Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before We Say Goodbye (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #4)

 

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before We Say Goodbye (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #4)

4⭐

Genre: Fiction, Mystical Realism, Asian Literature, East Asian Literature, Japanese Literature, Short Stories, Book Series, Translated Books, Fantasy, Paranormal

Original Title: さよならも言えないうちに

Original Language: Japanese 

Translated by: Geoffrey Trousselot 

Pages: 192

Format: Paperback Proof

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 14th September 2023

Huge thank you to Picador for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

Book Blurb: 

The regulars at Café Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with the whimsical ability it grants them to take a trip into the past—as well as the strict rules involved, including that each traveller must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to get cold. In Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, patrons have been reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family and visited loved ones. Now readers will once again be introduced to a new set of visitors.

The Husband with Something Important Left to Say

The Woman Who Couldn’t Bid Her Dog Farewell

The Woman Who Couldn’t Answer a Proposal

The Daughter Who Drove Her Father Away

In Last Chance to Say Goodbye, which is translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and features signature heartwarming characters and wistful storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: What would you change if you could travel back in time?

My Review: 

I adored Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series, as well as I love Japanese literature, and this book is no exception. It was so amazing to come back to the Funiculi Funicula café and reunite with the café’s owners, and its regulars, yet at the same time immerse myself in new stories about people who chose to travel back in time for various reasons.

In this book, there are four more stories of people who decided they want to travel back in time. We met a husband who wanted to tell something very important to his wife who is in a coma. We also met a woman who wanted to say goodbye to her dog but didn’t have a chance before. There was also a story about a girl who couldn’t say yes to her boyfriend’s proposal until it was too late and we learn about a daughter who regretted pushing her father away and wants to set wrongs to rights.

I didn’t think all the stories were as strong as in the first three books, but I particularly enjoyed the one about the girl wanting to meet her father and say what she actually felt before she pushed him away. It was such a great story that linked to a significant event from a recent Japanese history and was perfectly intertwined with the main point of the café – to say what you want to say but didn’t have a chance before it is too late.

Overall: I really enjoyed being back with the characters that I grew to love over the last three books and the stories themselves were unique, different to one another and very heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I just wish there were more than four stories in each of the books as I love the style of writing, the mystical realism and how well the main characters are developed throughout this book. Truly recommend! 

About the Author:

Toshikazu Kawaguchi (in Japanese: 川口 俊 和) was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed, and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from an 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is his debut as an author. It has become an international bestseller and has been adapted for the screen in Japan.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/toshikazu-kawaguchi/28093

Dustin Thao - You've Reached Sam

Dustin Thao - You've Reached Sam

3 ⭐

Genre: YA, Romance, Mystical Realism, Fantasy, Fiction, Contemporary Fiction 

Pages: 296

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Macmillan 

Date Published: 26th May 2022

 

Book Blurb: 

Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.

Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.

And Sam picks up the phone.

In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.

My Review: 

This book was really sweet and easy to read, but I expected so much more, as it had raving reviews on Booksta and BookTok. It had so much potential yet was really underwhelmed with the unlikable heroine. I liked the writing and really loved the premise of the book, especially the mystical realism aspect, yet I didn’t feel connected either to the characters or the plot.

This book follows Julie, who is grieving her boyfriend Sam. She also feels guilty, as the reason that Sam was in an accident in the first place, was that he was going to see her. One evening she receives a phone call and on the line is Sam. He explains that they can now have limited time to speak on the phone and say their goodbyes to each other.

I liked how this book didn’t shy away from exploring different ways in which people deal with grief and how they cope with losing a loved one. However, apart from that I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Julie for me felt very insensitive to others and lashed out at everyone who tried to support her. It felt like she thought her grief is the only one that was truly valid, even though other people loved Sam just as much. Julie's personal development and growth during this book also for me felt a bit flat. Additionally, Sam’s character wasn’t developed either. True, it might be because we see him through Julie and their phone calls, but I didn’t feel much chemistry and love between them both.

