Cafe Con Lychee

By: Emery Lee

Narrated by: Avi Roque

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of Meet Cute Diary comes a delectable rom-com that’s brimming with zest and a sprinkle of sweetness. A must-read for fans of Casey McQuiston and Julian Winters.

Theo Mori and Gabriel Moreno have always been at odds. Their parents own rival businesses—an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery—and Gabi’s lack of coordination has cost their soccer team too many games to count.

Stuck in the closet and scared to pursue his own dreams, Gabi sees his family’s shop as his future. Stuck under the weight of his parents’ expectations, Theo’s best shot at leaving Vermont means first ensuring his parents’ livelihood is secure.

So when a new fusion café threatens both shops, Theo and Gabi realize an unfortunate truth—they can only achieve their goals by working together to cook up an underground snack operation and win back their customers. But can they put aside their differences long enough to save their parents’ shops, or will the new feelings between them boil over?

©2022 Emery Lee (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Mixed Feelings

Honestly, and I hate mentioning this kind of thing, because I'm sure he's a great guy, but the person reading Gabi made me want to quit the book several times. Like, a LOT. Every time it was his turn to read it was much less enjoyable to listen to. I don't know if he didn't practise ahead of time or what, but his cadence really feels like he's getting lost halfway through a sentence and is surprised by the ending of it. Every. Sentence. The guy that reads Theo is really good tho, and I did want to know what happened in the book, but yeah, I'd prefer not to listen to Gabi's reader ever again.

Had to get used to Gabi’s voice

I almost returned the audio book just because I personally hated Gabi’s voice, idk if it’s because I’m a Spanish speaker, surrounded by many Spanish speakers, all of which have varying degrees of accents based off their different countries of origins and different degrees of accent strengths and etc- all of which I absolutely adore (this is even including other non Spanish languages like Portuguese and etc)

I might just not have liked the voice in general or the voice combined with the Spanish accent, but yeah idk. Just my personal opinion. I’m sure it might not bother others the way it bothers me but it might not have helped that it listened to Cemetery Boys (which happens to include a character with a Spanish accent somewhat similar to Gabi’s) and I preferred those takes on Spanish voices far more,)

Sweetness

I consumed this story like a puff pastry. It's bite sized, sweet and leaves a lingering satisfying warmth.

Always love an Avi Roque narration

Found this while searching for more narrations by Avi Roque. This was a sweet and heartwarming story, and I appreciated the depth of Theo’s struggles with ADHD, as I have it as well. Highly recommend!

No curse words, no sexual displays, high school innocence

The story was such a delight. Talk about running a business, homecoming, light drama, some gossiping, heartfelt love, acceptance, coming of age, all that jazz all rolled up into one beautiful book. I’m not the type of person to request this, but I would love to see some more fanart of these two individuals. For those that are avoiding the topic, there is no instance of rape- which I’ve noticed has been a reoccurring theme in a lot of young adult romcom books.

Is good but might need some adjustments

It’s pretty boring and aggressive when it shouldn’t be…but it’s a heartfelt story and it has good character development

It was alright overall.

It felt a little rough, but I will admit the story did commit to concept in full. Two high school boys trying to save their family businesses, even if they don't always get along. The romance itself was a bit weak, though it's understandable and still unique enough to work. It wasn't a bad book, could still be worth the time.

cute

was cute. I wish there was more to the story as far as stuff that happens 🙂 I was almost done with it and it felt like not much had been accomplished. I really like how this author did the enemies to lovers without making the grumpy one unlikable. definitely worth the listen. probably won't listen to it ever again

Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover

This sat in my library for months while I put off reading it again and again - all because I didn’t like the cover art 😂

I’m glad I got over myself enough to give it a listen. It was genuinely so sweet and heartwarming and I liked both the narrators. It takes a good author to make you hate a character at first and then slowly come to love them, but that’s exactly how I felt about Theo. I’m glad he got his ray of sunshine in the end 😊

A Must-Read LGBTQ+ Story!

The characters are loveable and relatable, as is the story. Representation matters; this was beautiful!