A witty and sweet enemies-to-dating YA romance. Loved the drama with the rivaling restaurants and how they slowly start to see each other’s perspectives.

Super cute book. Has the usual angst one would expect in a new adult novel, without being over the top.

It took me a while to finally finish Cafe Con Lychee, but I finally did it! This book is about 2 teens who come from rivaling families who are business competitors in the food/restaurant industry. This story has great representation as its romance is an enemies-to-lovers that revolves around two gay characters, one of which is of Asian descent (Chinese & Japanese) and the other is of Puerto Rican descent. However, even though I really wanted to enjoy it, I think the reason why it took me so long to finish it was because I had a hard time connecting with the characters and finding the chemistry between them. I didn't feel like there was too much character development happening and that might be why I wasn't fully invested in the characters or the story.

Emery Lee presents us with an amusing Romeo and Juliet style tale of two local businesses that have to put their differences aside to compete with the big name shop that just moved in. Gabi is a sweet, happy-go-lucky teen who hopes to take over his family's bakery someday. Theo wants his family's business to be on solid ground so that he can feel free to move on to follow other dreams. When the two are forced to work together to help their family's businesses, they end up becoming more than just temporary partners. This is a cute romance with a ending that left me hopeful.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. There was too much angst and frustration for me, personally.

- Enemies to Lovers!!!
- Interracial relationships / Asian (Chinese & Japanese) American and Puerto Rican!!!
- LGBTQ!!!
- ASIAN AND PUERTO RICAN FOOD!!! YUMMMM!!!

Could I have been blessed with a more perfect book!?! When I saw that this was being released, I just knew that I needed to read it as soon as possible!! I had my fingers crossed when I submitted a request to receive an ARC!!! When I finally saw that I was approved -- I nearly cried with tears of joy and DEVOURED this book as fast as I could. I might be biased because I'm a SUCKER for enemies to lovers and I'm also Puerto Rican, but we will just dust those little facts under the rug for now and just appreciate how wonderful of a book this is! I cannot wait to see what else this author releases!!

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

This was sweet (pun intended). Food rivalry romances are a bit overdone, imo, but I still keep picking them up because they're usually incredibly fun. This book was, indeed, fun, with a YA twist on the food rivals trope. As an adult, I wasn't over the moon for it, but I think I would've really enjoyed this as a teen, and I think teen readers would enjoy it, too!

Not feeling the romance. The rival food trope is already done as well. So another food rivalry is bland.
Salty, Bitter, & Sweet
A Proposal You Can't Refuse
The Way You Make Me Feel
Salt and Sugar
Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet.

The title is original. At least it doesn't have the word "Sweet" in it, but the trope can be found elsewhere.

Theo and Gabi's parents have restaurants in their town. Gabi is closeted and looks up to Theo for being openly gay, even though Theo doesn't like Gabi at all. When a fusion restaurant opens up and threatens both restaurants, Theo and Gabi team up to help save their families' businesses.

Ultimately, this was forgettable. The story was a fun, YA story but it's not going to stick with me. I passively listened to this while working, and was entertained enough.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Theo More and Gabriel Moreno are the sons of competing ethnic cafés in a small Vermont town. Theo hates Gabriel because he always seems to be making a mess of Theo's school and soccer life. Gabriel admires Theo for his smarts, personality, and the fact he is openly gay and proud. When a fusion café opens and starts stealing their parents customers, Theo vows to help his parents and Gabriel is desperate for his parents not to sell their café. So, reluctantly, the two team up for a scheme involving selling café treats and drinks at school.

This book had an interesting take on how two ethnic families function within a small American community. Theo always feels like a let down to his parents, the spare son who is gay and does not do well in school. Whereas, Gabriel is trying to fit himself into his parents narrow minded closet. The two of them constantly struggle with self doubt and loathing, because their parents fail to provide them with support or are silent when they should speak up. These two work extra hard to keep things they love, and feel they are hardly ever truly seen.

