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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!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting, messy teenagers who were far from perfect and made mistakes.

I was very unsure about Theo in the beginning. He was an understandably angry sixteen-year-old who directed a lot of anger toward Gabi. (To be clear, Theo was not bullying Gabi.) But I really enjoyed his character development. Plus, I loved that he had ADHD.

Gabi was a very enjoyable character. He had a lot of anxiety trying to keep a specific image for his parents and I loved that by the end he was able to start becoming himself.

I was a little nervous about how the enemies-to-lovers relationship would progress because Theo had so much animosity toward Gabi, but it progressed nicely. I do wish there were more fluffy scenes between the two, but overall I did enjoy the relationship.

The plot was enjoyable and interesting. Learning about two shops with different cultural foods was amazing and made me hungry.

I do feel the ending was a little rushed and I wished there was more.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and definitely recommend.

TW: homophobia, internalized homophobia, toxic masculinity

This isn't quite a 4 for me. Closer to a 3.75. If I could rate it solely off of Theo, Gabi, and Justin, I would give it close to 5 stars. I loved them. SO much. They were such a good trio of friends and I, of course, loved the relationship between Gabi and Theo and its growth.

That said, my biggest complaint with this book is its length. It is far too short. The author crammed a lot of stuff into this story which meant that some things resolved a bit too quickly for my liking. Also, Gabi's "friends" sucked. He spent the entirety of the book either suppressing part of himself or apologizing for things he didn't need to apologize for. And it felt like no one was ever apologizing to him except for a couple bland "sorries" at the end. And Gabi forgiving people easily is totally on brand for his character, but I wish he would've acknowledged how badly they'd treated him and made him feel. Though things are better at the end, it felt like Gabi spent the story doing a lot of apologizing for simply existing. He was such a sweet character who deserved better than he got, but his relationship with Theo was worth everything else.

Theo's story bothered me less. The pacing was a bit better on his end, though I still think perhaps it progressed too quickly in certain spots. Pacing was largely my problem with this book. There's just so many serious topics brought up and, though the resolutions were sweet, they happened too soon for me to feel the true impact of them. They didn't feel earned and these characters went through far too much for a speedy accepted apology. This book needed to be probably another 50 pages longer with more developed scenes and stronger growth from side characters. Luckily, I adore Theo and Gabi sooo much and they made all my issues with the book less prominent in my mind. Their characterization was very good and I laughed and cringed many times because of these two. They're so wonderful and are truly the heartbeat of this story.

arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I requested this in hopes that the author's writing, characterization, and plots would have improved from what I saw of Meet Cute Diary. But sometimes you read a summary and you can already tell an author has bitten off too much for themselves, which is kind of what I figured was about to happen with a rival-bakeries-soccer-ballet-homecoming-save-family-business-fall-in-love plot. Some people can balance that many moving parts and others cannot. Cafe Con Lychee buckled under the pressure and unfortunately came out half-baked on every level.

Furthermore, this book isn't what has been promised at all. I try my hardest not to review books based on what I expect going in. But if you are reading this book based on the “enemies-to-lovers romcom” premise, just know that not a single one of those three elements made it into this book. I was already skeptical because the bookternet has watered “enemies-to-lovers” down so much, and I think authors have been pressured to market their books as such for sales. I get it. I don't think "enemies-to-lovers" belongs in contemporary anyway because enemies, to me, is a very specific mutual feeling that usually involves violence and heroes and villains. When one hates the other out of obligation and miscommunication and the other is clumsy, struggling, and actively wanting to be friends, it's pathetic-to-lovers at best.

The romance: dry. I can't think of a single moment in this that was romantic, except for maybe the homecoming proposal at the end. I'm not sure what either of them saw in each other. Gabi's romantic journey with Theo seemed to be largely influenced by his own needs, mostly for attention. Gabi’s desperation for even one person to like him, down to analyzing his food delivery time so Theo wouldn’t hate him, makes his relationship with Theo seem more like a need than a want. Gabi and Theo would have made much more believable friends, and that's definitely a safer route given the ending... which I won't spoil, but makes the idea of them breaking up later on hilarious and stressful to think about.

And finally, comedy: most of the few and far in between comedic moments were completely overshadowed by Gabi's POV being one of the most depressing POVs I have ever read in my life. Gabi was just broken and it genuinely hurt to read about this kid with barely any friends, support, or hope for what he actually wants in the future. I saw a thread from the author that said this book would be sad, and I said okay, I'm no stranger to some heavy topics in a rom-com. However, this was the tone for the entire book. I don't think Gabi had a chapter until maybe literally his last one where something wasn't going wrong or he wasn't being hurt. It's really hard to keep up a romcom with that tone, and the writing did not succeed.

Ultimately, the narrative and details didn't make much sense to me. There was so much about this book that took me right out of it. I don't think every book has to be completely accurate, and I can willingly suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy something. I think there are some things an inexperienced teenager reading this could gloss over, but other things are just random and make no sense, enough that taking the events seriously becomes hard.

For a sampling of questions: how on earth has Theo sat behind Gabi since 3rd grade? Has every single homeroom teacher gone with an alphabetical seating chart and the exact same desk layout? How is it that the Moris and Morenos are in direct competition when their shops are so different? How does a school with no football team and the shittiest soccer team have the budget for parade floats for a pep rally? How in the hell is the e-commerce website set up? How did no teachers notice kids constantly leaving for "homecoming activities" and coming back in with food??

(As a small disclaimer, I can’t comment on the race rep as I am not Chinese, Japanese, or Puerto Rican, but I had no complaints about the gay rep. In fact, it was lovely to see a POC/POC gay relationship! I just want to be clear that none of that is what my review is about and none of those aspects informed my review. I am purely focusing on the plot and writing.)

