Oh man, this was a bit of a rough go. I am DNF'ing this book at 50%. I think the premise is great, more queer teen romances is ALWAYS a good thing and I'm absolutely certain that this book will find a home with the right reader, but unfortunately, the right reader isn't me. I immediately didn't like both of the main characters or their shitty friends, and it's hard to stick with a book when you're not invested in anyone succeeding. Maybe my days of relating to teen angst are just finished ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I love enemies to lovers. It was a little slow in the middle, but overall a solid read with a fun ending! I thought it was rather fresh and I loved the representation! I absolutely love Theo!

Great story, wonderful characters, and fantastic representation! Highly recommend and an easy five stars!

Theo's ultimate goal is to leave Vermont for college to stop working at his parent's Asian American café. Plus, it means leaving behind Gabi, the son of his parents' rival and the bane to their soccer team's existence. Meanwhile, Gabi is stuck in the closet. Forced to play soccer to hide his love for dance, his only getaway is his parents' Puerto Rican bakery.

When a new fusion café opens up and threatens both Theo and Gabi's restaurants, Theo comes up with a plan to sell food at school to drum up business. However, after he sprains his writs playing soccer, Gabi gets roped into helping. In order to save both of their parents' shops, they have to work together. Even as sparks start to fly between them.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an advanced copy of Café Con Lychee to review! Meet Cute Diary was one of my favorite reads of last year, so I was excited to see what Lee came up with next. Happy to say e didn’t disappoint! While this book has different vibes than Meet Cute Diary, Lee just has a knack for writing teenagers.

Much like in Meet Cute Diary, I loved the characters in this. They felt like fully fleshed out teenagers. Not just Theo and Gabi, but the side characters as well. Of course, we get some friendship drama, which absolutely felt true to life. Gabi’s own struggles with coming out and figuring out how to tell his parents felt natural and will definitely pull at your emotions. Theo is out, but has his own struggles with his family, even if it doesn’t come from his parents. Moving from rivals to friends to something more felt natural and realistic and I loved every moment of it.

And the food! There are some lovely, wonderful descriptions of food in here. You’ll be sucked into Theo and Gabi’s story and definitely feel hungry once you finish it. While you might be able to see the ending coming, you won’t care because you love the characters so much.

All in all, if you’re looking for a fun, food-themed rivals to lovers romance to read this summer, definitely pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for the ARC.

Café Con Lychee is a fun YA read featuring PoC and LGBTQ main characters. Theo Mori’s family is struggling to increase sales at their café. Gabi Moreno’s family shop is struggling, leaving his parents discussing what comes next.

Theo and Gabi have been “enemies” for what seems like forever, for reasons that are glossed over briefly and include Romeo/Juliet vibes. To save each other's family shops, they end up forging a plan behind their parents' backs. They work together to increase sales and interest in both businesses. The book alternates between Theo and Gabi’s point of view, so readers get an insight into each boy’s internal struggles and conflicts with family.

I had higher expectations going into this one, but overall it is a cute, quick read.

I adored this book in spite of how much it pulled me back into my high school years.

In this story of messy and highly emotional teenagers, Lee explores complex family dynamics, ethnic cuisine as it pertains to white consumption, and learning to seek out queer joy in the face of overwhelming alienation.

Theo is snarky and angry at the world while Gabi is constantly overthinking everything and feeling down about himself. Theo is battling constant frustration with how his ADHD affects his school performance while Gabi bottles up his emotions and passions to avoid bringing negative attention from his parents. They’re stressed out all the time and overwhelmed regularly. On top of those stressors, a new white-owned “fusion” café has opened up in town and is pulling customers away from the authentic ethnic cuisine produced by the boys’ families.

Oh! And Theo hates Gabi’s guts for being bad at soccer and coming from a rival café family.

I would lay down my life to protect these boys. They represent some of the sweetest and most painful aspects of being a teenager, but it’s in that honesty that I found myself appreciating them the most. They stressed me out and made me want to throw my e-reader across the room before immediately making me giggle over lines like: “bold of him to assume I know what amphibians are” and “your tostada y café, bitch.”

This goes very high up on the list of books I wish I’d had when I was younger.

