Cafe Con Lychee

By: Emery Lee

Narrated by: Avi Roque

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.

Sweetness

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

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,)

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!

The most precious baby gays

Café con Lychee was so fantastic. I loved every minute of it. The dynamic between the two main characters was so fun to follow and the ending was so gratifying and sweet. These poor, sweet baby gays go through so much to get their happily ever after, but my goodness is it happy.

Cute Story — Would Listen Again

It’s hard for me to say, but I didn’t really enjoy Gabi’s voice. It was still an excellent performance and nothing against the reader at all. It was just a bit hard to listen to, and I found myself dreading having to hear ‘chapter [#] - Gabi’. He just sounded too whiney to me, and while his character does have that vibe, a mixture of a soft, high voice with whiney (especially when it gets to reading for female characters)… it’s not a nice combo to listen to for 15-20 minutes per chapter. Though, I did eventually adjust to it and find it cute, it’s just a bit hard to get used to.

However the dynamic, the story, the everything? Very cute. And I highly recommend the story, I was able to finish it in two sittings, I feel the ending was a little underwhelming, hoping we could’ve gotten a bit more romance, but it’s a nice, happy ending. And I love the twist with Theo’s brother.