Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Down a small alleyway in the heart of Tokyo, there’s an underground café that’s been serving carefully brewed coffee for over a hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers its customers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time.

–StoryGraph

MY REVIEW

We read this for August at my local library book club! Who doesn’t like a good sentimental cozy read that will bring you to tears? Honestly this was a sweet read and I already read the second one as I’m writing this and reading the third. I can see why so many people are drawn to this and it feels like low stakes/cozy reads are pretty in demand right now but to have this one with such emotional depth to it isn’t to say it’s a ‘light’ read but not a stressful read. There’s no ‘action’ but there’s so much heart and such lovely characters to draw around together.

That being said, I had some things that I didn’t love. One thing I feel like is I’m unsure if it’s the translation or the fact that this was a stage play first but it felt stilted (and I can say that the second one was a much better read for me). Another thing was, the repetition of rules, that would have been neat on stage, it was a little too much in the book for me. Lastly, I wasn’t always sure how I felt about some of the characters choices or things that were said about them. BUT I liked all the characters, so that wasn’t an issue as much as something I just sort of pondered on. (It felt like some of the women were limited in their emotions and choices in roles, but at other times I forgot this and just zoned in on the story)

This is also not a long book so I’m not going to make this a terribly long review. I enjoyed it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as others who have written such lovely reviews on it on GR and StoryGraph. But I will say it’s great for breaking up your reading genres and if you’re looking for something to tug on those heartstrings, this will probably do you lol.

3/5 Huge cups of coffee from me! I’ll post the review for book 2 later this month.