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Bookshops & Bonedust: A Heart-warming Cosy Fantasy

£9.495£18.99Clearance
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I really fancied a chilled, comfortable read. This series has been described as being high fantasy, good company, low stakes. This is exactly what I needed.

We didn’t get that same level of commitment to focus on the business as we did with L&L. It tried to bring in too many other elements and sort of forgot what made this type of story special in the first place. I can read about necromancers and magic swords anywhere. What I can’t get is book organizing, quirky customer service, and sales reports (I need it). I wanted to see them get their hands dirty turning the store around, of which it provided only glimpses. Bookshops & Bonedust" is set an indeterminate amount of time before "Legends & Lattes" taking place in a beach town called Murk, where Viv has found herself stranded for several weeks while recuperating from battle wounds. Having nothing but free time on her hands, Viv befriends a local book merchant named Fern, and helps her around the shop in exchange for free books. Fern, a giant mouse who wears a charming cape and has a gryphon puppy named Potroast, is struggling to keep her shop open due to a decline in business and passion for her trade. Bookshops & Bonedust takes the world of Legends & Lattes and weaves it into a universe. It does the impossible: showing us a character twenty years before her story, and making us hold our breath to see what happens next. It's the rare prequel that beautifully adds depth, power, and love to the lore. This is a book for those who were once young and pulled between fighting the world with all they had . . . or curling up in a dusty bookshop with a good story." - J R Dawson Nils:I think you might be right Beth, my theory is this necromancer Biv’s crew are chasing after never actually left Murk.The stairs opened into a long, rough-timbered dining area in an inn or tavern or whatever they called it around here. A big, stone hearth crouched cold along one wall, yawning like a disappointed mouth. An iron chandelier hung askew, entombed in candlewax. Glass floats and storm lanterns were strung or nailed up in the rafters, alongside netting and weathered oars with names carved into them. The handful of scarred tables were unoccupied. Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveller in grey, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected. I enjoyed Bookshops & Bonedust even more than Legends & Lattes (which I also loved so, so much)! The characters, the town of Murk, the bookshop, the pure comfort this story exudes. Everything was phenomenal and so delightfully atmospheric! Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing me with a complementary audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine. This is not a nail-biter of a book: the reader never truly worries that she will end up homeless and destitute—the stakes are never quite that high. Rather, the challenge is whether she will give up on her dream and whether she is willing to continue trusting herself and the path that she has chosen and, more importantly, whether she is willing to ask for help—or, more critically, accept when others offer the help she so willingly and unquestioningly gives to strangers. I was so happy to see it pop up in my Kindle yesterday, like a surprise birthday present, but your birthday isn't for six months. This book included a whole gaggle of new characters. The only familiar character was Viv, the main character in the series. I absolutely loved all of the side characters. I say side characters but it did feel like there were secondary characters as well as side characters because I really got to know and love them. While I do regret holding out so long on reading LEGENDS & LATTES, the silver lining is I was still riding that 5 Star High from finishing it so recently and getting to start the next one - the one I thought was a sequel, but when I got it in my hands, I realized that it's a prequel.I will admit, seeing "prequel" gave me trepidation because I wanted to move forward from the events that transpired in Baldree's first book. What if I didn't like Viv before she was ready to retire and open a coffee shop? Then there's the elephant in the room - my favorite character is Thimble - so I knew straight away that I wouldn't be seeing him. When the tavernkeep brought out a skillet and set it on the counter along with a fork and a napkin, she almost seized the hot handle with her bare hand in her hurry to drag it closer. The hash of potatoes, crispy, fatty pork, and two runny eggs was still sizzling and popping. She almost burst into joyful tears.

Spending her hours at a struggling bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted. Even though it may be exactly what she needs. Still, adventure isn't far away. A suspicious traveller in grey, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.Viv had been lucid for less than a single hour, and she thought the view might drive her insane if she had to endure another. Beth:That’s such a good point actually Nils, like it would have been so easy to make her a very mopey character, but in fact that can-do attitude we know so well is present here too, just aimed at a different focus. Through meeting the right people at the right time, or maybe the right people at the wrong time, Viv will eventually realize there is more to life than just fighting and killing. And it is through the delight and escapism bestowed by reading great books that she feels this further. Yes, as the title says, many scenes in Bookshops and Bonedust will take place in a second-hand bookshop. And I loved the relationship Viv built with Fern, Potroast, Maylee, and Gallina. Gallina is a supporting character in Legends and Lattes, and I have no doubt we will see Fern, Potroast, and Maylee again in one or two future-to-be-written books in this world. Some readers can argue that writing a fantasy story about finding and savoring the joy of reading is cheating. It goes without saying that readers reading this book and Legends and Lattes will most likely be readers who love reading books. However, reading our unspoken emotions and words written by other authors eloquently, or feelings spoken by characters who feel the same passion about reading, can feel good. I actually think Bookshops and Bonedust had too many battles for a cozy fantasy novel. I wish we had more slice-of-life portions here like Legends and Lattes did. Reading Viv finding pleasure in reading for the first time put a smile on my face, and I wouldn’t mind having more of her reading and eating delicious foods.

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