Overall: Sadly, for me this book wasn’t what I expected it to be, although it covers topics that I am interested to read about. It was really sweet and easy to read, but apart from the writing and exploration of grief, I didn’t find much connection with the characters, their development and the plot. Maybe I just wanted a bit more deeper emotions than this book provided me with. 

About the Author:

Dustin Thao is a Vietnamese American writer based in New York City. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Political Science, and is currently in a PhD program at Northwestern University. He writes contemporary fiction, and his debut novel You’ve Reached Sam will be published November 2021 with Wednesday Books.

https://twitter.com/Dustin_Thao

Muriel Barbery - A Single Rose

Muriel Barbery - A Single Rose 

4⭐

Genre: Fiction, Mystical Realism,  Translated Books, Contemporary Fiction, French Literature, Novella  

Original Title: Une Rose Seule

Original Language: French 

Translated by: Alison Anderson 

Pages: 144

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Gallic Books 

Date Published: 19th January 2023

 

      Thank you to Gallic Books for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a story about a woman's journey to discover the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.

Rose has just turned forty when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father's will. And so for the first time in her life, she finds herself in Japan, where Paul, her father's assistant, is waiting to greet her.

As Paul guides Rose along a mysterious itinerary designed by her deceased father, her bitterness and anger are soothed by the stones and the trees in the Zen gardens they move through. During their walks, Rose encounters acquaintances of her father--including a potter and poet, an old lady friend, his housekeeper and chauffeur--whose interactions help her to slowly begin to accept a part of herself that she has never before acknowledged.

As the reading of the will gets closer, Rose's father finally, posthumously, opens his heart to his daughter, offering her a poignant understanding of his love and a way to accept all she has lost.

My Review: 

This story perfectly mixes mystical realism and ancient Japanese culture with the feelings and emotions of someone who is going through grief and their healing process. I love Japanese mystical realism and their culture to believe in ghosts, spirits and the afterlife. I also adored how the author sets every scene, whilst transporting the reader straight into the set. The descriptions of zen gardens, temples, streets, restaurants and nature made me feel like I am in Kyoto there with Rose experiencing what she is experiencing. Such superb writing!

This book follows Rose who travels to Kyoto, Japan for her late fathers will reading. In France, she was a lost soul, with no family, no purpose in life, no kids and no family that left…Rose feels like all she is here for is pain and loneliness…However, whilst in Kyoto, before her father’s will is read, her father actually left her a letter and asked his assistant Paul to show Rose around Kyoto, visiting the places that were significant in Rose’s father’s life. In this way, Rose’s father hoped that Rose will get to know him more and make up for the lost time and the fact that she never met him when he was alive. Paul takes Rose on different adventures around Kyoto and all the places her father wanted her to visit, whilst Rose slowly starts to find herself. She also starts reflecting on her life, and her purpose and slowly understands her connection to her father and Japan.

Although the book is very short (novella length) it felt like a full-sized book, as there was so much packed into every page. So many feelings, descriptions, scenery, and culture packed into this story.  I loved that this book was about a character who is trying to find themselves, whilst also going through grief and loss. Personally, I could relate to this book so much. However, this book is not only a journey of self-discovery, acceptance and love, it is also a story of finding a place to belong, finding your soulmate and discovering a new culture and traditions, all mixed with a bit of Japanese mystical realism.

Overall: Excellent short book for escapism, that tells a story about self-discovery, love, belonging, grief and loss, whilst also exploring Japanese culture and traditions with a bit of mystical realism. Beautiful writing and scene setting, with loads of descriptions of flowers and a sprinkle of Japanese folk stories. 

About the Author:

Muriel Barbery is the author of four previous novels, including the IMPAC-shortlisted multimillion-copy bestseller The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

She has lived in Kyoto, Amsterdam and Paris and now lives in the French countryside.

https://belgraviabooks.com/writer/muriel-barbery?i=1

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before Your Memory Fades (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #3)

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before Your Memory Fades (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #3)

5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Mystical Realism, Asian Literature, East Asian Literature, Japanese Literature, Short Stories, Book Series, Translated Books, Fantasy, Paranormal

Original Title: 思い出が消えないうちに

Original Language: Japanese 

Translated by: Geoffrey Trousselot 

Pages: 224

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 30th August 2022

Huge thank you to Picador for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

Book Blurb: 

The third novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, follows four new customers in a cafe where customers can travel back in time.

