complete delight with this book.

Legends & Lattes is about an orc woman named Viv who gives up the sword-for-hire life and settles down to start a coffee shop – in a city that’s never heard of coffee.

In her last adventure with the band of mercenaries, her only payment was an artifact that is supposed to bring good fortune. But she’s got a lot of obstacles – an old shop to renovate, some way to drum up business, and people to work with. The people she does find are what make the book especially delightful. There’s a gnome who does construction, a succubus to help run things, and a ratkin who makes amazing pastries to go with the coffee.

But Viv also has to deal with the syndicate running the city and someone who seems to be after her artifact. Will everything fall apart if she loses that token of good fortune?

I enjoyed the way the gnome called coffee “bean juice” and Viv’s explanation that “Latte” was named after the person who invented it. Viv’s got some insecurities trying to be a business owner after years of using force to do things. And definitely has to deal with other people seeing her as a stereotype. Getting to know all the characters in this book was as delightful as eating a chocolate croissant.

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Review of Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Hemlock & Silver

by T. Kingfisher
read by Jennifer Pickens

Macmillan Audio, 2025. 11 hours, 50 minutes.
Review written April 17, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

So far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every T. Kingfisher book I’ve read. This one has the added bonus of a self-described “middle-aged” heroine, and that’s always nice for a change. This is cozy fantasy with a dash of creepiness – if mirrors in the dark already spook you, this could make it worse.

Anja is a specialist in poisons and studies them looking for antidotes. She keeps a venomous snake and regularly milks its venom to use to speed up the heart as an antidote for other poisons. Of course she tests it on herself – after roosters, but before trying it on patients.

And then, one day, the king walks into her workshop.

The king believes that his daughter Snow is being poisoned and wants Anja to find a cure. Snow has been unwell since the day the king killed the queen – when she was cutting their other daughter’s heart out.

Anja doesn’t feel skilled in working with people, and especially not 12-year-old girls. But she is good at solving mysteries and figuring out poisons. So she goes with the king to the palace where Snow is staying, along with two bodyguards, in case the poisoner doesn’t want to be found out.

Anja finds Snow eating a strange-looking apple. Naturally, she tests it on herself – and then falls through a mirror into another, reflected world. It stirs her scientific heart, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to figure out why Snow would effectively poison herself. And how does the mirror world work.

I wouldn’t call this a retelling of “Snow White” – but many of the elements are there, and it does have that fairy tale feel. There’s a dash of romance thrown in as well, along with some mystery and danger. I blame this book for me staying up far too late the other night while working on a jigsaw puzzle.

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Review of The Heart of the World, by Amie Kaufman

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Heart of the World

by Amie Kaufman
read by Nikki Patel, Homer Todiwalla, Suzie Rai, Vidish Athavale, Mela Lee, and Steve West

Listening Library, 2024. 11 hours, 22 minutes.
Review written March 25, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I have to say that I love the new trend of writing duologies instead of trilogies. There’s still some suspense waiting for the next volume, but you don’t have to do it all over again and wait for a third volume.

The Heart of the World finishes the story begun in The Isles of the Gods, about a prince and a sailor girl involved in international politics, doing magic, and meddling with the gods.

There’s no way to really set up this book without giving away what happens at the end of the first book, so let me speak in general terms. You’ve got five main viewpoint characters all voiced with different narrators. In this book, the gods find a way to show up in the human world, channeling some of their power through our protagonists and antagonist. And the gods are spoiling for a fight.

The last time the gods fought, an entire country was turned into a barren wasteland. Can our heroes stop the gods? Do they even want to, or is the gods’ influence too great?

A nice touch in this volume is that Selly is able to help Leander bear the load of the goddess’s power.

The audio production for both books is outstanding, with all the narrators excellent, and my all-time favorite audiobook narrator, Steve West, voicing the prince. The characters I was getting tired of in the first volume got more interesting when empowered by a god and when planning a double cross. Oh, and there’s a scholar who tries to save the world through research – with several great lines about how awesome librarians are.

This is a tale well-told of magic and power and love. May our characters keep the world from getting blown apart.

amiekaufman.com

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Review of Casters and Crowns, by Elizabeth Lowham

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Casters and Crowns

by Elizabeth Lowham
read by Nick Mondelli and Jess Moran

Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2024. 12 hours.
Review written April 14, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Casters and Crowns is a sweet young adult fantasy and romance novel. I think of “Romantasy” as having sex scenes, so I’m not going to call it that, but there’s love across obstacles.

