Travis Baldree

Reviewed on 15th August 2026

The third novel on the series serves as a sequel to both of the first two, bringing a character from the second book into the setting of the first, as she relocates her entire life looking for something that's missing in her life.

This is a D&D-style fantasy setting, but loses some of the cosiness of the previous two novels to take us out on the road adventuring more, with more combat, danger, and peril.

It's a fun little adventure but I do think it's lost some of the charm by becoming more adventurous and less about building something. While the character and her journey are definitely interesting to read, they intentionally inspire a different set of emotion in the reader, and I think I was expecting more of the same instead.

There's lots of humour though still, and mystery connected to it, as we try to work out what exactly this quest is all about.

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Reviewed on 28th June 2025

A fun little (free) short-story set in an inn, where a group of adventurers has found two of their number dead in the night.

It took me a few pages to get my head into the narrative, but once there it flowed smoothly. The only thing I found slightly tricky was that the character's speech was written with impecable spelling, but then described as heavily accented, and I had to replay in my head to get it sounding right.

I get the impression that this is an introduction to a character that will be making more of a mark in the author's forthcoming third cosy fantasy, so I'm looking forward to that.

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Reviewed on 31st December 2023

In this prequel to the author’s first novel, Legends and Lattes, we meet a young Viv, early on an adventuring career, and forced to take a convalescent sea-side holiday.

The ensuing plot will be little surprise to readers of the first novel and this one’s title, although there are some great new characters to meet and get to know.

It feels like something aspects of the story are very much drawn from the author’s real life experience of bookshops, and this makes for some of the most amusing passages.

I felt overall that it’s not quite recaptured the same charm as the first novel, but that was a lot to live up to, and it’s still a solid cosy fantasy novel to curl up with.

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Reviewed on 4th March 2023

“Cosy fantasy” is the term that has been coined to describe this novel, and it fits perfectly. This is the tale of a retiring D&D-style adventurer and her plans to start a new, less physically risky, venture.

It’s a lovely character-driven tale about friendship, and sets up a wonderful little world that definitely feels like it’s inviting me back for another visit in future.

I’ve already been searching for more similar low-stakes reading to add to my list.

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