This was a lovely YA Romance and coming out story. Living in a rural region of Vermont couldn't have been easy for Theo and Gabi. They come from two-parent households of differing races and ethnicities with competing restaurant businesses. When their sons, who are also competitors at school and on the field as teammates on the soccer time, decide to join forces to save their parents' failing restaurants, love ensues. This was a very realistic tale of coming out to parents with very strong opinions about LGBTQ—not for anything other than fear for their child's safety. I was happy when the two young men finally came together romantically. I still had issues with Theo calling the other "asshole." That felt way too aggressive, but I can understand that it was hard to go from nemeses to romantic partners. While they had some growing pains as they fell in love, it was nice that they could come together for the sake of their school, their parents, and their community. Even Theo supporting his brother after having a rivalry for so long was sweet and honorable. My favorite part was when the parent asked for pictures of them going to Homecoming. He wanted to see his child and his date. I thought that was sweet, making up for the initial discord. I recommend this book for lovers of Romance and LGBTQIA positive stories.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this story in exchange for an honest review.

I was Very excited going into Café con Lychee because the trope of enemies to lovers in a rival food industry is one I love. I’ve heard only good reviews of the authors previous book and couldn’t wait to get started. This book lacked in so many elements and it felt so rushed that it really disappointed me.
I apologize in advance for any spoilers. The book follows two high school students again and Theo, they both own rival ‘ethnic’ food business in a small predominantly white neighborhood. They are on the same soccer team and Theo hates Gabi, but when Gabi accidentally bumps into Theo causing him to sprain his wrist they are brought together. Here’s where I start to get very annoyed with the book. Theo hates Gabi at the beginning, and I mean hates, but when Gabi says something homophobic he feels pressure to come out to theo. Then almost instantly after coming out Theo falls in love with Gabi. I feel like this can play into a pretty harmful stereotype of a gay man just dating any other gay man they can find in a small town.
While I can’t speak too much on the family relationships, one thing that really bothered me was what happened after Gabi came out. Gabi, being raised in a very openly homophobic household, comes out at the end of the novel. After which his parents don’t know what to say and avoid him for a day. Then after that they apologize and say they want to work on understanding him and stop being homophobic. Which just feels like a forced/rushed happy ending.
The author does do a very good job at making modern pop-culture references that help make the characters feel more like high school students; yet overall the characters were all slightly annoying or overly rude playing to much into their set character type. The little character development in the novel felt rushed and unexplained. The story line had a good concept I just feel as if the author was maybe rushed into completing their second novel.

This is a great meet cute book that had my mouth watering with the delicious food that is talked about. It is going to be a great summer teen read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

3.5 stars

Lee's most recent offering, _Cafe Con Lychee_, takes the idea of fusion to a new level; this motif is everywhere - in a good way - throughout the book.

Theo and Gabi share the m.c. roles and joint perspective duties, and it is fun to get to know them. It turns out they have one unusual similarity. Both of their families own small cafes that are struggling. In response, both boys decide not to let the cafes go gentle in that good night (i.e., fall to the power of the new and appropriative fusion cafe in town). The start of the novel has A LOT of information about how they plan to make this happen, the steps they'll take, etc. For me, that part got a little tedious. Fortunately, the action picks back up when the love connection presented on the cover finally becomes apparent to the characters, too.

While there are aspects of plot and some ancillary character relationships that felt a bit unfinished by the end, I enjoyed the novel overall: especially how both Theo and Gabi manage their identities and related revelations in distinct circumstances. I'll be recommending this one to students specifically for that last part as well as for the charmingly budding romance.

A enemies to lovers and almost grumpy and sunshine trope young adult rom com that felt as new as the dishes Theo creates to sell to his classmates. A fun, medium paced, entertaining romance!

I wasn't a huge fan of Meet Cute Diary, so I was a bit hesitant coming into this novel, but I think this is much improved from the authors first! The characters of this book are so lovable and written with care and nuance. I appreciated the representation of the main characters relationships with their families, which are pretty unique dynamics compared to other queer YA novels due to the complicated nature of them. I thought he enemies to lovers dynamic was done really well, as it's usually a toss up for me with contemporary books. I will definitely be featuring this on my page in the future!