The setting is a kingdom where magic users are scorned and literally branded. And if shapeshifters are discovered, they are killed on the spot – though it is believed that they only turn up once every hundred years, so killing a shapeshifter forty years ago should have saved the kingdom for another sixty years.

There was one Caster in court – the widow of a nobleman. After her son is killed as a spy, she starts causing trouble against the king. Crown Princess Aria wants to prove herself as ready to rule, so she decides to visit the widow and negotiate peace. And then she gets cursed for her trouble. If she doesn’t find a way to break the curse in one hundred days – without being able to talk about it to anyone – she and all her family will die.

There was one other Caster at court, Guillaume Reeves, the other viewpoint character of this audiobook. His father recently died, but the king hasn’t yet allowed him to officially take his father’s position – because how could they allow such an honor to a Caster? Especially with the widow stirring up trouble?

But Aria meets Guillaume and wonders if she can learn from him enough about casting and curses to break the one on herself. Never mind that he’s handsome and kind. But both of them are keeping secrets from one another.

The book does have the trope of the harsh king with an heir who wants to turn things around. But I did find it refreshing that this time the heir was a young lady and the romantic interest oppressed by the king was a nobleman in his own right. (I’ve seen some with the opposite gender situation and it starts to feel like an abuse of power. None of that here.)

The characters are the kind you like to be around, with motivations like Aria wanting to prove herself and Guillaume wanting to protect his younger brothers. I like the thought given – even in a fantasy kingdom – to how governing should work. I enjoyed this one thoroughly.

elizabethlowham.com

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Review of The Faraway Inn, by Sarah Beth Durst

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Faraway Inn

by Sarah Beth Durst
read by Soneela Nankani

Listening Library, 2026. 11 hours, 2 minutes.
Review written April 21, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve loved Sarah Beth Durst’s books for years, so I’m delighted that now they’re hugely popular at the library. The only catch is that it takes longer for a hold to come in. Today I ordered more print copies for the library than my initial purchase because demand was so high – I’m happy that others have found this wonderful author.

The Faraway Inn is an inn deep in the wilds of Vermont. Sixteen-year-old Calisa hasn’t been there since she was very small, when her Mom Kate had a falling-out with Calisa’s great-aunt, Auntie Zee. But now Calisa needs a refuge after she discovered her long-time boyfriend cheating on her. She needs to rethink her whole future and where she’ll apply to college – because it’s not going to be with him. Mom Kate suggests Calisa stay at the Faraway Inn and help out Auntie Zee for the summer.

But apparently Auntie Zee was not in on the plan. She tells Calisa she’s going to have to leave, then gives in that she can stay three days. This is despite the fact that she can obviously use some help. The yard and garden are completely overgrown, inside is rundown, the front porch breaks when Calisa steps on it, and the only staff is Jack, the son of the groundskeeper. The groundskeeper left on a supply run and hasn’t returned.

Auntie Zee tells Calisa there are two rules in the inn: No opening doors without permission, and no asking questions. Calisa quickly accumulates lots of questions. She tries asking Jack, but he’s evasive.

The beginning of the book felt slow to me, because it took Calisa forever to figure out there was magic going on. I had to remind myself that she didn’t know she’s a character in a fantasy novel, so she wasn’t primed for it like I was as a reader. But the book becomes delightful after the magic becomes impossible to ignore, and it’s more a matter of finding out how it works to solve some tough problems – like finding Jack’s dad. And getting the inn in better shape for guests. Yes, there’s some romance, but it stays sweet and low-key.

There’s also some fun magic wildness in the guests from other realms, and it ends up being a happy story full of magical possibilities. And like Sarah Beth Durst’s other books (Go back and read them if you’re only discovering her now!), it’s a whole lot of fun.

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Review of Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

by Heather Fawcett

Del Rey, 2026. 353 pages.
Review written April 14, 2026, from my own copy purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

I love Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books so much, that when I saw she had a new cozy fantasy novel coming out, I preordered my own copy. Sure, I can read the library’s book, but this is going to be a favorite I’ll want to come back to.

As with Emily Wilde, Agnes Aubert is an ordinary woman – but also very competent and single-minded – who encounters a man who is not quite human.

Agnes is a widow who runs a cat shelter with her sister in 1920s alternate-reality Montreal – but the shop she was renting to run her shelter was recently completely destroyed by two irresponsible magicians having a duel. She looks all over the city for somewhere to move her cats, but everywhere she looks is either too expensive or won’t allow so many cats.