Honestly, I would have been okay keeping all of this self-contained if I hadn’t been granted this arc on NetGalley (Thank you, Harper Collins 😥 but at what personal cost). I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend this. But if you're looking for an EtoL romcom, though, know that this book is probably not what you thought you were signing up for. If you're looking for a heavy, depressing book that deals with family pressure, homophobia, race issues, and chronically shitty friends, though? You may enjoy this a lot more than I did.

4.5 rounded up. thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this eARC!

cafe con lychee is an enemies-to-lovers mlm romance that focuses on theo mori and gabriel moreno, the sons of two competing cafes. both shops start failing in the face of a new fusion cafe, and they are forced to team up to keep their shops afloat. but as they spend more time together, they find that they have more in common than they thought…

this book was one of my most anticipated of 2022 and i am SO glad i got an arc because i would not have been able to wait to read this. i read this book in less than 24 hours, and i do NOT regret it. this book was exactly what i signed up for! aside from a few baubles, this book was perfect. the more specific things i liked and didn't like as much are below.

things i liked:
- theo is such an angry guy and i kind of love it. this book explored what it's like being gay and asian, something i related to being queer and asian myself.
the two characters were really grounded and dealth with family issues differently. both boys feel as if their parents expect more of them, but theo has to live up to his brother, while gabi has to live up to his parent’s perfect image of him.
- gabriel was so cute and confused and nervous throughout the book, and contrasted with theo’s impatience, i thought it was such a good dynamic.
- the buildup to their relationship was really cute and i wanted to them to kiss so! many!! times!!! but i thought the book left them in a really good place
- i want good things for vivi. she deserves the world, and i love how she was treated like an actual character and was allowed to ask for space when she needed it
- justin, theo’s best friend, is such a good friend oh my gosh the way he was wary of gabi after gabi was accidentally homophobic, and also the way he gave gabi the shovel talk at prom… yeah i love him.
- the alternating 1st person pov was very well done! i felt for both characters and got a full picture for both of them.

the baubles:
- there is a moment towards the end that leads up to the act 3 fallout where theo acts out and blames gabi for something that was his fault.
- i felt that the book spent more time on the mori’s shop than the moreno’s. this wasn’t a plot issue, i just went into this book with a hankering for puerto rican pastries and would’ve liked to see more.
- there was a character who was very rude to gabi and vivi and they never got the comeuppance they deserved… i won’t say more than that for fear of spoiling.

as you can see, the list of things i liked is much longer than the list of baubles, and i can confidently say this is one of my favorite reads of 2022 so far! the setting was interesting, the characters were well-developed, and the romance was cute. i will be preordering!

Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins Childrens Books for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I’ve wanted to read this book so long and it was worth it I devoured it! Both Theo and Gabi’s parents own competing restaurants and when a new restaurant opens up their families are both at risk for losing theirs. Theo can’t have that because all he wants is to graduate and leave town and Gabi planned on taking over one day. Together they decide to sell combined food from recipes their parents have. But it’s complicated by their dislike for one another. Can they put their differences aside and save their parents restaurants? WhaT happens if their parents or the school finds out they are doing? Emery Lee writes a heartwarming and charming story! I also loved the family dynamics in the book, each of them with their parents but for different reasons. I enjoyed that the story showed that even in families where they seemingly have no problem with their kids being LGBTQ+ there can still be other difficulties and barriers in the relationship! I was also a fan of the slow burn! I loved that they went from enemies to reluctant partners to friends to possibly more! I also loved their relationships with their friends, and the recognition that all relationships can be complicated! I adored this book and if you like enemies to lovers tropes you will too! I can’t wait to read it again in May!

I was excited to read this book for the queer enemies to lovers trope, plus the coffee shop au vibe it had going for it. In those aspects, it delivered. I easily read this in two days–the pacing never slowed at any point and I was invested from beginning to end. The alternating points of view were great too. They really helped flesh out both characters (and the story didn’t relegate one to just the “love interest”).

I did enjoy Gabi as a character more. While Theo wasn’t unlikeable, his anger, especially early on in the book, made his sections feel heavy to get through, and him stealing tips at the beginning, while I understand why he does it, put me off to fully liking him as a character.

I'm glad I gave Emery Lee’s writing another chance, and while this may not have hit a perfect 5 star rating for me, I will definitely continue to read eir books.

eh..

this was a bit of a mixed bag, i'm sorry to say. i keep trying with emery lee's books, but they just aren't quite right. the main characters are always extremely unlikable, and the romance is a bit off. not sure how i feel about this one, don't think i'd recommend..

I don’t this was the book for me as I am not the target audience. I am very sure that this book will in the right hands, hit all the right notes. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. Although I must add , this cover is visibly stunning.

To start, this is the prettiest cover I've seen in a bit, at least for a YA romance. As for the book itself, it's terrific, though it's not as light and chill as that cover might suggest. In essence, this isn't fully an enemies-to-lovers romCOM, it's more a romance/genfic with more intense topics (like being closeted from a bigoted family, etc.) creating a strong undercurrent throughout. It still has a lovely HEA, in most ways, but the journey there is not conflict-free or filled with superficial issues, by any means. Does this mean that it wasn't as 'fun' a read as I was hoping? Yes, but that's very much on me, since the plot description really does telegraph these plot points.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 10, 2022

This queer enemies to lovers YA romcom is refreshingly current—I found the writing and dialogue very 2022 teen, but not in a forced or cringey way. Homecoming, rivalries, and lots of food talk, oh my! This book often made me hungry! These kids go through a lot and definitely earn their HEAs!