This book is cute and sweet and very cozy! Loved it so much I had to buy a physical copy!! I highly recommend you pick this book up!

Was very lucky to receive an e-arc and physical arc of this book. It was so cozy and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone and everyone to read this fall!!

Hooray for queer nerd joy! I loved this tale of Brenda and Kat, whether they were visiting in the mundane or magical world, as they dealt with school and family and expectations and the chaos of colliding realities and overcoming serious obstacles to their romance.

Coffee Shop in an Alternate Universe by CB Lee has an amazing premise: Two teenage girls, Brenda and Kat - one magical and the other not - meet at a magical coffeeshop where the two separate universes they belong to meet. Their attraction to one another is undeniable but how can they date when they live in different universes? And even if they did come from the same universe, how can one girl determined to save the world and another desperate to outrun her destiny make things work?

I love a good coffee shop AU (Alternate Universe) in my fanfiction and this takes that concept and turns it literal. I was so excited when I got approved for this ARC (thank you Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley!) but as I started reading I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. I’m very much in the minority here but I ended up DNFing this one fairly early on. Brenda and Kat read much younger than they were supposed to be and it seemed like the cozy fantasy elements were going to take a backseat to what felt like pre-teen drama. I’m nearing 30 and maybe it’s my own fault for picking up a book that’s aimed at a younger audience. But that being said, there are plenty of YA books I’ve read recently that I love and think handle things in a more mature way.

I’m sad this didn’t work for me but so happy for the people who loved it!

First I wanna thank NetGalley for sending me this arc it’s very sweet romantic fantasy with coffee shop reminded me of legend and lattes

This was a fun, lighthearted sapphic YA book. I enjoyed the magical fantasy elements of the book, but felt that occasionally the plot was more than a little bit lost or all over the place.

I absolutely loved this book. It was such a sweet and cozy YA romance with just enough sci-fi/ fantasy mixed in. The budding relationship between Brenda and Kat developed so sweetly, picture perfect young love. The added layer of crossing dimensions into alternate worlds is so seamless in the story, it was beautifully written. I also love how accepting both Brenda and kat's friends and family were to there being an alternative world. There was no gas lighting or anything like that, just acceptance and love for them both. The third act conflict was pretty predictable, but it was quickly solved and made their relationship stronger. I also loved how C.B. Lee wrapped up the ending to give us a happily ever after. (no spoilers) This book gave me all the feels, made me feel so cozy and loved. Highly, highly recommend

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing for an ARC of this title!

I enjoyed this book and liked the story but found myself wandering a little towards the end of the book and had to sit down and finish more out of necessity than a want. A cute story with obstacles of both times filled with magic that I would consider reading a sequel of if it ever came about.

C.B. Lee has brewed up something magical in Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe—a sweet, sapphic love story that’s equal parts cozy, clever, and delightfully chaotic. It’s the perfect read for fans of soft magic, science nerds, and destiny-defying romance with just the right dose of multiversal mayhem.

Brenda is the kind of overachiever you wish you had in your lab group—fiercely focused, passionate about saving the planet, and absolutely not here for magical nonsense… until her Wi-Fi dies and she literally stumbles into another universe (and a magical coffeeshop) just in time to meet Kat: effortlessly cool, low-key magical royalty, and secretly the reluctant Chosen One trying to ghost her own fate.

Their chemistry? Instant. Their worlds? Literally colliding.

What follows is a wildly charming mix of flirty banter, awkward science-fueled swoons, chaotic magical disruptions, and a romance that feels as inevitable as gravity—but far more fun. Lee beautifully balances the sweet and the strange, wrapping big themes—like identity, purpose, and the burden of expectations—in a soft, glittery package that never loses its heart.

💖 Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe is like a warm latte on a rainy day: comforting, sweet, and a little bit otherworldly. A love story for anyone who’s ever felt caught between who they are and who they’re supposed to be.

Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, Rainbow Rowell, or anyone who wishes Heartstopper had more pocket dimensions.

What would you do if the world unknowingly split in two and you happened to stumble into the alternate universe, meet the girl of your dreams, and realize another way of being exists? Well, these two had to figure that one out.

This is a fun cozy book with a bit of mystery and suspense attached. It follows two girls, one who lives in a magical universe and one who doesn't. Things are similar but also SO different and after trying to find how to see each other again, they realize something bigger may be at play when others things/people start coming through the portals as well.