So when a shop in an upscale part of town eagerly signs her up at a reasonable price, she does wonder what’s up. But she’s too desperate for her cats to have a roof over their heads to hesitate for long. But when it turns out that the most notorious magician in the world – the Witch King himself – is running a magic shop in the basement, she’s a bit alarmed.

It turns out the Witch King is socially awkward and allergic to cats. But even he can’t keep a determined cat out of his rooms. And his sister – also a powerful magician – wants a powerful artefact she says he has.

Well, Agnes is not surprised he can’t find it – his rooms are a disorganized mess! That’s something she can fix. And then maybe these magicians will get out of her life.

With all the cats plus many mentions of good food (from the enchanted oven), “cozy fantasy” is the perfect description of this book, solidifying my conviction that it’s my new favorite genre. This one will make you smile. I hope it’s only the beginning of another series.

heatherfawcett.com
heatherfawcett.substack.com
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Review of Relit, edited by Sandra Proudman

Fantasy, Short Stories, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Relit

16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories

edited by Sandra Proudman

Inkyard Press, 2024. 346 pages.
Review written December 26, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a bit of the Foreword from the editor so you know what’s going on in Relit:

This anthology began with a hope, a dream, a spark of an idea that the contributing authors and I felt passionately about: to take some of the most popular classics out there (the novels, myths, and plays we’ve all read in class or seen adaptations of on TV and in movies)… and reimagine, reignite, remix them into some epic science fiction and fantasy tales, with Latinx characters at the center of all the action.

I’ve always loved a good retelling, and this authors of the stories in this collection bring creativity and a sense of fun to the originals. Some of my favorites: Anna Meriano starts off by giving us Pride and Prejudice as livestreamed from space. Monica Sanz gives us a version of Jane Eyre with witchcraft and some female empowerment. David Bowles writes a science fiction version of Hamlet with fighting in mech suits. And Sandra Proudman does a version of The Old Man and the Sea in the future barren desert of Nevada.

There’s lots more here, with a collection of stellar authors retelling tales as varied as “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” They all have a speculative fiction twist, and they all feature Latinx characters showing resourcefulness and creativity. It took me a long time to get this book read – it’s too tempting to put it down between stories – but that way I got to lengthen the fun.

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Review of Bookshops & Bonedust, by Travis Baldree

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Bookshops & Bonedust

by Travis Baldree
read by the Author

Macmillan Audio, 2023. 8 hours, 24 minutes.
Review written March 27, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred review

I have discovered my new favorite genre! Okay, I’ve already read lots of books in this genre and loved them, but when I read a Writer’s Digest interview with this author and heard his books described as “Cozy Fantasy,” I knew I would like them. I was completely correct.

In fact, I think the adult Cozy Fantasy genre is exactly what I liked about Young Adult Fantasy when I started writing Sonderbooks 25 years ago. Okay, the current Cozy Fantasy has a little more sex, but not super graphic sex. Current Young Adult Fantasy has gotten a lot darker, in general, as well as getting sexier, and I still enjoy it, but it’s a little harder to find stories I love. I also sympathize a whole lot less with tropes like the good and noble prince with a terribly evil father ruling, but the prince falls in love with a commoner oppressed by his father. Or other tropes that I’ve seen before which aren’t so wonderfully healthy if you think about them very long. Cozy Fantasy, though, currently seems like a good bet I’ll like it. (Anyway, I’m going to test that out and search for Cozy Fantasy and see how long that lasts.) 25 years ago or so, I said I didn’t like adult fantasy too much because it was mostly epic quests and detailed world-building, and I preferred young adult fantasy which had a mythic element, simpler with a fairy-tale feeling. (I still love fairy tale retellings.) It seems to me that Cozy Fantasy has recaptured that simplicity, throwing a dash of magic into a world you might want to live in.

Okay, so this book is actually a prequel – described as #0 in the series by Libby – and I decided to read it first. I was completely charmed and will queue up to read the rest of his books. (And the author does a great job reading it.)

Our main character is Viv, an orc who works as a mercenary with an elite group of rangers chasing down a necromancer. In the prologue, she gets out ahead of her group, fighting and slaying some wights – when one of them gives her a severe leg wound. Viv has to stay in one place to recover, so she’s in a quiet sea village waiting for the rangers to come back for her.

As an orc, Viv’s an imposing figure, but Fern, the ratkin who owns the village bookshop, dares to recommend a novel to Viv – and a friendship is born, as well as a new habit for Viv. Fern’s bookshop, which she inherited from her father, is cluttered, has a smelly rug, and is in general disrepair. Viv helps Fern spruce things up and revive her business.

