Honestly, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. I like sad and dark books, so something that actively describes itself as low stakes gives me pause. But it was so well written. Baldree does such a good job capturing these characters and absorbing the reader in the flow of the story. It was really enjoyable.

My main issue was mostly that the coffee shop was the primary focus of the story. I just didn't care about it. I really liked the characters and wish we got more of them, more backstories or fleshed out motivations and desires. I know so little about any of them even after finishing the book. We get almost nothing about the world even though it's set in what seems to be a cool fantasy city. I wanted to like the romance, but it happened so quickly and needed a lot more character development.

This could have easily been bumped up a star if the coffee shop had taken more of a backseat and been a vehicle for the characters' stories, but it was just okay. He's a great writer, though. His writing made this so enjoyable.