Whenever I thought I knew where the story was going, the characters would do something or reveal a part of themselves that would completely change the way I viewed this book and the direction I thought it was taking and I loved how gripping that was. Beautiful writing and very compelling and captivating characters.

Legends & Lattes is a sweet cozy fantasy centered around found family and running a cafe in the midst of mild criminal mischief. This was a nice low stakes read to break up some of my recent heavy reads.

We overall get a fairly surface level understanding of the characters, but I still enjoyed them. I am a sucker for found family, especially when there is a spooky animal companion who is a cat/cat-adjacent. I so enjoyed the found family aspect that I wasn't really interested in or bought into the romance subplot, and I truthfully would have been happier for them to just be friends. Thimble was my favorite and I'm pleased that the author's upcoming short story collection has a Thimble story.

There were a few minor wording choices that tripped me up but otherwise this was a very easy read. The bulk of the world and lore is built around the coffee shop setting, so there is minimal world building needed or done. The fantasy elements are more for setting, decoration, and vibes, so orient your expectations accordingly. I also had to remind myself to suspend disbelief a bit more at the organized crime aspect but that was very doable.

We aren't covering new ground or ideas in this book, but it's a good time, especially if you are hungry and appreciate a baked good. If you are looking for an easy breezy cozy fantasy, I think you will enjoy this book.

Artifacts is less of an art heist and more of a murder mystery and law drama and crime show with mafia ties. Oh and of course, archeology and looted art. Also there is a cup. The cup is rarely mentioned.

I was confused for a good amount of it. There was a lot of info-dumping and I had trouble keeping together the people, their jobs, the artifacts, the history, and the politics. At a certain point, I lost the plot.

I also was not a fan of the writing: the word choice, the writing style, and the grammar. Some of the writing felt very elementary and then there would be some out-of-place word that felt unnatural like, "I felt compunction" (which I don't feel was used correctly in that context). There were also several sentences that were so repetitive, for example within just a few pages there was:

"I recalled a set of slides Cyrille had shown us.. I thought about the slides Cyrille had shown us.. My mind turned to Cyrille's story.. In class, Cyrille had talked about.. ..Cyrille had read to us in his seminar."

I get it- we need more background school knowledge, but wasn't there a better way to do that?

Besides the writing, I was never really engaged with the mystery or the plot. I also did not like the ending. I felt it was sudden and left a lot of gaps and unanswered questions. There was always this underlying feeling of danger and 'get out' but Lena takes actions that undermine the seriousness of the situation.

I do think the side characters and the locations were well described though- even if the main character herself wasn't really. I really wish we knew more about Giamma in the end. I think if you are able to get past the writing and you have some background knowledge in archeology and art history and you enjoy mysteries, you might really enjoy this book! Maybe you like collecting evidence and forming your own theories!

This book is definitely for someone but today that someone is not me, unfortunately.

Oh also I think this would make a better movie. 🤔🎥

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.