Fresh-Brewed Fate

5⭐️ 2🌶

I finished Fresh-Brewed Fate by Aeva Vox last evening.  I really enjoying this book as well.  I started reading immediately after finishing the ARC of Sheltered Fate.  Fresh-Brewed Fate is the fist book in the Bound Across Realms series.  This book follows Essa, a human living in Thyra.  Thyra is the realm that connects all the other Realms and creatures together so its a melting pot of culture and experience.  Essa's dream of opening a coffee shop and bakery are about to be realized.  She is putting the finishing touches on her shop as the book opens.  Henker is an Orc.  He has just retired.  He's the first and only Orc who has done so.  His plan was to check into a luxurious Elf hotel and do nothing for a while.  But when he arrived at the hotel and the elves realized Henker was an Orc they canceled his reservation.  The Orcs started a war a few decades back and there is a stigma that follows them wherever they go.  So Henker has been camping in the woods outside Thyra.  He comes into the village for supplies and literally runs into Essa.  There is an instantaneous connection between the two of them that neither understand but both are intrigued by.

I love the mix of contemporary and fantasy elements.  I also love the characterization of the different species.  There are elves, dragons, Naga, Tengu which are bird shifters, goblins, trolls.  There are tiger shifters too.  It's just a super fun story about acceptance and abandoning preconceived notions.  Henker eventually becomes friends with many allkinds at the café that originally were terrified of him because he was an Orc.  The spice was good and well put together.  These books are becoming comfort reads to me.  I find them cozy, engaging and just delightful to read.  I plan to read book 2 here soon but I have some other ones lined up first.