Travis Baldree

When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek. In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books. 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. “Take a break from epic battles and saving the world. This is a low-stakes fantasy that delivers exactly what's advertised: a wholesome, cozy novel that feels like a warm hug. This is my new comfort read.”—Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch's Heart, on Legends & Lattes

Bookshops & Bonedust

Jiji

“Never trust a writer who doesn't have too many books to read. Or a reader, for that matter”

Laura Dobie

He marched over and dropped his bag on her table with a bang and a rattle. He could've been one century old, or five. It was hard to tell with elves.

No furtive men in gray were in evidence. Still, she kept her blade at her side, Iridia be damned. 

She tucked it behind the counter when she was at the shop, though, after Fern pointed out that it wasn't the welcoming thing to spy through the front windows. 

And for once, there were actually customers to deter.

Having you here is connecting me to why I do this. To why I used to love it. I don't know if I can explain it, but watching you read what I give you, putting a book in your hands and seeing what happens to you once you put it back down...I can't make you understand how that gives me something I didn't know I had to have.

Holly 

The glow in The Perch dimmed, her corner untouched by the blast of light and heat from the hearth across the room, so she asked for a lantern to read by. The kid obliged, and des- pite the uncomfortable chair and the ache in her leg and the backwater in which she'd been abarndoned, she was absorbed. 

"Every book is a little mirror, and sometimes you look into it and see someone else looking back.”

Bookshops & Bonedust quotes

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