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avidreader87's review
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Little Board Game Café is a sweet romance following Emily from fiancé to a fancy businessman with an overly attached mother to owner of a local café competing for it's place in the small town and the love she finds along the way.
This book is a cute, sweet, romance with a great board game theme. You don't need to have any experience with board games to enjoy the book, but if you are a board game lover, you will enjoy the references to some great games like Ticket to Ride, Scrabble, and Azul. There are plenty of board games I didn't I recognize, like Wasabi, also leaving me something to look up and take with me from this read.
The atmosphere and setting of this book was where it really shined and was the most well developed.
I thought the book lacked a bit in the area of character development, character relationships, dialogue, and pacing. Some of my concerns might have been related to cultural mannerism differences between the UK and the US. Emily sometimes came off as not very smart, when I don't honestly think she was meant to be portrayed in that way. For example, the scene where Ludek uses the Heimlich Maneuver to save Marjory from choking, Emily is confused about what he's doing - does Emily, a grown adult who has held at least two adult jobs and now owns a café, really not know what the Heimlich Maneuver is? I don't think so - I think the shock could have been better clarified without Emily presenting as a bit dense. In some moments, I questioned if Kate and Emily were really friends, as they both were just unkind to each other on occasions. In other moments the dialogue fell a bit flat when otherwise supported by a wonderfully developing story. Sometimes exciting moments were just truncated and left behind in order to move on to the next moment of drama in Emily's life, in lieu of further developing those emotional moments and it stunted the characters and story in those moments.
I think the plot and theme of this book make it more than worth it's time. It's a bit of a slower paced book and it feels like in many places readers can see what's coming around the bend, but we have to wait for it to get all the way to us. In that waiting time the author includes enough trials and tribulations for Emily to last her a lifetime, but in the end, I feel like the book is true to itself and the happily ever after shines at the conclusion. If you're looking for a book that is heavy on empowered women on their life journey and lighter on the romance, this book is definitely for you!
This review is based off of an ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley, and is my true and honest opinion and thoughts.
This book is a cute, sweet, romance with a great board game theme. You don't need to have any experience with board games to enjoy the book, but if you are a board game lover, you will enjoy the references to some great games like Ticket to Ride, Scrabble, and Azul. There are plenty of board games I didn't I recognize, like Wasabi, also leaving me something to look up and take with me from this read.
The atmosphere and setting of this book was where it really shined and was the most well developed.
I thought the book lacked a bit in the area of character development, character relationships, dialogue, and pacing. Some of my concerns might have been related to cultural mannerism differences between the UK and the US. Emily sometimes came off as not very smart, when I don't honestly think she was meant to be portrayed in that way.
I think the plot and theme of this book make it more than worth it's time. It's a bit of a slower paced book and it feels like in many places readers can see what's coming around the bend, but we have to wait for it to get all the way to us. In that waiting time the author includes enough trials and tribulations for Emily to last her a lifetime, but in the end, I feel like the book is true to itself and the happily ever after shines at the conclusion. If you're looking for a book that is heavy on empowered women on their life journey and lighter on the romance, this book is definitely for you!
This review is based off of an ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley, and is my true and honest opinion and thoughts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Fatphobia
Moderate: Car accident
nochill84's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Cute… would be a 5 star if it didn’t include a utterly stupid and pointless fatphobic side story. Truly gross. And very 90s in how it’s like hey Fatty McFat-Fat. I understand you are at a running club doing your thing not bothering anyone so we’ll just have some dehumanizing shizz said about you. And how gross abs disgusting you are. Oh, later in the book you’ve lost weight. Well now you deserve attention, to be spoken about like a human being and perhaps even desired. But certainly not when we first met you in the book.
It LITERALLY serves no purpose to the story. Didn’t advance the narrative at all. Just some old school pointless fatphobia.
And in a small town cozy “romance” (there is barely a romantic story it’s really more of a 30-something coming of age tell over a romance) to just throw in this stuff felt so out of pocket and mean spirited just to be mean. It’s a shame to ruin a perfectly good book with a pointless sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub storyline. Why?!
It LITERALLY serves no purpose to the story. Didn’t advance the narrative at all. Just some old school pointless fatphobia.
And in a small town cozy “romance” (there is barely a romantic story it’s really more of a 30-something coming of age tell over a romance) to just throw in this stuff felt so out of pocket and mean spirited just to be mean. It’s a shame to ruin a perfectly good book with a pointless sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub storyline. Why?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
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