About

Bookshops & Bonedust is written by Travis Baldree.

Bookshops & Bonedust book cover

Blurb

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.

What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

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.

Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, 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.

Review

As preparation, I reread "Legends & Lattes" (plus the "Pages to Fill" short-story, which got added after the original self-pub version). Honestly, I enjoyed this reread more than "Bookshops & Bonedust". And I'm struggling to reason out why. There was a charming plot of reviving an old bookshop, with characters as good as L&L (the book cover doesn't feature the best of them though!). Plenty of baked goodness. There's magic, mystery and action. The best reason I could come up is the descriptions and philosophical musings. Too many of them derailed the pacing — I wasn't itching to read the book in one sitting like L&L.

That said, I feel most people who enjoyed L&L would like this one too. Viv is younger and brash, but that just adds to the charm and her kinder nature is still present. We get to see how Viv met one of her adventure team member as well as an item that I didn't expect (was a pleasant surprise for me, and I correctly predicted how she'd use it).

I especially liked the tidbits about bookshops and authors. Made me wish I could get the chance of recommending books IRL again (my friends are all too busy with work and married life).

The tiny illustrations at the start of the chapters were nicely done. The epilogue got my hopes high that we'd see a L&L sequel :)

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Bethany's review on goodreads:

While perhaps nothing will quite match the magic of Legends & Lattes, I really enjoyed this and hope we get more stories in this world! I love the idea of these quieter tales found in-between the adventures.

From Veronique's review on goodreads:

I will admit that it took me a little longer to become invested in the narrative, but once I was, I enjoyed it. I mean we all love books here, and therefore bookshops :O) The cast was again a disparate group that you couldn't help but come to like. In all, a lovely comfy read for those days when you need to snuggle.