A Hands On Introduction Using a Real-World Project
Easy Laravel 5 is a fast-paced, fun, hands-on guide to the powerful Laravel 5 framework. You'll learn how to quickly implement your own project idea by following along with the creation of a real-world project covering concepts such as models, views, RESTful controllers and forms integration. You'll also learn all about Laravel 5 features, including among others form requests, Elixir, the Command Scheduler.
This book didn't really make it learning Laravel feel "easy". Much of it was basic examples with little depth and not explaining more real-world cases.
This is a fantastic, concise way to be introduced to Laravel 5, or make clear the differences from Laravel 4. Gilmore chooses a sample project (the TODOParrot) which shows all of the real world applications of Laravel's features cleanly and in an easy to understand way. The project also shows you how to go from the basic starting point to actually finishing the project.
I have Laracasts as well but there are definite times where I just want to skim the way a feature works or is setup. I'll be referencing and keeping this around for a long time.