Three and a half stars.

Emily and her mother always dreamed of owning a small café selling good old-fashioned cakes and soup and sandwiches to the local community. When Emily's boss (who also happens to be her fiancé) makes her redundant, she begins to hop to make her dream a reality, even if the only vacant café in her price range is a scruffy, deserted, ugly café in a cul-de-sac away from the main run of shops and cafés.

Initially afraid to take a risk Emily buys a one-year lease on the café and starts about making it her own, but aside from one elderly Polish gentleman who turns up at eleven o'clock every day for a cappuccino and a cake, she has no customers. It appears the vendor may not have been entirely honest about the profitability of the business and Emily risks losing the small inheritance she received from her mother, until local GP Ludek asks if the local Board Games group can use the café one Friday night when the pub they usually use has an event. Suddenly the café is reinvented as the Little Board Game café.

This was a cosy romantic read, very reminiscent of some of Jane Lovering's early Yorkshire romances. There was a bit of angst, but no real villains, a sweet romance and a bit of personal growth. I liked it, but I didn't love it. 2023 the year of three and a half stars continues.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Delightfully charming!

I think my opening two words sum this book up perfectly, it's such a sweet and touching story, full of friendship and family and of course board games - it makes me want to pull out the dusty Scrabble box from the attack!

I really liked this, when I say it's cute and cosy, I absolutely mean it, it's easily one of the most enjoyable books I have read for a while, I loved the simplicity of the story, of how incredibly easy it is to read. I love how it's a gentle stroll instead of a whirlwind dash through the story - which has to be said is a little odd for me as I am usually one who loves faster-paced plots, but this one is incredibly enjoyable.

There is nothing heavy about this book, some readers may say it's a bit too sickly sweet but I loved it, it's refreshingly feel-good, I loved the characters as individuals; Emily is a lovely woman, one who I connected with right away and I was willing her on in trying and fighting so hard for her dream and Ludek is a gorgeous charismatic doctor (why haven't I got one like him?) so as individuals they were wonderful, but (and this is my only negativity) I don't think they worked as well as a couple then they did as friends, I thought the romance between them was lacking something.

I loved the concept of a board game cafe, it is so relevant to what people are going through at the minute, where people are a little lonely and worried they can escape reality for a moment and become absorbed ina an innocent board game - we really need cafes like this!

Overall, The Little Board Game Cafe is charming, it's the perfect lazy weekend read, full of friendships and relationships and lots of those much-needed feel-good emotions!

A light hearted enjoyable read. Perfect for Sunday afternoons and pure escapism. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

A charming book, especially for fans of board games. A sweet romance novel that brought tears to my eyes at times. The FMC was relatable and the character development in all characters was good.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this story, it was entertaining and kept me wanting to find out what happened in the end. It was heartful, emotional and funny, exactly what I wanted from this novel. An excellent debut and I will definitely be looking out for what the author produces in the future.

A lovely read, following Emily as she pursues her and her mums dream of opening a cafe. Whilst Emily goes on such a rollercoaster of a journey with her cafe, and creates a wonderful community of delightful characters, it was the grief storyline and the process of learning to love again that made the book for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a rollercoaster and I mean it in the best way possible.

After Emily loses her job, the place where she lives and her fiancé in just a couple days, there's no way to go but up so she decides to open up a little café, following her and her mother's dream.

Everything felt so real, starting a new business is never easy and I loved the way Emily's went, with its ups and downs and some bumps in the road that were out of her control.

Along the way she doesn't only get to know herself better but she also starts to develop some lovely friendships with people around her town and has a new shot at love.

I loved every single second of it, the detail put into every description and the overall theme with the board games.

It was refreshing and inspiring and so easy to fall in love with each character.

Thanks so much Netgalley and the author for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Knew from the first page I was going to love this book and it didn't disappoint, the wonderful characters and the unusual board game cafe storyline were an amazing combination I could not put this book down
After Emily gets made redundant from her job working for her fiance she decides after much thought to take a risk on her dream of owning a cafe in memory of her mum, after struggles and a break up and making 'new friends along the way she may just succeed in her and her mum's dream.
A wonderful book I thoroughly enjoyed reading would highly reccomend this story

"Kitchens shouldn't smell of Cif. They should smell of roast garlic and cinnamon and freshly baked bread"

In the Little Board Game Café we meet Emily as she is about to lose both her job and her fiancé (and his fancy house) in a matter of days. As she picks up the pieces, Emily decides to. for once, take a risk and pursue the dream she and her mom had when she was little: start a café. When she sees her business failing and her money dwindling, she goes to find the one thing that can make people venture of the main road of the small-town and into her café...

I am all for small-town novels where a woman starts a venture of her own, especially one with yummy foods and cakes. All the more so when it includes an interesting best girl friend who dashes from crush to crush, an elderly Polish man who instantly feels like the grampa you want to adopt, a nerdy love interest, and a cackle of other (female) characters who are just a hoot-and-a-half. Add to all that my other hobby, Board Games, and I. Am. Sold. The Little Board Game Café is just a sweet, sweet novel, filled with characters who will steal your heart. It's nothing spectacularly new, but just the right amount of odd for my quirky heart.

