teereadsbooks 's review for:

Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Okay, this one was cute, simple, entertaining, and easy to read. Theo and Gabi are complex characters. They have a lot of intense thoughts and feelings, as any teenagers would. We see these two families with competing businesses while experiencing similar yet different struggles between them through the eyes of their sons, Theo and Gabi. This story has a lot of coming-of-age components, like dealing with change and growing up. Both MCs go through their own journeys of self-discovery and growth. Theo learns to better navigate his anger and better communicate with his family. Gabi learns to accept himself and to stand up for himself and others, especially with his family. Overall, this is a great story, and I enjoyed it a bit more than this author's other book, Meet Cute Diary. The only thing that took away some points was Theo's over excessive anger towards everyone and everything. Yes, a lot of teens experience a lot of anger as they work to better process their thoughts and emotions. But Theo's reactions became annoying at times and would make me roll my eyes.