This is a difficult book to describe, particularly if you aren’t familiar with this type of Japanese literature centering around cats and the lore surrounding them. Cats are a symbol of good luck in Japan. The legend of cats is that they return a favor to those that treat them with kindness—a metaphor for how we should all treat one another, perhaps.

The book is told in three vignettes that each center around a different person but all of whom connect as well. The Full Moon Coffee Shop can be anywhere, we learn. And it can’t be found, it will find you. The shop is run by magical cats, and it finds people when they are lost and not sure what is next in life. The cats know exactly what you want to drink without you saying, and they know how to help you.

The book opens with Mizuki, who is a former teacher who writes scripts for games. Mizuki is in a bad place, she’s lost any interest in her life. She’s stopped taking care of herself. She lives on instant ramen. After failing a pitch for a television series to a producer named Akari, Mizuki is in a deep depression with nowhere to turn. She finds herself encountering fans. Unexpected, though she was very popular previously. She is invited to a café she has never heard of, and she reluctantly drags herself there. The café is run by cats instead of humans, and it’s surrounded by cherry blossoms. The cats bring her pancakes and use astrology to help Mizuki see her life in a different way.

The next primary story is Akari’s, the producer who turned down Mizuki’s script. Well, the executives turned it down, Akari respects Mizuki since they worked together early in her career. Akari is also in a place where she was searching for something. We learn that Mizuki was her teacher when she was in primary school, so telling her that they weren’t interested in her script was particularly hard. She finds the café along with the shamed actress from her show, who was publicly humiliated for having an affair. Akari also has a history that she has pain from. The café brings them both what they need.

The third vignette will make sense when you get to Akari’s, so I won’t spoil it here. I found this book to be completely charming. A magical café that was much more than a café. It’s where those who are lost find their path in life, and the most magical part is that the café finds them first. It was nice how the stories intertwined, and a message of the serendipity of life. People who enter our lives for a purpose and then later that purpose is clear, but we don’t always see it at the beginning. Chance encounters, paying forward kindness, and celebrating the past and the future. Lovely!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒑 by Mai Mochizuki and translated by Jesse Kirkwood is a lovely feel-good story offered to me by @randomhouse Ballantine thanks to @netgalley, and then @prhaudio also granted me the audio to go along which was a perfect pairing.

This story follows a magical coffee shop, run by talking cats, that somehow manages to offer hope and a way forward for lost souls. This particular set of patrons are loosely connected which lent a feeling of continuity through these stories. These cats are heavily invested in astrology, which for me, was a bit of a disappointment. I had somehow hoped for more insight than star charts.

The audiobook had narrators who gave the character's voices a real life, and better pronunciation than I would! Especially for translated works, I love to listen to the names from a native tongue of the author. This aspect did help me appreciate this story more.

For a quick read for cat-lovers and fans of astrology, this will be a true delight.

A story, much like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, involves quite a few characters who all went to primary school together, but don't totally remember each other. As adults, they've seen to gone astray until they come to The Full Moon Coffee Shop. A magical pop up café hosted by cats that guide you on astrology based on your natal chart.

This was a feel good easy read, and I quite enjoyed how the characters lived intermingled.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I'm pretty sure I'm an outlier here and that this is a book that will be loved by many. It was a bit too twee for me. I love cats, but magic cats that can teach me a new life philosophy just aren't my cup of tea.

But lots of folks will LOVE this.

Absolutely loved this! Probably one of my favorite books this year. I just couldn’t stop reading and at a certain point I didn’t even care where the plot went because I was just really engrossed in the characters, the coffee shop, and the world! Bravo!

What a charming and delightful story! I loved the moonlit cafe setting with the delightful cat servers. I enjoyed seeing how the characters were connected and how they found their path through astrology and an unlikely little cafe. Just like the cafe, this book was exactly what I needed right now.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book!

This was so deliciously cozy!! Like a warm cup of coffee held in your hands while you're curled up under a soft blanket next to the fire. :) PLUS having cats read your fate??? Such a unique concept!! The writing was a bit blunt at times, but I've read translated books before, and that sometimes happens so I'm not holding it against the author since the concept and atmosphere the book created were absolutely magical.

Adorable short read, especially for cat lovers. Cozy, slice of life, light fantasy. Would recommend to anyone who needs a heartwarming read.

One of the sweetest, most gentle stories I've ever read. The Full Moon Coffee Shop appears to the characters in our story when they need it the most, and my gut tells me that the book does the same for the reader. This is a short (but fulfilling) collection of connected tales of individuals who are struggling to find their drive and what moves them. The Full Moon Cafe, run by mysterious, giant cats appears to them and serves them something delicious along with a reading of their star chart to help them along their life path. There is nothing tragic or particularly complex about any of the stories, and that is the beauty of the book- a slow-moving river that pulls you along to a quiet, calming conclusion.

If you enjoy cozy Japanese literature (Sweet Bean, Before the Coffee Gets Cold), astrology (even very casually!), cats, space, gorgeous descriptions of food, and a guaranteed cheerful ending, I cannot recommend this enough. I can see myself adding this to my yearly re-read list as a comfort novel.

I requested an ARC and am under no obligation to leave a review.

I’m not quite sure how I felt about this one. The stories were interesting, if a bit disjointed, but I didn’t feel like any of them quite got enough closure. 🫤
The café concept was cool, though. As were the magical cats, though the zodiac stuff confused me, mostly because I’ve never done a deep enough dive into such things to understand what they were talking about.

