Viv is a retired warrior intent on opening a coffee shop and settling down to a quiet life. She didn’t expect opposition, nor the community that slowly becomes found family.

I’ve had my eye on this one for years. I’m not really a fantasy-creatures type of reader even when I read fantasy, so it’s never been super pressing to get to. Then I learned it’s a sapphic story, and I grew a lot more interested. And it was cute. Honestly, it was a bit slow and took a long time to build up – written a bit like the way the community Viv slowly builds – but it was a good read. Cozy. I enjoyed it.

Performance: The audiobook was read by the author. Normally, I avoid these, but I didn’t realize this was an author-read one until the very end for some reason, and I didn’t mind it at all. It was actually quite good.