Thank you, HarperCollins Children’s Books, for allowing me to read Café con Lychee early.

This enemies to lovers young adult was so sweet and cute and adorable. I couldn’t put my ereader down and read this story in just one sitting. I loved the boys and the dual narrative, and Emery Lee is fastly becoming one of my favorite YA authors!

LOVED THIS! It was such a cute story with a great enemies to lovers storyline and it was great to have both POVs the whole time.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Adorable! Just adorable! I'm pretty sure Emery Lee is one of my favorite new authors, seriously I just love all eir books so much! I remember my one complaint with Meet Cute Diary was that the main character was very frustrating to a point it took me out of the book. This book not only doesn't have that problem, but I related to Gabi and Theo so much I truly loved following their point of views. I thought the ending would have felt very forced or too predictable, but it didn't. I actually loved the ending so much. I also loved how the families felt realistic, not every gay person has a completely good or bad relationship with their families, especially regarding coming out. This book felt so real in the way it was depicted that I felt that much more invested and fell in love with the stories.

Please read this you won't regret it. If you need a shred of wholesomeness in your life, do yourself a favor and pick this book up!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Emery Lee, and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book tells the story of Theo and Gabi. Both boys are rivals due to their parents running rival bakeries. But with a new hip bakery in town, the boys have to decide whether to keep feuding or if they can put their differences aside to save their family bakeries.
I love a good enemies to lovers story and this book did not disappoint. I love how the boys worked together by secretly selling their parents food items to help them stay floating. I also loved the soccer aspect of the book. Both boys are on the soccer team and I like how Emery Lee made one boy a better start than the other instead of making them both the stars of the team.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who can not recommend Meet Cute Diary, this author's previous work, enough to the students that visit my library, I was absolutely thrilled to see that e was releasing a new book.

There is a chance that I might have even loved this book more than Meet Cute Diary, if only because I love books centered around food. It always makes me hungry reading them, but in the best way. The main relationship was once again adorable, and while the plot might have been a little predictable, I still had a lot of fun. There were also some really excellent lines- my e-copy of this book is FULL of highlighted portions. And, may I say, as someone who was born and raised in Vermont, the author really nailed the small-town life and maple creemee-ness of it all.

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<p><em>Note: The author, Emery Lee, uses e/eir pronouns. When discussing this book, please keep this in mind. Thank you!</em></p>
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<p>Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for my eARC of <em>Café Con Lychee</em> in exchange for an honest review. <em>Café Con Lychee</em> is out on May 10, 2022 and you can find the<a href="https://www.emeryleebooks.com/preorder-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> preorder information here!</a></p>
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<p>The temporary review I left for this one on my Storygraph was just "[insert squeals of joy]" and that's pretty accurate. <em>Café Con Lychee</em> was everything I wanted and more from a rivals-to-lovers book. It was utterly sweet and a super fun read, even when we were experiencing the inevitable mid-book heartbreak of any good young adult romance. And while it was a rivals-to-lovers book, the premise was also super unique.</p>
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<p>Theo is Chinese and Japanese; his parents run a traditional Asian bakery, offering bao and bubble tea and more. Gabi is Puerto Rican; his parents run the rival traditional Latinx café. Hence the unique title, <em>Café Con Lychee</em>.</p>
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<p>What I especially enjoyed is that both boys have something the other wants, in some way, with no idea how much the other one needs him. There was no miscommunication trope that can be super common in these kinds of stories, which I found to be super refreshing. Even when they were in that "miscommunication" time, it really came down to taking a moment to evaluate themselves, not hate one another. </p>
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<p>This is one of those reviews where I don't want to reveal a <em>single</em> moment of the book because I want readers to be utterly surprised by it all, but I do want to give the following content warnings. Gabi's parents are very traditional and there is a content warning for homophobic language in his household, as well as his own struggle with compulsive heterosexuality. For Theo, he does struggle a lot with anxiety and inadequacy. There's some tense friendship moments for both of them, due to either their obsession with their family's businesses or from being closeted. But beyond that, this was seriously a completely wholesome story about two teenage boys figuring it all out.</p>
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<p>I cannot recommend <em>Café Con Lychee</em> enough. It was a refreshing read after I read some darker titles recently. The last book I read following similar tropes had completely missed the mark for me due to heavy reliance on the miscommunication trope, which might be why <em>Café Con Lychee</em> felt like <strong>such</strong> a breath of fresh air. But I also think it's incomparable to anything I've read before. So thank you again to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the eARC. I truly hope this is a successful release for Emery Lee. E deserves it.</p>
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Café Con Lychee follows Gabi and Theo, who are the children of two rivalling restaurants in town. Despite playing on the same soccer team, they have always kept their distance lest their parents think they’re “conspiring with the enemy”. When a new fusion café opens in town and leaves both boys’ parents’ business in jeopardy, Theo and Gabi unexpectedly find themselves teaming up to protect their families’ restaurants. What starts as a reluctant alliance with their rivals soon turns into way more than just a business arrangement.