Theo, for continuously begrudging his families café, works tirelessly to raise money to appease his landlord Uncle. He feels left behind by his perfect older brother who is at University and does not connect well with his parents. Gabriel's parents understand so little about him and constantly make him feel worthless and like they would not love him if he actually was himself and did the things he enjoyed and loved, as opposed to the soccer they want him to participate in.

It was nice when these two were finally able to set aside their anger/shyness (Theo/Gabriel), when Gabriel finally told Theo the truth about himself and why he played soccer when he was terrible. They helped each other to feel seen and understood. Gabriel complimented Theo's outside the box thinking, while Theo encouraged Gabriel's overall ambitions. Their work ethic fused well and they were so sweet. Also, the food they made sounded really delicious and had me craving.

I do think there could have been a little more depth to the story. Overall though it was a great enemies-to-coworkers-to-friends-to-lovers story. There was a lot of sass, a lot of caring, a lot of pushing boundaries and being open. I also liked when both boys were able to confront their friends about their bad behaviour. Although, I did not like Gabriel taking all of the blame for his friendship with Meli falling apart (Meli is the kind of friend who did not seem to care his parents were selling the café that Gabriel loved). She was very narrowly focused on herself and no one else.

Thank you to HCC Frenzy for sending me an arc of this book in order to provide an honest review.

This one was ok. I mean the story was decent enough for me to keep reading but I found the characters to be two-dimensional.

It's ok but personally I would not be reading this book again.

This YA/College age m/m book was great, I loved the familes, all the food and the high school drama wasn't as annoying to me as an adult:). Really enjoyed.

This is charming and cute, and I think it will be easy booktalk to our teen readers. I'm planning to lean into the ways the story (and leads) match-up with fanfic tropes, because the story has such a sweet and relatable flow. As an adult reader, I loved the food stuff so much! A great read for heading into summer.

As this title is published by HarperCollins Children's Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, I will be withholding my review of the title in support of the HarperCollins Union strike. I look forward to reviewing this title once HarperCollins has met the union at the bargaining table and agreed to a fair contract.

YA enemies to lovers with rival families? Delicious.

In Cafe Con Lychee, Theo and Gabi are the children of two feuding eateries (one an Asian American cafe and the other a Puerto Rican bakery) who are on the same soccer team at school. While one is amazing, the other is the reason for all of the team’s losses. As the two strike up a truce in order to keep both restaurants alive, the two begin to open up to each other and trust each other.

First of all, this book made me hungry. The food is described in such a way that I found myself craving it all. I wanted these two eateries to succeed because of Theo and Gabi’s plan, albeit the kind of plan only teenagers would think would be feasible.

Watching these two characters grow together as they learned what the other was going through was really impactful, and seeing Theo help Gabi come to accept himself for who he is was wonderful. I wish there had been more of the unfolding romance in a way that slowed down and allowed to be at its own pace.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I didn't like this as much as Emery's first book, but it was still enjoyable. I think a lot of the plot hinges on kids wanting to order boba during class, and that unbelievable tenant took me out of the story. It was cool to read about characters with these backgrounds and how they would interact.

The concept of this book grabbed me and I was excited to start reading it. I thought it started strong, but the more I read, the more my interest wained. The characters seemed two-dimensional, and it didn't feel like there was much character development happening in the story. Enemies to Lovers can be a hard trope to pull off without the characters' sniping at each other feeling immature, but that is what happened here, unfortunately. Rather than finding chemistry between them, it just made me dislike them. Theo is particularly mean-spirited to everyone around him. So while I hoped to enjoy this, I just didn't connect with the main characters or the development of their romance.

I’m not the biggest romance reader, but every once in awhile I enjoy a cute romance to switch it up a bit. Café Con Lychee hit the spot. It’s a story of two boys who start out as enemies, but eventually evolve to friends and then something more as they try to save their families’ businesses.

This book is very YA vibes and there isn’t any smut, but it will give you lots of warm fuzzies and remind you a bit of your first time falling for someone. I love that while one of the characters does deal with some problematic family members, it isn’t the whole focus of the story.

All in all, if you want something sweet and easy to read, this may be worth picking up.

Adorable love story, and it was fun to see the creativity of the teens trying to solve the problems of the adults in their lives.