Reviews

It was better than the 2nd book but not as good as the 1st. It is lovely to see what happens to all the coffee shop family but I felt it was a bit drawn out and some of the drama a bit unnecessary.

jessicamason362's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I am giving this a 4.25 as it’s better than the second sequel and first book, but I don’t think it’s any higher than a 4.25 in comparison to other books on my review list. I will outline the reasons why below; but mainly because some of the chapters towards the end felt a little repetitive and perhaps unrealistic, but who am I to know as someone who lives in England.

While the author didn’t shy away from the possibility of anyone dying, the fact that nobody did made it a little unrealistic for me.

I said in my first review that the problems seem to be solved too quickly and it wouldn’t be realistic, whereas this book was realistic in how much back and forth there was to get the family out of Kabul. In cases it felt a little repetitive but I think it was 99% good. Repetitive in the nature that the author kept giving reasons to stay and go for EACH character and I get it’s a moral decision and the whole plot of the book but it felt a little samey at times. Especially when the chapter would decide they were going and then one character would be like ‘but why do we have to go’ and then they would change their mind. It’s like why did I just read that whole chapter then. I know it’s a huge decision to make in the context of the plot but as the reader it felt a bit samey, especially like I say when this is the entire plot.

MORE SPOILERS BELOW BUT IT WONT LET ME BLACK OUT

I also think realistically they would not have got out or at least someone would have lost their life. I think that would have made the book more memorable and heartbreaking but I understand this book series started out lighthearted and as a reader the aim is that we learn of these hardships but through a family so it can’t be too harrowing like a memoir.

I would have liked to have read more about how the family settled in America. Not sure if the author will do another book about this, maybe with people like Layla and Ahmet as the main characters in a few years, but I think the book was just like yep they’re there and they are having Christmas dinner out of nowhere. When a lot of the book was about their fears of settling in America I would have liked a couple of chapters of how they were finding it. The Christmas dinner bit was such a lovely lovely ending (as much as I think the happy ending is unrealistic I did really like the Christmas element) and the speeches genuinely made me nearly near up it was really nice.

This was my favourite book of the series because it was a real page turner and felt a faster pace and left me feeling very tense and eager to find out what happened next. The stand out heart racing plot points were the children getting lost in the airport and Kat being taken by her father. I feel the author’s writing style and dialogue had improved too when I’ve had issues with this prior. I like that the author leaves nuggets of information that when you are reading the beginning of the book you just think she is setting up the story and including little extra details so you can picture it but it actually is relevant to plot points in the thick of the book such as Kat getting a tattoo and therefore the Taliban not wanting to take her. Through this way you also learn things such as that tattoos aren’t allowed, which is another reason I love this book series.

Although I do enjoy learning about Afghanistan, I do feel like I need to do some more research, and I do find it heartbreaking that the author started this series when the taliban had not taken back over and people may have thought they would not. And now they have. But I’m glad the author wrote about this and brought it to people’s attention. As I am writing this review, the book was published 1 year ago, and since then in the news the Taliban have gotten even more controlling which is scary.

I also felt like it was less white people saving the day this time and that the family went to the airport off their own back so it didn’t feel as insensitive as some of the previous story lines.

I read this book very soon after the second sequel which I’m glad about as I felt really emersed into the characters and story. But I did like that the author linked back to the books but not in a super obvious way to remind you of things that had happened. I would even go so much to say you don’t need to read the second book and you could just read a summary as I feel like it didn’t relate to the second one that much and was mostly a connection to the first, with characters such as Joe & Sky from the Vineyard not in this book or barely even mentioned. I’m not sure if I just can’t remember or if it didn’t say but idek if Joe is still alive for example. I feel like he would have been at the Xmas party if he was so felt like this detail was missing.

The author also tried to include things from news reports such as about Trump and Covid which I felt was a little obvious and on the nose and could have been woven in a bit better to the story or dialogue. And some were a bit cringe.

My favourite characters were Yaz, Rashif, Kat & actually Sunny this time around. I understand without characters like Layla none of these issues would be solved, but I think she put her family in extreme danger at times and could be a little irresponsible and see NO wrong in what’s he was doing. The only thing I didn’t like about Sunny’s chat after was that again she was putting them in danger by just being there and saying she couldn’t leave without them. But maybe none of them would have left if they got caught. But she wasn’t as annoying as usual in this book. And well done to Candace for saving the day. Again there was constant character development with Ahmet’s character, and he seems to be the only character that has this happen to him, I’d rather he was the reformed one and maybe Yaz not be so reformed and go backwards or something that would be less predictable, but anyway I’m glad he just had a few blips. I missed Zara’s character from the second book. And as for Halajn who is usually my fave, the fact she packed too much luggage at first and such annoyed me like think practically in a crisis woman. I loved Kat’s character development from being rude and dismissive to learning and helping in Kabul. Layla could have helped out at the women’s shelters more instead of going to cafes and posting on Instagram about it as if that’s going to do anything more than put people in danger. Rasif is just such a gem always helping people and playing with the kids.

Kat getting kidnapped was very unexpected and probably the book that shocked me the most, alongside none of the airport workers helping to find the children. That was crazy too. And the fact Layla stayed behind again shocked me a bit.

I also connected with this book more after reading the author’s notes. The author actually is like Candace in this story and helped people get out and helped 70 people as a volunteer with no prior experience unlike Candace which is amazing. This explains the paragraph where Candace was saying how overwhelmed with pressure she felt. She also opened a beauty school to help refugees get jobs who were at the original beauty school. Over 45 graduates. And she explains that she didn’t intend to write a 3rd book but how could she not when they didn’t no longer live happily ever after. She began to write their stories down and it happened from there. So maybe she won’t think about writing another book unless Kabul was to change and they were able to go back or to showcase issues of immigrants in America which I would find interesting through these characters.

inni91's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

booksofjj's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

An amazing final chapter to this trilogy of books. It gives all the characters the end they deserve while also talking about some of the more challenging aspects of life in Kabul during the time period of the book

giraffe786's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Farewell to the little coffee shop of Kabul is a tense ending to the trilogy that keeps you on the edge of your seat willing for the family to have a happy ending. The dates at the start of the chapters create a sense of the impending doom facing the family and Afghanistan and the many twists and turns on their journey to safety keeps you constantly engaged. A fitting summation of the story that also leaves room for imagining how the rest of their lives turn out

carlyw33's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

chloeab's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

More...