I didn’t love it, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it to some extent, so I’ll leave it at a solid “it’s okay but probably not my thing” middle ground.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

I absolutely love cats and to read about cats in the novel was great.
I really enjoyed the characters and the story. However I did struggle with the translation. I think that the translation was done well but you could tell that the novel was a translation.
Overall I enjoyed this story and I feel like if you like cats then I feel like you would enjoy the story. Would recommend to all cat lovers.

In The Full Moon Coffee Shop, Mochizuki, introduces the reader to Mizuki - a substitute teacher turned professional screenwriter who is now experiencing a loss of popularity and self in Kyoto, Japan. After meeting with a hopeful colleague and being turned down for her newest screenplay, Mizuki finds herself in a coffee shop attended by human-like cats full of the personal wisdom that Mizuki needs in just that moment.

This is the magic of the Full Moon Coffee Shop, from personalized wisdom and inner reflection to knowing exactly what you want to drink and eat without asking. After Mizuki leaves the coffee shop, others seemingly find their way inside. All those who enter realize they are deeply connected in some way to Mizuki and can credit her in some way with their success in life.

In life, some events are fate, some events are left to change, and some are left to the strength and desire of the person living the life. All who visited are left with a life-changing experience in the thought-provoking yet cozy little tale.

This book provides a quick look into a few people's lives and this coffee shop they stumble upon on a, you guessed it, full moon, Each of them are going through a rough/confusing time in their lives. That is how the shop finds them.
Since this was a short book, there was a lot to get through in a small amount of time. I think it was focused more on the astrological aspect rather the lives of the characters after their visit or even their experience in the shop. It also would have been fun to learn how to nurture each of your troublesome planets. Maybe there's a recipe "the characters" could have made at home. It seemed to just teach us about astrology, and I already knew a lot of it, so it was meh to me.
It was a quick read and easy to follow

In Japan, cats are seen as symbols of good luck, and if you’re kind to the right one, you might just find yourself in a mysterious coffee shop under a Kyoto moon—a place that shows up when people need it most.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is run by talking cats and serves more than just coffee and cake. These wise felines read star charts, share cryptic advice, and guide people back onto the right path. For a struggling screenwriter, a stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a lost web designer, the shop’s arrival is no accident.

I was really drawn to the premise and wanted so much to love this story, but I just couldn’t get into it. I tried picking it up multiple times, but it never quite pulled me in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the chance to read this. 🐈‍⬛☕️📚

This was an interesting concept for a book! As a lover of cats and coffee, I thought for certain I would love this story. I thought it was interesting that we got three different stories that sort of intertwined with each other, all involving the individuals coming upon a café that could only be accessed on a full moon and with invitation. Where it got a bit in the weeds for me was the astrology information, which seemed to weigh down the stories a bit. The ending was satisfying though when we got an epilogue to see how all the characters changed after their visit to the Full Moon Coffee Shop. I thought it was interesting and enjoyed it, but it probably isn't one that is going to stick with me for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine Books for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Mai Mochizuki for the advanced copy of The Full Moon Coffee Shop in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a beautifully written/translated tale about a magical coffee shop run by cats that appears when and where it is needed. Each story follows a separate character, but as the stories progress, we figure out how they are all connected. Astrology is a major factor in the stories and the cats use it to help the characters overcome whatever is holding them back in their life.

I thought this was really cute and I loved the cats and astrology aspects. I’ll be checking out more by Mochizuki in the future!

Mizuki Serikawa was a very successful writer for a TV production when she learned that she was being let go because her writing wasn’t current for the audience. She had no idea this wa coming so she was completely lost as to what to do. As she was wandering and thinking she met a boy who told her to go and visit The Full Moon Coffee Shop. She had never heard of it but she had nothing else to do. The shop was in a little far off lane she didn’t know existed. When she got there she was surprised to see the waiters were CATS, talking cats. She thought she was dreaming until they seemed to know a lot about her. There was one cat who was versed in Astrological “Life Phases”. He had some very interesting ideas about how she should proceed with her life.
This is a book I don’t think I would have picked up on my own. I really don’t like fantasy but this story and the characters were so interesting that I enjoyed it to the end.

A perfect fall read with warm and cozy vibes. The cats and astrological references were very enjoyable to find in the story.

When life gets tough, I often turn to my favorite local coffee spot to get me through the challenges. The one where the baristas know your name and your order and even if you might need an extra shot of espresso when you walk in the door. It seems all too magical that the coffee shop could come to you!

The Full-Moon Coffee Shop is a quaint story of a little pop-up cat cafe that brings its customers exactly what they need, whether it’s a delicious dessert, a beautiful beverage or a reading of their stars. As each character’s story unfolds, you learn a little more about their past, present and future and, if you’re unfamiliar with astrology like me, a little about how signs influence life itself.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC for review!

It would be nice a have restaurant pop up in the middle of the night at a random location when you need it the most. Not because you are hungry, but because you need the support, you need the hope, you need the understanding.

I cannot really guess how I would react seeing man size cats running this restaurant and talk about astrology and astronomy though. Also, who am I to not to accept man size cats when I'm fine with appearing/disappearing restaurants?! These cats loved to return the favor you did to them some time ago. They would figure out when you need them to most and be there for you.

Cats, miracles, food - this is the optimistic, heart warming side of the Japanese literature. You will leave the book feeling warm and fuzzy with a new wave of hopefulness surrounding you. Some days it's all want to read so I'll be happy to see second installment of this book