A review by megan_elizy
Welcome to the Fae Cafe by Jennifer Kropf

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

“Why does everything of the sinister and magical sort always happen in a library?” he muttered to himself.

This book gave me actual whiplash. The first 40%ish was a solid 3 stars with its mysterious plot and intriguing characters. The world-building was pretty confusing at times and there were several scenes that ended or started so abruptly that I just couldn’t get my bearing. The writing was choppy and weird at times and there were plenty of plot holes like what on earth was the fae she accidentally killed doing there in the first place and why was he taken out so easily?? And then why did these oh-so-strong assassins bother using stupid fairy tricks that didn’t work instead of just stabbing her??? 

But right around the halfway mark OH DID IT GET GOOD. I was giggling so hard and couldn’t stop smiling. Every single character was PRECIOUS and so lovable. The atmosphere was cozy and, honestly, the depth of the writing surprised me in multiple places. 

But her unrhythmic, melodic sobs echoed through the house; a soloist telling the story of a lifetime of warmth and wisdom that had reached its conclusion.

I was utterly convinced at 70% through that this was going to be my favorite read of the year. 5 stars flying everywhere. 

But then THAT ENDING!? Ok it’s not like it was *that* bad. It just was so completely anticlimactic. Where’s the big win against the bad guys??? Where was the “I thought you were dead I’m so glad you’re not” running-into-each-others-arms moment?!? You can’t build tension for 300+ pages and then give us absolutely nothing but a lame epilogue type scene where the MCs are being mean to each other 🙄😭 

So. Overall. First half was 3 ⭐️, second half up until the last chapter was 5 ⭐️ and the last chapter was an unsatisfying 1 ⭐️ that I will pretend didn’t happen