The Little Board Game Café is the first novel by British author, Jennifer Page. On Thursday, Emily is living with her fiancé, James, working at his engineering business, and having her wedding organised by his bossy, snobby mother. By Saturday, she’s been made redundant, realised that James is not the right man, and is living in her best friend, Kate’s spare room.

Is this the right time to throw her life savings and her mother’s bequest into their long-held dream of owning a café? Perhaps not, but soon she has signed a lease on a tatty-looking, dismal, out-of-the-way café in Essendale, painting walls, scrubbing the kitchen and devising menus. Down the street, Sweet Treats is always busy: surely she can have a share of that? Nico’s Café becomes The Lancashire Hotpot, serving All Day Breakfasts, lunches, coffee and tea, cakes and pies.

But, apart from a few regulars, there are no customers, and Emily’s savings are dwindling fast. “Had she been tricked into buying what basically amounted to a failing business? Perhaps so, but it wasn’t going to be a failing business anymore. She was even more determined to turn things around.”

Then local GP and board-game geek, Ludek, whom she met while acting as wingman on one of Kate’s quests to find “The One”, asks a favour: could his board game club hold their Friday night get together at her café, as their regular venue was unavailable? Indeed they could! And seeing the delectable Ludek would be a bonus.

Even though custom picks up a little, her ex suggest that her café needs a Unique Selling Point to succeed and, after a false start, she lands upon the idea: The Little Board Game Café. With lots of help, the place is transformed, and invitations are sent out for a launch event. Emily gets so busy, she begins to think she needs a helper.

News of a chain café soon to open nearby is a worry, but turns out it’s not worst thing that can happen. And when it does, will Emily have to say goodbye to her dream?

Page gives the reader interesting and appealing characters who often share insightful observations and offer sound advice: “you shouldn’t marry someone you can live with. You should marry someone you can’t live without.” In a cute touch, some chapters are prefaced with Emily’s bedside reads, reflecting her mood and interests. This light-hearted cosy romance is an outstanding debut novel, and more from this author is most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Aria & Aries

A really lovely book to read. The characters were very likeable and the premise of a board game cafe worked really well. Beautifully written and a great ending.

SUCH a cosy book! I loved this. It was a quick read that was hard to put down. The character building was great, and being from West Yorkshire I could picture the town perfectly. I was really routing for Emily throughout this book, however I really struggled with Kate and found her SO irritating. The reveal at the end of chapter 10 had me actually crying in the middle of my flight to Tenerife (and sat in between two random blokes who probably wondered what on earth was going on!), however it also made me laugh lots! I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a cute, cosy read.
Thanks to NetGalley, Jennifer Page and Aria & Aries for this ARC copy.

I just love it. If you're a fan of board games and romantic books, this is your book.
Everything is well written and the characters are lovely, although sometimes you hate them a little. Emily is fabolous. I can't say nothing bad about it, as my personal life is a bit similar to her, with the board games.

The book is a real gem! A fantastic feel good read which should not be missed at any cost.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved this book. Emily wants to open a cafe but along the way she meets various obstacles but with the support of her nearest and dearest she does. She also has difficulty with relationships so friend Kate guides and supports her beastie. A light hearted story with fun characters and a few surprises along the way. Thanks to Jennifer and her publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley. An easy 5 ⭐️

This was an exquisitely beautiful little read. I've read this in one sitting over a few hours. It really is a wee gem of a book. Lovely characters, a great premise and a happy ending. The perfect feel good read.

A sweet book with the triumph of hope over failure. I really enjoyed the tale of Emily living up to her dream of running a cafe - just as she wanted to do with her mum. I thought the characters were interesting and well-drawn - and could really imagine the Yorkshire ladies being busybodies! An enjoyable read 4*

Emily has been sacked by her fiancee - both from her job and his life.
She has always wanted to run a cafe and when she finds an empty one she decides to take a chance.
When it doesn't take off as she wants she decides to turn it into a cafe where people can come and talk and play games. Will it be a success this time?

Thank you NetGalley, Jennifer Page and Aria & Aries for the ARC of The Little Board Game Café. This is my personal review.
The idea of reading a book wrapped in a story about board games, friendship and starting over was a perfect combination to grab my attention.
Emily loses her job, her fiancé, and all the reams she had for what her life would be and all happens in a short amount of time.
She had a dream of opening a café are the direction she heads.
Things are not as smooth as she hopes they will be.
The characters in the book are likable. The romance is there but not the front and center of the story.
I enjoyed the book but wanted a bit more. This is the first I have read by this author so I plan to seek more by her.

This was a new to me author and while the story was a slow to start it soon had you hooked rooting for the characters and their personal growth into their happily ever after.

The book dealt with emotions of grief, fear, love and lost love to name but a few along with changes in circumstances like redundancy then starting up a new business. Emily the main character in this book experiences all these emotions through the different circumstances within her life. You see first had how events in her childhood (I wont mention these as they do make part of the story) shapes her emotions and how she deals with things in her adult life. Because of this she risks missing out on a lovely future however due to friends and a good talk with her Dad she does being to let go of the past and embrace what life holds.