An enjoyable light read to relax with making it an ideal holiday read. Good portrayal of characters, some a little quirky, although I did rather blow hot and cold with the main one of Emily. A little predictable in places but a good book displaying community spirit and friendships with a touch of romance. Set in a small town in Yorkshire with a background of baking and board games. I certainly didn't know there was such a plethora of different board games out there being stuck in the playing of more traditional well known ones.

The place, coffee shop, the atmosphere i’d like to visit! It’s so adorable and charming story with real character development we face in our life and lovable friendship i’d like to be around with. More plot twist as the story goes but it was worth to read and suits summer the best! Can’t wait to read more books from the author.

Thank you Aria & Aries and NetGalley for providing me the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What an enjoyable read. Both light hearted and with a real depth of emotion running through, this book about the trials and tribulations of running a cafe is an absolute belter.

I started reading this book and thought oh no this is going to be so predictable. I can see she is going to split up from her long time boyfriend and probably buy a café just like she has always dreamed of.... and yes these things do happen but, this is only a very small part of the story. There are so many twists and turns and real curve balls , real challenges for the characters making it anything but, predictable.
Humorous in places and on the whole a light hearted read with likeable characters. I think this which would make a great holiday read.

It was cute. As a boardgame enthusiast i like that it was about a boardgame cafe, and talked about the games. But it felt a little bit too cheesy, the conversations and the misunderstandings. It was a Quick read. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion

This book is cosy romcom heaven! I quickly got lost in its pages and loved the light, comic voice of the author and was willing Emily on from the very outset. She is very relatable as is the hero, Ludek, who has all the qualities needed to make readers fall in love. Both characters were well-rounded with flaws and vulnerabilities that made them that much more realistic and provided understandable barriers to their romance before they each grew in confidence. I particularly loved the way the community developed around the café and these supporting characters and that sense of community was a real strength of the book. The board games aspect was a great USP for the novel as much as it was for Emily’s new venture and reminded me how much I love board games.
Overall, a heart-warming romance perfect for curling up with. Strong on friendship, love, growth and community, it really was a delightful escape. I absolutely loved it and am excited to read Jennifer Page’s next book.

This is a good book. I enjoyed the flow of the story, it had well rounded robust characters, a good dose of fun and romance and is a all round general good read.

I was drawn to this book by the title, as a board game enthusiast, I was excited to see a book featuring them. Although this is pegged as a romance, I personally think it is more of a women's fiction, with romance as a secondary plot.

I loved that board games were mentioned in detail, but not so much as to overwhelm someone who was not familiar with them.

Overall, a cute, fun read that can easily be read in an hour.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

This was a cute read!

Emily loses her job, fiancé, and house all within a few days. Hitting rock bottom, she decides to pursue her life long dream of opening a café. The café she opens has low foot traffic, so in an attempt to bring in more customer, she rebrands her café to The Little Board Game Café.

My husband and I LOVE playing board games together, so I was immediately interested in this based on the title and cover. One of my favorite things about this book was all of the different board games mentioned, and the interactions between her customers playing the games. It was fun reading about some of our favorite games to play together, like Wingspan, but I also picked up some board game recommendations just from reading this! (My husband was very excited about this).

I gave this book 3 stars for a few reasons. While I loved some of the characters like Mr. B, Marjory, and Rob, I really dislike other characters, mainly Kate and Emily's dad. Kate was really not a very great friend, and I kept getting annoyed that Emily would apologize to Kate over Kate's wrongdoings and write it off as fine since Kate was allowing her to temporarily stay at her apartment. I also understand Emily's dad's grief, but until the end, it didn't feel like he was very supportive of her. He was all words and no action.

Another reason I decided on 3 stars was the writing style. Some parts of this story were very well written and other parts were just not. I found some of the books climaxes to be very anti-climatic. I also found some parts of this story to be drawn out and other portions that we should have received more detail on felt rushed.

Finally, I did not feel invested in Emily and Ludek's romance. At first, I was swooning. I thought they were absolutely adorable. However, I am not a fan of miscommunication tropes, and their relationship "problems" felt very immature to me.

Overall, I though this was a very heartwarming, cute, and quick read. If you enjoy board games, I think you will enjoy this book!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the eArc of this sweet book!

This is my go to kind of book, when I want to curl up on the sofa on a cold winter's day & disappear into an easy to read tale.
This is a lovely little book, set in a newly opened cafe and how it's customers and owner all get to know and help one another

What an enjoyable book this was, my first one by Jennifer Page (and I've just found out through Instagram that it's her debut novel, which makes it even better!).

It had been Emily's dream for years to run her own cafe, one where people could come to enjoy themselves, and get wholesome, home-cooked food. When she got fired by her fiance, split up with said fiance, and came across a run down cafe for sale all in a few days, it seemed like the perfect time to take the leap. However, it doesn't turn out exactly as it had in Emily's dreams, and she has to overcome many obstacles if she wants her new cafe to be a success.

I was drawn into this book by the sense of community - Mr B especially was a lovely character. It was great to follow Emily's journey and to watch her grow in confidence with the help of her friends and family, new and old.

The romance was lovely too, but this one was Emily's story, and I was rooting for her the whole way through.

What a lovely read! 💕

Thank you so much to Aria & Aries, Jennifer Page and Netgalley for the ARC.

#thelittkeboardgamecafe #netgalley