In northern Japan, overlooking the spectacular view Hakodate Port has to offer, Cafe Donna Donna has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, readers will also be introduced to:

A daughter who couldn’t say ‘You’re an idiot.’
A comedian who couldn’t ask ‘Are you happy?’
A younger sister who couldn’t say ‘Sorry.’
A young man who couldn’t say ‘I like you.’

With his signature heart-warming characters and immersive storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Toshikazu Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

My Review: 

OMG! The third book of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is even better than the last two. This usually doesn’t happen in the world of book series for me. However, I take that as an amazing thing. I love this series. It has everything that I love, it is set in Japan, it has mystical realism, it talks and discusses important subjects and the writing with translation are just superb.

This third instalment is slightly different from the first two, because the scene moves to rural northern Japan, to a Hakodate port by the hillside of the Mount. Hakodate. Nagare and Kazu, owners of the café in Tokyo are asked by the owner of Hakodate’s café to look after it, whilst she is away. Nagare and Kazu agree thus we meet a completely different group of customers who want to travel to the past or the future in this café. This café in Hakodate also has the same magical chair that can help you time travel. The rules are also the same.

In this book, we meet a daughter who wants to travel to see her dead parents and tell them how much she hates them. We also meet a successful comedian who wants to share his success with his wife who passed away and who he misses dearly. Additionally, we get to know a local boy who wants to travel into the past upon realizing that the girl who was by his side from a young age is the one for him, as well as, we get to read the story of two sisters, one of them passed away and the other is consumed with grief and need to hear from her deceased sister that it is alright to be happy.

I liked how much this book interlinked with the first two, as this made the move to another location so much more natural. I also really liked the change in scenery, as I think changing the location of the café made the stories of the customers fresher.

I felt that this book was concentrating more on grief, loss, and losing loved ones in comparison to the two previous books. I honestly, really liked this, as it explored different characters and how they all deal with loss and grief in their separate ways. It makes the book realistic and relatable. The only thing I hoped that this book would do, which it sadly didn’t explore, was the origin story of the ghost that sits in the time travel chair in this café in Hakodate.

The ending of this book was so heart-wrenching and I honestly shed a tear or two, as it was that beautiful and sad at the same time. It made me think about life and loss, whilst also remembering and cherishing all the good memories and moment that comes my way.

Overall: Another perfect read for windy autumn weather, whilst enjoying a frothy cup of coffee under a fluffy blanket. Such a lovely book, which has so much food for thought and so many lessons about life, loss, and grief. Loved it and hope that there will be more instalments of this series in the future as I will be keeping my eyes peeled for that. 

About the Author:

Toshikazu Kawaguchi (in Japanese: 川口 俊 和) was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed, and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from an 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is his debut as an author. It has become an international bestseller and has been adapted for the screen in Japan.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/toshikazu-kawaguchi/28093

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #2)

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #2)

5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Mystical Realism, Asian Literature, East Asian Literature, Japanese Literature, Short Stories, Book Series, Translated Books, Fantasy, Paranormal

Original Title: この嘘がばれないうちに

Original Language: Japanese 

Translated by: Geoffrey Trousselot 

Pages: 192

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 17th September 2020

Book Blurb: 

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time...

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer.

Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi's previous novel, we will be introduced to:

The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift...

This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time? 

My Review: 

I loved the first book but this second installment was even better. All four stories were heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time, as well as, covering so much depth when it comes to grief, loss, love, relationships, happiness, and illness. Each of the characters were so well explored and their stories are also so relatable.

The second installment of Before Coffee Gets Cold presents readers with four new customers in the café that want to time travel to the past or the future. In the first story, we meet a man who wants to visit his best friend and tell him about his daughter. The second story follows a boy who didn’t have a chance to go to his mother’s funeral but wants to see her one last time. The third story presents us with a soon-to-be husband who is also terminally ill and visits his fiancé in the future in the hope to see her happy without him. The fourth story follows a detective who is now retired and wants to travel to the past to give his wife one last gift for her last birthday that he sadly missed.

