Review: Tales from the Café: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

By
Tales from the Café: Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Café: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Quote from the book
‘Some lies are told in order to present yourself in a more interesting or more favourable light; others are told to deceive people. Lies can hurt, but they can also save your skin. Regardless of why they are told, however, lies most often lead to regret.’

Content warnings for this book
Graphic: Death, grief and death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, terminal illness and car accident
Minor: Miscarriage, murder and pregnancy

Short summary of the review
First two stories were great and sad, the other two I couldn't empathise strong enough, as it was romance focused. The other book had some toxic traits, but this one didn't have any. Sadness level was higher for the other book, but I liked this book nevertheless.

The Review
Regarding sadness levels the other book was better. I think I also enjoyed it more. But nevertheless this book was great too.

The first story was the best for me and the whole backstory to it was always something I found interesting and scary at the same time. As someone who has parenrs too, I couldn't imagine getting told when I'm already an adult for a while that I was adopted the whole time. It would give me trust issues. Living in a world believing to have biological parents and then that bubble just pops. Wouldn't trust anything anymore, if that would happen to me. 
The second story was interesting too, at first I thought it would be mid, but there was a somewhat plot twist, which made the story a bit more exciting to read about.

I also really liked how the toxic things I mentioned in my first review weren't present here. The relationships seemed healthier this time.

What bothered me a bit about this book was how it was more focused on romance, than the other book. From 4 stories 2 out of them were romance. As someone who rarely reads anything about romance, I had a hard time reading these parts. They didn't feel sad and sometimes a bit boring. I just can't quite emphasise with love stories.
Hi I'm Mika! Reviewer of ARC's but I also review unknown and small presses. My favourite genres are horror, thriller and graphic novels. I tend to be a strict reviewer but my average rating for small presses is 3.7

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Six Deaths Of The Saint

By
Image
Book information Title: The Six Deaths Of The Saint Author: Alix E. Harrow Where to buy:  Amazon . This review includes spoilers, read at your own risk. “Well, she is my Devil now.” In a thousand years and a thousand after that, they will still sing of the Prince and his Devil. Your body fighting battles you’d already won or hadn’t yet fought. “My Devil,” he said, and there was nothing you would not do for him when he spoke in this voice: fond, fatherly, full of love. You understood, finally, that there had never truly been a she or a you but only a terrible, lonely I. “I would rather love a coward than mourn a legend.” I wanted so badly to be beloved. But only one person in all my lives has ever loved me, and he does not wear a crown. Likes: Tragic past of the main character makes them more human than anyone in the story thought she was. Also, the little detail with the red hair and the century (witches) was awesome. Everyone thought she was a devil 'cause of her red hair (and her...
Read more

Review: The Way It Is

By
Image
The Way It Is by Shirani Rajapakse My rating: 4 of 5 stars *I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.* The Book ‘The Way It Is’, is about a poetry collection ranging from politics and racism to war and death. Even though the poems don't rhyme most of the time, it still has a great flow while reading. I really liked about this book how wide ranging the topics were in it. After reading about war, I was reading about how woman dress and misogyny and then after that about slavery. Poems express so much more than outspoken words ever can and Shirani Rajapakse kept me intrigued with her poetry collection till the end. While reading I felt that these poems felt extremely personal and heartbreaking for me. The way the words were chosen for each poem, made me feel heard and understood, as I express the same feelings to certain topics that were covered in this collection. The poems were also not overly complicate...
Read more

Review: The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

By
Image
The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde My rating: 4 of 5 stars Short summary of my review The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great read for anyone who believes to like stories about the soul and body and how easily it can get influenced or 'stained'. The character development for me in this book took me by surprise as I didn't expect it to turn out in the way it did. A few chapters before the ending was a tense moment, which felt like a great plot twist as I didn't expect the things that happened there. Despite Dorian Gray appearing to be smart and proofing it multiple times, he did some fatal mistakes that could have ended very badly for him. So, it left me confused as to why he was rewarded with luck, for his not well-thought-out plan. Disclaimer I read the original edition, which is the uncensored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Note The following review is spoiler free, which misses a few aspects. If you want to ...
Read more