Reviews

I liked this collection! It's a great continuation from the first collection, and I enjoyed being back in this world. These are definitely "comfort" reads for me, even though most of the stories are quite sad. It was great seeing the characters who worked in the café again, and the stories had the same amount of heart as the first series.

This would be a great tv series! I would love to see these stories adapted.

I would recommend if you like heartwarming (though, again, sad) stories about family and grief and love.

eloisesal's review against another edition

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4.0

I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, but still found it both comforting and mysterious, I was happy to dive back into that strange world again

silversparkles50's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eleonoram's review against another edition

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4.0

As sweet and emotional as the first book, though some repetition for the sake of being able to be read as a stand-alone piece. It was fun to hear updates from characters in the first book. Overall I loved it as much as the first one.

sallymiller's review

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

(Full review to come)

Summary: Tales from the Cafe keeps the same narrative structure that was so effective in Before the Coffee Gets Cold, introducing the reader to four characters who want to travel in time to meet with someone from their past or future. The first story, ‘The Best Friend’, reintroduces the premise of the story through the eyes of a character who is unfamiliar with the specific rules of travelling in time in the Funiculi Funicula café. Although parts of this could feel reductive for those who have already read Before the Coffee Gets Cold, it allows first-time readers to become orientated to the world quickly through the narrative itself.

Overall Thoughts: Everything that I liked about Before the Coffee Gets Cold is still present in this sequel, Tales from the Cafe, from the atmosphere to the thematic questions posed through the individual stories. If there was a theme that connected all four stories in Tales from the Cafe it is being able to find a way to move forward after the death of a loved one, a theme that weaves the stories together in a much stronger way than Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I really loved reading Tales from the Cafe and would definitely recommend this duology to anyone who enjoys narratives that are character-driven and thematic, whether or not you are a regular reader of science fiction. For those who enjoy time-travel narratives, there are unique parameters surrounding the time travel in this world which make it interesting, particularly in the time-limited nature of the journey.