It was beautiful to see Emily's character development and I could relate to all the emotions she went through. The other characters were also a joy to read about with their quirky personalities and the love they each grew to have for Emily.

I would definitely recommend this book for a fun loving read but do keep in mind it does talk about death of loved ones, grief and there is some bedrooms scenes if these are triggers for you.

I will definitely be reading more from this author thank you to Jennifer Page and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book as an ARC copy.

The Little Board Game Cafe by Jennifer Page is such a sweet story. It's an enjoyable quick read about Emily and her dream of opening a cafe. But it's not one of those stories where everything magically falls into place. Emily struggles both in her professional, as well as her private life.

Emily dreams about opening her cafe. It's a dream she always shared with her mother. Seeing her try to fulfill that dream made me feel for her, with so many hardships coming her way. I would definitely want to visit her place. This was such a pleasant, heart-warming, and cozy read.

The Little Board Game Café is a sweet romance following Emily from fiancé to a fancy businessman with an overly attached mother to owner of a local café competing for it's place in the small town and the love she finds along the way.

This book is a cute, sweet, romance with a great board game theme. You don't need to have any experience with board games to enjoy the book, but if you are a board game lover, you will enjoy the references to some great games like Ticket to Ride, Scrabble, and Azul. There are plenty of board games I didn't I recognize, like Wasabi, also leaving me something to look up and take with me from this read.

The atmosphere and setting of this book was where it really shined and was the most well developed.

I thought the book lacked a bit in the area of character development, character relationships, dialogue, and pacing. Some of my concerns might have been related to cultural mannerism differences between the UK and the US. Emily sometimes came off as not very smart, when I don't honestly think she was meant to be portrayed in that way. In some moments, I questioned if Kate and Emily were really friends, as they both were just unkind to each other on occasions. In other moments the dialogue fell a bit flat when otherwise supported by a wonderfully developing story. Sometimes exciting moments were just truncated and left behind in order to move on to the next moment of drama in Emily's life, in lieu of further developing those emotional moments and it stunted the characters and story in those moments.

I think the plot and theme of this book make it more than worth it's time. It's a bit of a slower paced book and it feels like in many places readers can see what's coming around the bend, but we have to wait for it to get all the way to us. In that waiting time the author includes enough trials and tribulations for Emily to last her a lifetime, but in the end, I feel like the book is true to itself and the happily ever after shines at the conclusion. If you're looking for a book that is heavy on empowered women on their life journey and lighter on the romance, this book is definitely for you!

Calling all board game lovers! 🎲
My husband and I love playing all sorts of board games so I knew I had to request this one.
I really liked the references to a bunch of games I know and love like Ticket to Ride, Wingspan and Patchwork. And I even got to learn a little bit about board games I had never ever heard of before!
That was all really fun and cute but I feel the meh parts of this book had to do with the fact the MC is probably the ditziest girl alive. I could see certain things being cute or goofy that a MC does it says but I sometimes felt she was downright dumb. Doing zero research on buying a closed down establishment is only the start of this. She was a little too aloof for me.
There were times that I felt this read a little too YA for me and that might also be why I wasn’t too keen.
Although this was cute enough, I don’t think it hit the right spot I was looking for in this book. I do encourage my feel-good bookies out there to give this one a try!
A big thank you to NetGalley and Aria for a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This book will be published on April 13th, 2023!

A cozy and comforting book about love and friendship as well as building a place where people feel like they belong.

Emily is fired from her job by her fiancé, the 6th book over this last year I’ve read with the main character being fired by her fiancé at the beginning of the book. This is however the first one I’ve read where she tries to stay with him for a little bit after, before inevitably ending it. So, she finds herself single, homeless, and unemployed.
For the first time in her risk adverse life she decides to take a risk and opens up her own cafe.
Her mother’s and subsequently her lifelong dream.
She has no idea what she’s doing, but she fails her way to success.
She grows community and falls in love in this 30-something coming of age story. Late bloomers need stories too. She’s basically just learning how to live.

