Book Review: Bookshops & Bonedust
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There’s books I read for eyepopping excitement and outrageous plotlines… and there’s books I read when I want a literary hug and snuggle. I’m a big fan of cozy mysteries for this reason, but finding something in the SF/Fantasy realm that’s really cozy can be a challenge. Bookshops & Bonedust is just as cozy as the former/next book in the series, Legends & Lattes.
Why do I refer to it as ‘the former/next book’? Because it’s a prequel, but written after the previous book. If you read a book’s backmatter, as I always do, the author goes into some detail about why this happened.
A theme that both stories carry is the ‘build a place that’s home to a found family’. In L&L, it was a coffee house. In B&B, it’s a bookstore. It’s a fact that coffee houses and bookstores are the most cozy places of business on any planet and in any reality. Watching these establishments come together will either comfort or enrage you, depending on your view of the process vs. the outcome. It’s the little details, the step-by-step process that I find so comforting.
The characters are adorable. Extremely diverse, ranging through the gamut of familiar fantasy tropes, but each one brings a unique personality and lifestyle to the story. There’s a romance too, and it’s simple, sweet and sapphic, written with such a delicately light touch that I don’t believe anyone will take offense.
We live in tough times. It’s needful to kick back on occasion and pamper yourself. Bookshops and Bonedust can be a nice warm massage for your soul.
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