I really enjoyed this one and the concept was very interesting and I know this one is on a lot of y'all's radars. You won't be disappointed.

I had high hopes for this but it just wasn't for me. It was cute but boring. The story was all over the place and the characters annoying.

Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C. B. Lee is cozy, but thankfully not too cozy, after all, the fate of the world is in the hands of two high school seniors. Brenda, the queen of extracurriculars who lives and dies by her to-do list, and Kat, the genius slacker, who puts way more thought into her mind-bending pranks than any college application. The unlikely pair meets at Kat’s father’s coffee shop on a hot Los Angeles afternoon. And what starts out as adorable becomes world-altering.

While technically the stakes could not be higher in this meet-cute romance, Lee skillfully makes the inner lives of these two teens the star of the show. Brenda, with her toxic, goal-driven life, and Kat, with her aimless slog through terrible grief, pull the reader's attention away from magic spells and mood-altering potions. In some ways, Brenda’s choice to go on a date is more surprising than her ability to stop a wyvern in its tracks.

Drawing heavily from Dungeons and Dragons, fans of the game and newbies alike will be swept away by first kisses and awed by spells that break through the very fabric of reality. I am not sure if my favorite scene was Brenda and Kat taming a dragon or the description of them getting ready for the prom. Lee creates the perfect balance of action and sweetness. I especially appreciate how the author represented the culture, food, and people of Los Angeles. I highly recommend anyone who loves a warm drink and a portal to another dimension.

Although it was a cute premise it felt like it took a bit for the story to get going. I found it more difficult to fully connect with the characters even though I thought the plot was interesting. For me the pacing was off and a bit too slow but that’s probably just me. It’s a cute story that others should check out.

A heartwarming portal fantasy that blends cozy romance with imaginative world-building and well-researched history and culture.

I appreciated the cozy fantasy premise but I felt like the author was trying to do too much and not enough at the same time. The author reviews track with my experience -- it was just so SLOW. I wasn't engaged by the characters or the plot and couldn't handle sticking around for things to pick up. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC but this is a DNF for me.

This was such a cute story!!
I love how cozy fantasy is starting to make a name for itself and these will definitely be one of the titles I tell people to checkout.
If your a fan of YA and witty humor, I'd say give this book a chance.

I really liked this. It wasn't exactly what I expected, it was quite a lot more. it had romance but also politics and twists and a great villain. I just had a lot of fun with all of it. It was so silly at times and so deep and layered at others. I really really enjoyed it. However, it took me quite a long time to get through it, I felt like it could have been shorter. The romance didn't feel really flushed out too. It happens quite fast I think. But I really loved the main characters and their friends and the concept and the plot. It was such a good read. I really need to read all books by C.B. Lee.

This was a cute and fun read! While I’ve been pulling away from YA lately, I still found it enjoyable. It’s a fantasy romance with an intriguing concept—two parallel worlds colliding—which definitely had potential. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to what I’d hoped for. Still, a light and entertaining read overall!

Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe is an immersive and beautifully rendered alternate universe YA fantasy by C.B. Lee. Released 1st July 2025 by Macmillan on their Feiwel & Friends imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Alternate universe speculative fiction is rightfully very popular, and this is a good one. The characters are three dimensional and believable, the background settings are immersive and complete, and the author uses the chosen one trope to good effect.

Two Earths, one with magic, one without, connected by unstable portals. One nexus is located in a coffee shop and the two MCs meet without realizing that they're (literally) from two different worlds. The author uses the confusion to good effect (one's a gamer and the other one is absolutely gobsmacked that she faced down a dragon and lived to tell about it). It's nice to see female nerds/gamers get some positive representation. Both the MCs are female, and from SE Asian families, and the author does a good/sensitive/respectful job with all that as well. The romance plotline is sweet and gently written too.

There's a mystery involved and seeing them team up to save the world is satisfying and fun.

Four stars. It would be a good choice for public or home library acquisition, or for a nice sapphic buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, but sadly it fell a little flat for me. I'd seen it marketed as a fun and cosy book, but I didn't think it felt very cosy at all, so I kind of went in with the wrong expectations. I love the concept of this of two parallel worlds colliding, but the execution felt a little slow to build up, a little chaotic at times, and not as fresh and original as I was hoping. That's not to say I didn't enjoy this at all, but it didn't live up to my expectations and I didn't feel as emotionally invested as I'd like.