Loved that we get to learn more about Kazu, one of the café’s waitresses, as well as a backstory of the ghost that occupies the time-traveling chair. For me, Kazu’s backstory was a highlight of this second book. Also, Miki's character was just so adorable. She added so many good emotions and happiness to the café and customers, as well as changed the café’s mood from very mysterious as in the first book to very welcoming and homely, which was a very interesting change. I believe that these background stories about the café’s staff and the café itself just add so much atmosphere to the story and keep all the stories so well interconnected.

Overall: It is another heart-warming and heart-wrenching installment of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I love mythical realism in Japanese literature and this series executed this so well. Mystical realism mixed with everyday characters and stories makes this book a perfect blend for the perfect autumn read. I loved it so much and recommend it to everyone that loves short stories, Japanese literature, and mystical realism. 

About the Author:

Toshikazu Kawaguchi (in Japanese: 川口 俊 和) was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from an 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is his debut as an author. It has become an international bestseller and has been adapted for the screen in Japan.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/toshikazu-kawaguchi/28093

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #1)

Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold #1

4.5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Mystical Realism, Asian Literature, East Asian Literature, Japanese Literature, Short Stories, Book Series, Translated Books, Fantasy, Paranormal

Original Title: コーヒーが冷めないうちに

Original Language: Japanese

Translated by: Geoffrey Trousselot 

Pages: 213

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 19th September 2019 

Book Blurb: 

What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, and receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, the moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

My Review: 

I have recently kindly been sent the third instalment of this series, Before Your Memory Fades, by Picador and decided to re-read the first two, to fully immerse myself into the plots and characters. I love mystical and magical realism and Japanese literature has plenty of that. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is not an exception. It brilliantly links mystical and magical realism with the important topics about life, loss, grief, forgiveness, second chances, and happiness. In only 200 pages this book has so much to give and so much food for thought about all of those topics. I loved it with all my heart.

The book follows four different stories all set in a small cafe in Tokyo. This cafe is not ordinary, it offers its customers a chance to travel in time, to the past and the future. However, there are strict rules that each customer needs to follow if they want to travel in time. They need to sit in a certain seat, they can’t change the future or the past and they can only travel to see people who previously visited this cafe. Oh…and they need to come back from the time travel before their coffee gets cold.

In this first instalment, we meet a girl who wants to travel back in time to tell her boyfriend not to leave her for work abroad opportunity. We also meet a wife that travels into the past to talk to her husband who is slowly losing his memory to Alzheimer’s. The third story is about a sister who wants to visit her younger sister who passed away one last time to make amends. The fourth story is about a mother who wants to travel into the future to visit her daughter, who she might never meet otherwise.

I loved that each of the stories has a lesson behind it and very gently discusses all the subjects of life, death, loss, grief, etc. Each story is very touching and features characters that as a reader you can easily relate to. One rule of the cafe is that you cannot change the past or the future no matter what, but although you can't change what happened or what might happen, travelling to the past or the future for these characters most of the time offers something better. Some characters got closure, some wanted forgiveness and some wanted to get permission to be happy from their loved ones. So, even though the past or the future didn’t change for those characters, seeing and speaking to a person they wanted to visit one last time, changed something within them, allowing each of them to move on in their way.

I also loved the atmospheric setting of the cafe and the fact that all of the stories and characters are somehow interconnected, which just shows that life is not as simple as we think it is. Stories also give a glimpse into the cafe's past and its owners, which just adds so much to the overall atmosphere and mysticism of this cafe.

Overall: It is a very unique book and has all the things that I love about Japanese literature.  Each of the stories in this book taught me something different and each of them allowed me to look at life, grief, loss, love and relationships in a different way. Heart-warming book that should be on everyone’s bookshelf and definitely a perfect read for long autumn nights. 

