Kathy

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Reviewed: 15-08-24

⭐ 4.25/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Em Grosland.

The sequel to A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Dex and Mosscap travel across the land, meet a variety of different people and have many poignant experiences.

- Similar to it's predecessor, this is a relaxed and reflective tale. This time there's less of a destination and reads more as a journey with different sections.

- I love this world that Chambers has created. She has a knack for creating such inclusive and comforting but also faceted worlds.

- I feel Dex's internal conflict. How do you reconcile anxiety, depression and other mental concerns when on paper you have everything? I love how the book covers this and addresses mental health.

Cosy, calm and introspective. Good for those that need a hug in book form.

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Reviewed: 07-08-24

⭐ 4/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Helen Laser.

A cute and fluffy paranormal romance. Mariel is hopeless at magic and when one of her spells goes wrong she accidentally summons Ozroth the Ruthless. Until Mariel agrees to trade her soul, Ozroth has to stay near her, which makes family dinner, local politics and problems on the demon plane very interesting.

- This is not a complicated and detailed story and it does not try to be. It excels and being enjoyable, mostly fluffy (though there are some rather spicy sections) and had a really cute and cosy feel to it. An easy listening book.

- Both Mariel and Oz were such fun characters. I empathised a lot with Mariel and her struggles with familial and societal pressure. Oz was a mardy and grumpy character with a soft side and the dynamic between the two was so fun.

- The setting and the magic were what I would describe as witchy cosy. A modern world setting with a magical twist and Hawley made it work so well. I was so happy to discover there will be more books set in this town.

If you want a romance that isn't mentally taxing that you can just sink into and enjoy, I recommend giving this book a go.

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Reviewed: 31-07-24

⭐ 3.5/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Kevin Shen. Translation by Geoffrey Trousselot.

More from the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. This time we follow events at a similar café in a different location. As always, there's conflicted customers and time travel.

- This one was certainly as emotional as the previous two book though I'd say less heart-wrenching. Certainly bittersweet and good at provoking feelings but less of the types of stories I'd recommend checking out content warnings for.

- We become reacquainted with some familiar staff and some events that tie things together with the first book. We also get to meet some new characters which was good fun. I especially enjoyed Sachi.

- The stories of this book are woven together by Sachi reading from a book of difficult questions, usually beginning with "If the world were to end tomorrow..." I enjoyed this premise and it did bring the otherwise pretty unrelated chapters together nicely.

Slightly different from it's predecessors but similarly emotive.

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Reviewed: 31-07-24

⭐ 3.75/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Kevin Shen. Translation by Geoffrey Trousselot.

Continuing on from where Before the Coffee Gets Cold left off, we see more of the mysterious café where patrons can travel through time.

- As with the previous book, there are emotional themes and lots of grief. I would highly recommend reading some content warnings if you are emotionally sensitive.

- I enjoyed the new stories and particularly the perspectives they give of life and learning through grief and reflection.

- I also enjoyed how the lives of the staff are developed and we get some more understanding of how the time travelling magic works. We get a little resolution but also more questions for the future.

A worthy sequel for those who enjoyed the first book.

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1 person found this helpful

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Reviewed: 17-07-24

⭐ 3.5/5 ⭐

A café in Tokyo offers customers an opportunity to travel in time with some conditions: you have to remain in your seat, you can only meet with someone who's been to the cafe, you cannot change the present. However, the most important rule is you have to return to the present before the coffee gets cold.

- A book I recently read (The Kamogawa Food Detectives) is frequently compared to this book and I can. see the similarities. Similar vibes are involved and a sense of longing, bittersweet emotions and the processes of decisions and actions made. I personally preferred the way The Kamogawa Food Detectives handled this but Before the Coffee Gets Cold touched me too.

- The topics are sensitive. There are stories featuring lovers facing separation, a wife who's husband has dementia, a woman wanting a final chance to make amends with her dead sister and a pregnant woman facing a difficult situation. I liked how the book wasn't all happy endings but that the resolutions made sense and elicited feelings. I would recommend checking out content warnings if you are sensitive to themes of medical issues and/or grief.

- The cafe itself was fun to imagine. This basement space with a table almost exclusively occupied by a ghost and clocks showing different times. The staff made the cafe more alive, with different and interesting characters. I'm looking forward to hearing what happens to them in the rest of the series.

A sad but cosy book. If you want a book that feels bittersweet, can help you cry or to enjoy some magical realism, Before the Coffee Gets Cold may be for you.