But while that is happening, someone comes to the village with the smell of death. Some articles owned by the necromancer turn up in their town, and it’s no surprise to the reader when the battle with the necromancer comes to Viv before she’s necessarily ready.

But most of the story is about the characters and relationships. Enough so that we’re super concerned for everyone in the village when the big showdown happens.

I do love the way an orc who turns out to love to read is our main character. Okay, she is a skilled mercenary, but there’s a lot more to her than that. I was completely charmed by this book and ready to read the other books about Viv and Fern reunited years later (with Viv married to a succubus) in another town. Cozy fantasy is the perfect way to describe this.

travisbaldree.com

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Review of The Library of Unruly Treasures, by Jeanne Birdsall

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

The Library of Unruly Treasures

by Jeanne Birdsall
read by Sorcha Groundsell

Listening Library, 2025. 7 hours, 51 minutes.
Review written March 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.

Like The Penderwicks series by the same author, The Library of Unruly Treasures is a sweet and old-fashioned story. There’s magic hidden in the everyday world that only the kids can see.

The Prologue starts with a tale of a girl going with her brother across the sea from Scotland to America, and convincing the Lahdukan of her clan to come along. The Lahdukan are small people with wings. Only children under the age of six – and the Calban of the clan – can see them. The current Calba is responsible for protecting them, and it’s passed down to girls of the clan on their 11th birthday.

Then we come to the present, and Gwen MacKinnon comes to stay with her great-uncle Matthew while her neglectful parents are off on separate adventures. There’s a library in town named after her family, and the small children there talk about small flying people. Before long, they show themselves to Gwen, too – and it looks like they expect her to be their next Calba.

But the Lahdukan are in trouble. The library is going to be renovated and upgraded very soon, and their nests are sure to be disturbed. They will find a prophecy to find out where they need to go next, and they will need Gwen’s help to get there.

Before I comment further, let me say this is a sweet and enjoyable story. Lots of fun, and Gwen and her Uncle Matthew – and the Lahdukan and other characters – are all wonderful people to spend time with.

However, many of the obstacles and trials in the book were based entirely on the prophecies the Lahdukan told Gwen about, and that felt pretty artificial after a while. I suppose it was a cute trait of the Lahdukan that they relied so much on prophecies, but the charm wore off for me. Also, I work in a library and am currently involved in reopening a renovated branch – and I simply could not believe the haphazard job portrayed in this book. The one librarian working there wasn’t even sure when the workers would come and apparently didn’t have a chance to move her own things, and there was no talk of a temporary location, and I just find the lack of bureaucracy over a major renovation extremely hard to believe. (It also gave me new appreciation for bureaucracy, as I wondered how safe it all was for children and other visitors to the library.)

However, most kids won’t care about these persnickety details and will simply enjoy the fun of Gwen helping out these winged people that only children can see.

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Review of The Summer War, by Naomi Novik

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Summer War

by Naomi Novik

Del Rey, 2025. 127 pages.
Review written March 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a novella by fantasy master Naomi Novik – so it’s about the same length as the children’s books I often read. Naomi Novik doesn’t need much time pulling you into her fantasy worlds. The book begins:

Celia was twelve years old on the day she cursed her brother.

The book reminded me of Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown [and this is a high compliment!], because it begins with a long section about the past, how Celia grew up alienated from others and didn’t have magic. But the day she cursed her brother – for suddenly leaving her, and not caring – was the day she discovered her magic. She hadn’t known her curse would be effective, but the emotion and passion behind the curse awakened the strong magic within her.

After the explanation of this incident, we hear about the Summer War between humans and the summerlings, who live in the Summer Kingdom. The war went on for a hundred years, but Celia’s father, a general, supposedly stopped it with his tactics. Now the king is wary of him, but Celia’s father is also mourning the departure of his oldest son, and Celia and her remaining brother must keep things going.

But the main action of the book happens when Celia is fifteen. [This book could very well have been published for young adults. The only reason I can think that it wasn’t was to attract Naomi Novik’s existing fans.] She gets drawn into the Summer Kingdom and there is danger of the Summer War starting up again, and many are in peril, and the mess requires great skill and cleverness to solve. And Celia would like to break her brother’s curse as well.

This is a quick read, but it’s full of magic and the otherworldly, and it showcases Naomi Novik’s magical weaving of worlds.

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