About the Author:

Toshikazu Kawaguchi (in Japanese: 川口 俊 和) was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from an 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is his debut as an author. It has become an international bestseller and has been adapted for the screen in Japan.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/toshikazu-kawaguchi/28093

Laura Imai Messina - The Phone Box at the Edge of the World

Laura Imai Messina - The Phone Box at the Edge of the World 

3.5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Asian Literature, Mystical Realism

Original Title: Quel Che Affidiamo al Vento

Original Language: Italian 

Translated by: Lucy Rand 

Pages: 416 

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Manilla Press 

Date Published: 4th March 2021 

Book Blurb: 

We all have something to tell those we have lost.

On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.

When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find.

Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking.

My Review: 

I really liked this book but I was a bit disappointed, as I had so much higher expectations for it. Not going to lie, it is written in a very simple and rather beautiful language, capturing different emotions experienced by people when they lose loved ones. It nicely explored the grief and loss of the main two characters, as well as the grief and loss of the people they met in the Phone Box on the edge of the world. However, it had the perfect setting and premise to dig deeper into the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and how the day-to-day lives of communities across Japan were affected by it. All of that was mentioned but only very minimally through the main character and one side character. When I heard about this book and when I got it, from the blurb and reviews I expected it to be all about how the Phone Box was helping people to deal with the losses of their loved ones during that particular disaster.

The book follows Yui who lost her mother and her daughter during a Tohoku Tsunami in 2011. Although a few years have passed, she still doesn’t feel like she can forget or let the memory of them both go. She still hopes to see them and although she knows she will not see them again, she tells herself she can’t be happy because they aren’t here with her to be happy too. Then one day she hears about this Phone Box that someone has built in their garden. The Phone Box attracts so many people who are mourning their loved ones and want to have one last conversation with them. Yui decides to go and use the Phone Box to talk to her mother and daughter. On the way there she meets Takeshi, a father and a husband, who lost his wife and whose daughter refuses to speak after her mother died. Yui and Takeshi straight away connect and understand each other as they start their journey to the Phone Box at the Edge of the World. Throughout their journey and the years that followed, they meet numerous people who are visiting the Phone Box to talk to their loved ones, to give up the grief or just to remember the good moments, because everyone's grief is different…

I liked the mythical realism element added to this book, as it is believed that the Phone Box carries a person's voice to their lost loved ones. Also, the fact that this Phone Box can help people with grief and loss just melted my heart.

I hoped that this story would be more heart-wrenching than it is. I also hoped that it was going to explore the lives of the communities who were affected by the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and how the Phone Box helped them to deal with grief and loss. I also hoped more would happen in the book, like more of a story with the two main characters and how they needed each other to overcome the grief and more conversations that they had to help each other with loss. It just felt at times that their relationship was a bit rushed and their need for each other wasn’t properly explained. Other than that, it is a very beautifully written story with a very interesting premise.

Overall: I liked this book even though it didn’t meet my expectations fully. It is still very well written and touches just the right heartstrings. It also explores grief and loss in a very interesting but also beautiful way with bits of mythical realism added. I also really liked the friendships Yui and Takeshi made with people who visited this Phone Box when they were there. Also, the fact that the book is based on the Phone Box that exists in real life is very interesting. I recommend this book if you want to read a beautifully written book with not much going on, but that deeply explores grief and loss and how people deal with it in different ways.

About the Author:

Laura Imai Messina was born in Rome and graduated in Literature from La Sapienza University. She moved to Tokyo at the age of twenty-three to perfect the language and has been permanently living in Japan ever since. She obtained a first-level doctorate in Comparative Cultures at the International Christian University with a thesis on the Japanese writer Ogawa Yōko and at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies a PhD with a comparative thesis on the subject of materiality in Japanese and European literature.

https://www.lauraimaimessina.com/

C.J. Connolly - The Love of My Other Life

C.J. Connolly - The Love of My Other Life 

4⭐

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Chick Lit, Magical Realism. 

Pages:  366

Format: Kindle 

Publisher: Joffe Books 

Date Published: 30th June 2022 

Book Blurb: 

Imagine you woke up with the perfect life . . . But it wasn’t yours.

Today is Josie’s 36th birthday.

