Review: Intara’s Guide to Cozy Vales by L.A. Scott

Intara’s Guide to Cozy Vales: A Cozy Fantasy Travelogue
by L.A. Scott

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: no romance

Blurb:
“Find the Heart of the Vale.”

I am Intara, Court Counselor of His Majesty, King Roderick of Urbeir, and those six words introduced me to the queendom of Cozy Vales.

King Roderick ordered me to obtain samples of a magical chocolate drink known as Heart of the Vale, rumored to have healing properties.

But he also sought to know how the queendom had prospered for over six hundred years without experiencing a single war.

What is the secret to its success? What makes the queendom so special? And are there any lessons to be brought back to Urbeir?

So it was that I packed my journals and sailed for lands unknown. I spent months exploring Cozy Vales, recording my thoughts and experiences (many of both, with the latter being overwhelmingly delightful!).

I wish I’d visited the vales sooner . . .

Intara’s Guide to Cozy Vales is a delightful travelogue and the perfect introduction to the shared cozy fantasy world, Cozy Vales!

My Review

I really enjoyed the Winter and Summer cozy vales anthologies, so I didn’t hesitate to pick this one up once it released. This one is marketed as a Cozy Fantasy Travelogue and I thought that description was pretty spot on. It’s pretty different from most books I’ve read as it does indeed read more like a travelogue, but then a travelogue about a fantasy world.

I read this one in little bits and I think that worked really well for this book. Intara is from Urbeir and is traveling abroad to Cozy Vales, this book is basically her thoughts and observations from her journey through cozy vales. She travels form south to north and visits many vales and towns along the way. I thought it was a fun read and enjoyed the cozy travel vibe. I enjoyed seeing Intara experience cozy vales and it was fun and reading her observations as an outsider experiencing the vales.

There are mentions of towns, vales as well as characters from the winter and summer anthologies. There are a few slight spoilers if you haven’t read those, but mostly only minor details like who they are or were they work. I enjoyed seeing a few of those characters again in this story. I think this book also serves as a good introduction to this world to get a feel for cozy vales and what the different vales are like. I wouldn’t have minded an even longer book were Intara also travels to the west and east sides or also detailing her journey back, but that’s mostly because I had fun reading it.

The focus really is on the travel and all the sights Intara sees, the food she eats and the people she meets. Along the way I enjoyed getting a bit of a feel for Intara herself.

To summarize: This is a fun read, it’s very cozy and reads indeed like a travelogue about a fantasy world. This is a great introduction to the cozy vales world or a fun one to pick up after having read some books already, which is what I did. I enjoyed the cozy vibes of the book and learning more about the cozy vales world and the various vales and towns. I read this one in little bits at a time and that worked well. All in all I can definitely recommend it whether you’re new to the cozy vales world or not.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.