My feelings about this book are all over the place about this book, so my thoughts about it are also all over the place.
I have never read a book that NEEDED an epilogue more. It’s desperate for an epilogue. I guess it’s a cozy romance, but I would defo say it’s a “romance”. The romance part didn’t really kick off till the last page. It felt like the beginning of Ludek and Emily’s story and then it’s just over. With NO EPILOGUE! I need to know what happening at least a year out maybe even 5 or 10, cuz I don’t know if i fully believe Emily’s got the chops to stick it out this time.
I’m a board game nerd and I really appreciate this book going full throated into the board game element of this book and talking about real board games.
This book did reach my marker of “couldn’t put it down” somewhere around 40% in I knew I’d have to finish the book today. That’s a good thing, but I’m also not sure why I got so wrapped up in it. The writing style was almost great. But wasn’t. There were times when it felt like stuff was just happening, just getting going, especially any elements with the “love story” part of this book and then the scene would just end. Done. Ludek and Emily would be talking about something important and then it’d just cut away from that scene to something else. Yes, okay, but… that convo would obviously be going on for a while longer why is the reader not privy to any of it. It made it so I was hardly invested in them. And no banter or deeper understanding of each other, was all the falling in love bits happening after the scene cut off? Cuz my guy it wasn’t happening in what we the readers were in on. Then some other scenes that didn’t advance the story at all would drag on and on and go into useless heavy detail. Take those out and beef up Ludek’s bits cuz they are so lean they are scrawny.
Kate, the best friend in this book, is literally the worst best friend I’ve ever read in a book. Not likable in the least. Terrible to Emily, and they are suppose to have been best BEST friends since childhood and now are in their 30s. She’s doing the bare minimum you’d do for like a tier 3 or 4 friend, and doing none of the things that are expected of that level of friendship. Like first and most importantly showing up for them.
There is also a sub-sub-sub-sub-sub plot of hers that does not advance the story at all, but just seemed like a reason for the author to insert some good old fatphobia with Kate dehumanizing a dude at run club for being gross and fat. Then also some good ole fashion 90-esque nonsense with oh, wow now you lost weight you are deserving of being treated like a human. It SERVED NO PURPOSE. I took off a star for that alone. If I’m still mad about the pointless fatphobia in a month I’ll take off another star. Cozy small town romances don’t need such random cruelty… especially when it seemed like it was suppose to be humorous. It’s weird. It’s a story with a lot of heart but the humor was often quite mean spirited. I didn’t get it. It didn’t fit the vibe of the book.
I thought early on this would be one of my favorite romances the pairing had all the elements I love, he even made her a board game *swoon*, but then it kinda just petered out and never got going again. And it was unclear when or how these supposed deep DEEP feelings they have for each other happened. It just still seemed very in the I-kinda-fancy-you stages. But then the book just ended, but like supposedly they are already besotted with one another. How? When?!
It’s a debut book. I think this author has potential. Somethings just not quite right about this book though. It’s going to haunt me trying to put my finger on exactly what it is or if it’s just a bunch of small things that keep it from being the best possible version of itself. It’s a shame cuz this almost could have been a re-read level book, but I know I won’t. Even if it’s just to not be screaming about what a terrible friend Kate is

Can board games save the cafe? Emily hopes so because she's invested not only money but her hopes and dreams in a fresh start in Essendale. Yes this is more than a bit trope-y - her relationship and everything else in London is gone and she's trying for a new future. And there's a new love interest in Ludak, It's all threatened when a corporate cafe prepares to open nearby but we all know that Emily and her friends will prevail. That said, I liked the board game angle and it made me smile. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into with this book. The adorable cover sucked me in, and the story kept me.

It's all about taking risks, and Emily is not one to do so. All it takes was one day out as her best friend's "wingman" for Emily's life to truly start.

I really loved watching her make her dreams a reality, even when things didn't go as planned. Her relationship with Ludek started rocky, but it felt real.

This book was a fun read. The characters were likable and memorable. Jennifer was so great at setting scenes that I could see it all vividly in my mind.

If you're looking for something different and feel good, this is a must-read!

Thank you, Netgalley, for providing the ARC

This was a really lovely story to read. Having lost her job, her house and her fiance she decides that it is finally time to follow her dream. When her mum was alive it was a dream they both shared, to own and run their own cafe. Taking the plunge, she spots a small cafe, it has potential.

Following Emily, as she negotiates a new business and the tables in her new cafe was wonderful. She soon has her rose-tinted glasses removed as she discovers that the business isn't all the books made it out to be. She does have customers, well some days she may have as many as 2! Gradually with the help of the local GP, she manages to find her niche, something that makes her cafe memorable. As you have probably guessed from the title, that niche is board games. I never realised there were so many different games until I read this book.

With the help of a handful of people, the cafe starts to blossom, but just as she starts to feel a little more confident, once again the rug is pulled from under her feet.

With mentions of sumptuous food and delightful sounding colour and decor schemes for the cafe, the author has created a cafe that sounds wonderful. Adding in a colourful array of characters and various troubling scenarios to bring a woman's dream to reality was an interesting one to follow.

There is a really lovely will they/ won't they romance thread in this book, it was a nice one to follow and I was never sure how this was going to pan out.

A lovely story and one that if you are a fan of contemporary fiction and romance stories, I do think that you will enjoy this one. I would happily recommend this story.

I tried to like this book, hoping it would turn into the charming one I expected when I read the blurb.
Instead, I was at 20%, and she finally left her toxic fiancè, which she should've done in the first five pages.
I skimmed through the rest of it, not really captivated by what was happening and the characters.
Unfortunately, It wasn't for me.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review