Truly, the premise sounds divine: a queer enemies-to-lovers romance, rivals reluctantly banding together for a common cause, and a story revolving around food, food, food. Where things kind of went off track for me was in the execution of it all.

Here’s what I really liked about Café Con Lychee: the character growth both Gabi and Theo go through individually but also as a couple. Gabi initially is on the soccer team to hide his love for dancing and he is deeply stuck in the closet as well. Theo, meanwhile, wants nothing more than to escape his town and get away from his parents so he doesn’t have to end up working at their café. Over the course of the story, both boys go through a really transformative period and end up openly communicating instead of resenting in quiet which I thought was so important.

I also really enjoyed the savviness of the characters: both Theo and Gabi, for very different reasons, want to see their respective parents’ restaurant succeed and Theo’s idea to basically create an underground coffee and boba shop at their school to fight the fusion’s café’s impact was so cool. I loved how they basically showed that you can sell anything as long as you market it the right way. In turn, Café Con Lychee does an excellent job at subtly discussing cultural appropriation and the fickle minds of consumers. The boys’ parents’ Puerto Rican bakery and Asian American café is basically “dropped” by everyone in favour of the fusion café that may not have the best food or drinks but has the vibes down to a pat. There were so many subtle comments about being overlooked even when you’re baking authentically in favour of atmosphere and quirky style and, well, “coolness”. I think readers will definitely think a bit about the way they decide where to buy things after reading this novel.

There’s a lot of negativity in this book that both Gabi and Theo face (and for good reason): there are negative family relationships that cause Gabi and Theo deep anguish and anxiety, there’s overt homophobia that’s not always challenged, there’s resentment toward their friends to a point where I wondered why they even were friends with these people and then, of course, the enemies part that was tough to read in Theo’s perspective because he is pretty much annoyed and angry at Gabi at the best of times, lashing out at the worst. Obviously, all of these “negative” feelings get their own arc in the novel and are somewhat remedied by the end, but it’s a lot to take in without a real ‘happy’ break for a big chunk of the novel. That, in part, might have also been caused because it takes a long time for Gabi and Theo to be distinguishable in their voices—for the first half of the book, I was constantly looking for indicators in their chapters to remember whose perspective I was reading because, apart from their friend group and familial situation, their negative commentary sounded incredibly similar. Thankfully, this changes around the time the two of them become co-conspirators.

And though there are moments of joy and the last chapters of the book offer some cathartic and sweet scenes, I kind of needed a bit more…relief from a novel marketed as romcom. It went so far that at times, I wanted to put the book down just because it was bumming me out so much—but that’s in part my fault because I went into this with the wrong expectations, expecting a fun enemies-to-lovers romcom whereas the book is just a bit more heavy on the reality aspect. However, if you are a fan of stories that take the enemies of enemies-to-lovers part seriously, I think this might turn out to be the perfect read for you!

Sparks fly in Café Con Lychee when two sons of family rival shops find themselves working together to compete with the new fusion café in town—fans of enemies-to-lovers romances, mutual pining and all the food puns better watch out for this one!

This was a very lovely book. I loved the teens and how they dealt with their relationships. This book was messy and real, but it also felt frustrating at times too. But that made it even more real too - not every book needs to be all rainbows!