A review by overzealous_reader
Coffee Shop Girl by Katie Cross

3.0

Coffee Shop Girl

“Just another day in the life of the owner of an almost-decrepit coffee shop in the middle of the mountains. One that had just missed her golden opportunity to pursue her ideal life.”

If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls with a pinch of This Is Us, then you’ll like this book.

After the death of her father, Bethany inherits her father’s coffee shop, Frolicking Moose. From the beginning, Frolicking Moose is a struggling business, and Bethany has no desire
to run the business herself.

Even with a struggling business, Bethany’s responsibilities force her to consider putting to save her father’s coffee shop. With the help of the stranger Maverick, Bethany begins to put in the effort to keep her father’s coffee shop alive.

The pros of the book:
The main character is indeed the strong point of this book. With Bethany dealing with the death of her father along with coming to terms with her mother’s faults. Along with her trying to figure out her next step. The way she builds on the relationships around her is intriguing and heartwarming.

The cons of the book:
Maverick. Maverick is a psychopath. Suppose you disregard his creepy borderline stalker ways. When Bethany sells her father’s bike to save the coffee shop, this psycho watches as she sells one of her and her father’s beloved motorcycle. Then he talks about his regret of not buying it and giving it back to her after her business gets back up and running since he did a similar thing with a previous client. And the reasoning behind him not buying the bike is because he believes that she wouldn’t take the bike back. Like, what? Then this psycho has the audacity to sit there as she’s heartbroken, saying it’s as if she’s losing her father all over again, and then proceeds to hug her. Like, what is going on? The only conclusion, for me, about this character is he’s a psychopath. He’s a wealthy guy who just watches as Bethany struggles and is like, actually, I’m here to help you because I like helping failing businesses. But at moments, he appears professional, and at other times he’s just trying to keep from making out with her. It’s so bizarre, but it’s so hard to like Maverick as he watched Bethany sell her father’s bike, especially after telling him how much she loved that bike as well.

In the end, Bethany deserves a better love interest. There were moments that Maverick almost seems to be a professional wanting to help Bethany, but there are times, for me, that Maverick is taking advantage of her. When Maverick realizes this, he’s the first one to tell her that he doesn’t want to take advantage of her, only for her to brush it off, and he just goes along with it. Both of them know that Bethany is still struggling with losing her father and dealing with the financial burden, but they both just ignore her fragile state of mind and just start sort of dating.

The whole thing was weird from the beginning and out of the blue. In the end, the great thing about this book is Bethany’s journey to becoming a responsible adult and her reconnection with her family.