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1 person found this helpful

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Reviewed: 14-07-24

⭐ 4/5 ⭐

A young British man goes to Japan to teach English and begins his journey living in a country with different language, customs and ways of life.

- As someone who has taught English abroad (not in Japan), the early part of this book was familiar. The sense of discovery, nervousness and feeling out of place was one I remember. It was enjoyable to follow Broad through his adaptation to his new life, teaching and learning Japanese.

- I love the travelogue style snippets about how Japan functions and day to day life along with the bits about more tourist focused locales. This variety was great and gave a good sense of what a foreigner could expect from different places in Japan.

- I was not familiar with Broad's YouTube channel but I don't feel I needed to be. He describes how he built this up and the events that boosted his vlogger career well and humourously. I have since watched some of his videos and they are good fun too.

A funny and enjoyable book giving insight to life in the Land of the Rising Sun. Would recommend to those who enjoy reading about other countries and the highs and lows of living abroad.

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Reviewed: 13-07-24

⭐ 3.25/5 ⭐

Following on from the events of Outland, the Rivendell colony is facing new challenges in management, population and scientific advancement.

- The sci-fi parts of this book I really adored. If the entire book had been about the portals, parallel worlds and exploration of them I would have been a very happy bunny. I would say though only about a quarter of the book was dedicated to this.

- Which leads on to the more dystopian parts. As expected, a colony working to become self sufficient whilst also trying to keep all it's residence and incomers happy is basically impossible. There's political unrest, lone wolves causing violent issues and coups and a generational clash. All this happens in just under nine hours of audio and the lack of time means it comes across as bitty, skipping from one issue to the next with very intermittent flow.

- The characters were okay. The original main characters from Outland featured less heavily and didn't actually get much development. New characters felt quite stereotyped and not fully dimensional sentient beings.

If you enjoyed Outland, you will likely enjoy this but it isn't the sequel I had hoped for. If you wish to sample the best of Taylor's work, I'd probably skip this and go with the Bobiverse series.

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Reviewed: 14-06-24

3.25/5

A young girl called Fern starts the summer holidays helping with her family's whale watching business. She enters a photography competition with her rival and neighbour Jasper.

- The author captures very well the awkwardness and changing relationships of preteen life. I felt for Fern as she becomes more aware that she and those around her are not little kids anymore and with that there are changes to her friendship dynamic.

- For a book that has whales in the title, the whales do not feature heavily. They are in the background for the most part.

- I realise I am not the intended audience for this book. However, I found the plot frustrating and that it did really go anywhere. I also found Fern quite whingey, some of which I understood, and it became quite grating after a while.

A simple read that I would think would be enjoyed by actual preteens who might empathise more.

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Reviewed: 20-05-24

4.75/5

The third installation in the Memoirs of Lady Trent series and Isabella takes an around the world voyage in pursuit of dragons and finds much more on the way.

- I loved how this book differed from the first two in that it offered so many changes of scenery and did them all justice. It was like reading an old Victorian adventure novel with vibrant cities, wild oceans and exotic islands. Each location was well thought out and full of character.

- All the characters have grown over the course of the series but in this one I really appreciated getting to know Jake, Isabella's son, and appreciate both how like his parents he is and how different. He added a youthful glee to the book.

- The last third of the book was amazing and I love how it both crammed in so much culture and different perspective and was also action packed with lots of revelations.

Excellent and a credit to the series. Onto In the Labyrinth of Drakes!

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Reviewed: 02-05-24

⭐ 4.5/5 ⭐

Audiobook narrated by Kate Reading.

This series has a place in my heart and it's been a few years since I read it so decided to revisit. We follow Isabella, a young upper class women in an analogue of Victorian England as she starts her adventurous career studying dragons. The books are told as a set of her memoirs.

- This book is a slow start as Isabella's childhood is described. When I read this the first time I remember it took me a while to get through but on reread I very much enjoyed it and the set up for what occurs later in the book and series.

- The main adventure of the book takes place in rural Vystrana (Russia/Eastern European inspired region) where Isabella joins a party research Rock Wyrms. I love how Brennan brought the region to life and dropped in details that added to the ambience.

- Isabella is both amazing and fun but also frustrating and naïve. I love her character but did occasionally wish to hit her over the head to beat some sense into her. Kate Reading gave her so much personality and vibrance and made the listening experience excellent.

A historical sci-fantasy that captured my heart again. Would recommend to those who enjoy historical fantasy, a charismatic female protagonist and speculative science of mythological creatures.

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