Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee

Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026--San Antonio

Cafe Con Lychee by Emily was a disappointment to me.  The concept of the story is interesting, but it suffers, I think, from poor writing.  I knew within the first 20% of the book what the ending would be (and I'm not referring to the most obvious part of the two main characters becoming a couple in love which every reader should expect in this type of a book).  The route there was far too long with too many repeated examples of Theo being pissy in thoughts, words, and behavior;  and of both Theo and Gabi showing far more immaturity and lack of seld-assurance than should be the cast for intelligent 11th graders (maybe the characters should have been two eighth graders about to move from middle school to high school rather than 11th graders about to move on from high school).  Since it is supposed to be a young adult romance novel, it sure didn't let the romance develop much at all; it essentially ended within a few pages of the first signs of romance and only one kiss.   Maybe the author was afraid the book would be banned if it were written about the gay romance instead about school rules and regulations, problems with local businesses competing with new competition not owned by locals, so many side friendship relationships that all seemed to have more problems than they were worth, the drawbacks of being children of ethnic parents who are set in their ways and expectations, etc.  I made it through the whole book and judged it to be worth no more than 3 stars out of 5.  (That's somewhat equivalent to a student making a C in school today when probably 85% or more of all grades given are often A's.)