Josie’s a single British woman living in a tiny walk-up in Brooklyn. She misses her family, but her radio show is starting to go places. And sure, she could be a dress size smaller, but no one cares what you look like on the radio. The guy she’s had a crush on for months, is finally going to break up with his girlfriend. She hopes.

She’s zipping through traffic on her way to meet friends for dinner at a SoHo restaurant. There’s a screech of brakes, Josie crashes her bike, and her world goes black.

Then something extraordinary happens.

She wakes up in hospital. The handsome stranger by her side, holding her hand and telling her he loves her, is Rob. Her husband of two years. They live in a chic Manhattan penthouse. She works in real estate. And she’s thirty pounds slimmer than when she got on her bike that morning.

Josie has no idea how she got here. This new life is everything she ever wanted. But there’s one thing missing . . .

And now she has to decide: should she go back to her old single life in Brooklyn or stay with the love of her nearly perfect new life?

What would you do?

This extraordinary and unforgettable love story is perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Audrey Niffenegger, Diana Gabaldon, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls, Colleen Hoover, Laura Barnett, and Rebecca Searle and Holly Miller.

My Review: 

The premise of this book intrigued me so much that I had to read it. That, and I was craving to read a romance book that was good after a few 2-star romance books. I never actually read a romance book that is set in a multiverse but this book was such a great and easy read, with loads of heartwarming, funny and awkward moments, yet at the same time some parts of this book were quite sad. I liked the balance between the happy and sad in this book. Also, the romance itself was not over the top, as the book explored other topics too, such as grief, marriage, and relationships.

The story follows Josie Cavendish, a British woman in her thirties living in New York. She is happy with her cosy life in a tiny flat, her job on the local radio and her choir classes. However, she also misses her family that lives abroad and wants to finally find someone to love. She has a crush on her choir friend Peter who is in a long-term relationship and as he is just about to break up with his girlfriend and tell Josie that he wants to be together, Josie has a bike crash. She wakes up in a hospital surrounded by her family and her husband Rob. She then discovers that she lives a luxurious life with Rob (who she doesn’t know or remember), however, so many things from her previous life are missing in this rather perfect timeline. Josie starts to miss her old life but at the same time, she falls in love with Rob, not knowing that Josie from this timeline switched places with her and now living her old life in New York. Both Josies are loving their new lives but at the same time, they start missing people from their old lives…but the question is whether both of them want to give up their past lives.

Josie’s character, in both universes, is so relatable and real. I loved how both Josies personalities grew when they woke up in each other’s universes. Also, how they realised that one event in the past changed the way they both live their lives, and what people they met and still have in their lives. Both Josies are also understanding of one another, they have the same strong emotions and choices to make which are not always as easy. Both of them also realise that some things in life matter more than others. Such a likeable and honest character in both timelines.

I wish there was more from Rob’s and Peter’s characters, as in this book they both seemed whiny about Josie’s memories and attachments to her other life. They both assumed that it is the same Josie and just went with that idea, instead of listening to what each Josie was telling them from the day of the accident. I just felt that they could have been more understanding and more supportive of this situation. At parts both of them, Rob and Peter were acting like teenagers thinking about themselves and having very little consideration for Josie.

Overall: Parts of this book were slow and I wished that more was happening but like I mentioned before it still is a very quick and easy romance book. This book also explored other topics, such as grief, death, relationships and marriage, which was interesting to read, especially from the viewpoints of the same person living in two parallel universes. The premise of the book is really good and fresh, and I liked how quickly it reads and uncomplicated the plotline was. Honestly, brilliant book if you are in a reading slump, as it would definitely get you out of one. Oh, and the ending is just cute! 

About the Author:

CJ Connolly is a new author, based in Vancouver, Canada, and originally from London, England. She is the author of The Love of My Other Life, a commercial women’s novel with a magic realism premise, set in present-day New York City.

CJ has a background in brand communications and journalism, with two decades of editing, writing, and marketing experience in the Vancouver and London media and tech industries. She has also hosted a real estate-focused talk radio show and has experience reporting on TV and speaking on and moderating conference panels. In her free time – in addition to writing novels – she is a passionate singer, and a founding member of a vocal harmony group in Vancouver.

https://cjconnollybooks.com/

Glendy Vanderah - The Oceanography of the Moon

 

Glendy Vanderah - The Oceanography of the Moon

 4.5 ⭐

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Domestic Fiction 

Pages: 334

Format:  eARC on NetGalley 

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Date Published: 22nd March 2022

Huge thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for eARC to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

After the untimely deaths of her aunt and mother, young Riley Mays moved from Chicago to her cousins’ Wisconsin farm. Here she found solace in caring for her extraordinary adoptive brother, exploring the surrounding wild nature, and gazing at the mystical moon—a private refuge in which she hides from her most painful memories. But ten years later, now twenty-one, Riley feels too confined by the protective walls she’s erected around herself. When a stranger enters her family’s remote world, Riley senses something he’s hiding, a desire to escape that she understands well.

Suffering from writer’s block, bestselling novelist Vaughn Orr has taken to the country roads when he happens upon the accommodating, if somewhat unusual, Mays family. He’s soon captivated by their eccentricities—and especially by Riley and her quiet tenacity. In her, he recognizes a shared need to keep heartbreaking secrets buried.

As the worst moments of their lives threaten to surface, Riley and Vaughn must find the courage to confront them if they’re to have any hope of a happy future. With the help of Riley’s supportive family, a dash of everyday magic, and the healing power of nature, can the pair let go of the troubled pasts they’ve clung to so tightly for so long? 

My Review:

The Oceanography of the Moon is the first book I’ve read by Glendy Vanderah. Although I have heard of her other books, The Oceanography of the Moon just captured my attention. I was so intrigued by the name of the book and the blurb, that I had to read it. 
I was not disappointed. This book is so beautifully written, I just loved the bits where the author used magical realism to bring this story alive. For me, the meanings behind the seas of the moon and how that links to Riley and her story were so well integrated into the plot. 
The story itself, follows Riley, a 21 old girl who is living with her cousin Alec, his wife Sachi and their kid Kiran. Riley lived with them since a tragic accident involving her mother and aunt when she was 11. Riley is not been herself since that accident. Her soul is broken, she has a big secret that she can’t share with anyone. Her escape from all that is the moon and its seas…a life that she created for herself and where she spends most of her time until bestselling writer Vaughn enters her life. However, Vaughn has his demons, his past tragedies that intertwine with Riley’s life instantly.
There were a few things that I didn’t particularly like. Firstly, I felt that Vaughn’s and Riley’s love was a bit forced. I felt the attraction that they had but, I also felt that the romance between them happened too quickly. Maybe I just hoped that they will become friends who help each other overcome their own pain and demons, which will then turn into love.   
I honestly really liked this story, especially the slow build-up, as each chapter revealed something new about the past of either Riley or Vaughn. This very much kept the suspense for me as to what happened to both of them to make them so hurt, so broken, so fragile inside. I also fell in love with other characters in this story, especially Kiran and Sachi, as they were so loving, caring and genuine. Also, don’t forget the backdrop of the story, how the nature and natural world were used to bring this book to life, making it more mysterious and magical. I really loved that aspect. 
At times Riley to me seemed a bit immature in the way she acted, but at the same time, it made me realise that she mostly kept herself to herself all her life and hasn’t had a chance yet to explore what is outside her world. 
Third, the Kaz character and his scene at the end were so predictable and didn’t add anything to the story, just made it a bit longer. I think this book would have been so much better without that scene. 
In summary, I liked this book and I would give it a solid 4.5 rating for it. This story made me intrigued about other Vanderah books, which I will definitely be adding to my reading list. I do recommend this book if you want a story that has some mystical vibes, has loads of lovable characters, written beautifully, whilst exploring past traumas, love,  pain, trust and family relationships.

Big thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC copy.

This review was first published on NetGalley and can be found on:

https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/241886/review/959200 

About an Author: 

Glendy Vanderah worked as an endangered bird specialist in Illinois before she became a writer. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in rural Florida with as many birds, butterflies, and wildflowers as she can lure to her land. 

 http://glendyvanderah.com/