Cafe Con Lychee

Written by Emery Lee

Narrated by Avi Roque and Kurt Kanazawa

From the author of Meet Cute Diary comes a delectable rom-com that’s brimming with zest and a sprinkle of sweetness. A must-read for fans of Casey McQuiston and Julian Winters.

Theo Mori and Gabriel Moreno have always been at odds. Their parents own rival businesses—an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery—and Gabi’s lack of coordination has cost their soccer team too many games to count.

Stuck in the closet and scared to pursue his own dreams, Gabi sees his family’s shop as his future. Stuck under the weight of his parents’ expectations, Theo’s best shot at leaving Vermont means first ensuring his parents’ livelihood is secure. 

So when a new fusion café threatens both shops, Theo and Gabi realize an unfortunate truth—they can only achieve their goals by working together to cook up an underground snack operation and win back their customers. But can they put aside their differences long enough to save their parents’ shops, or will the new feelings between them boil over?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063210301

Emery Lee

Emery Lee is a kidlit author, artist, and You-Tuber hailing from a mixed-racial background. After graduating with a degree in creative writing, e’s gone on to author novels, short stories, and web comics. When away from reading and writing, you’ll most likely find em engaged in art or snuggling cute dogs. Find em online at www.emeryleebooks.com.

Reviews for Cafe Con Lychee

[nekuthebitch · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

If I could, I would give zero stars to this.

[Dana Soltan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very sweet book, I loved the premise with the cafes and the commentary on food appropriation. However, I found a bit too angsty for my taste, and Theo was so unnecessarily rude to Gabi for a lot of the book that it made it seem like he was kicking a sad puppy. The resolution was wholesome and the ending was cute but I can’t believe we didn’t get a first kiss!! I was waiting for that since it felt like a lot of leading up to it! Don’t know why but I was super disappointed about that.

[regencyfan93 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I could feel the sense of driving off friends, being compared to a perfect sibling, and hopelessness. The end felt real, and I loved the final encounter with Uncle Greg!

[Jose Martinez · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Yep didn't like it, the enemies to lovers trope was not that strong which was the main reason I started the book. And the characters development was not that good.

[İpek Gürkaynak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

this is super cute!! i loved the representation and how the characters’ relationships developed

[Ari Torres · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cute! It's wholesome and adorable in the best way possible.

[Eli Vang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interracial enemies to lovers between two brown boys?
YES
Simple and sweet, this book is page turner that asks us to reckon with our presuppositions and personal projections.

[Gage Coll · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

sweet and invigorating like bubble tea with an espresso shoot

[Andrea Author · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To save their parents' businesses—an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery—high school rivals Gabriel and Theo join forces. They set up a secret online business delivering restaurant items to students during school hours. Working together, their enmity dissolves into friendship. Gabi is attracted to Theo, but Gabi is closeted—his parents repeatedly warn him to avoid the appearance of being gay. Can he and Theo hope to have a future together?

These characters are relatable and well-developed. Theo isn't very likeable at first but it's clear where his anger comes from. It's a pleasure to see them and their parents grow over the course of the novel. The love story is sweet and understated.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

teen fiction, gay rom-com, perfect summer read.super cute MM romance, at first disastrous (Gabi is in the closet, and keeps saying the exact wrong thing that makes Theo hate him more) but then they finally become friends, and ...maybe more than friends? I loved spending time with these two characters and their boba treats and pastries, and appreciate the complexity involved in their situations, with Theo's Chinese-Japanese American family being so different from Gabi's machismo Puerto Rican dad, and some of their friends going through things of their own. A perfect light, funny romance that will have you reaching for Emery Lee's next book.

[bibliovermis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked: the family enemies bit, all the cooking and food tasting, the friendships, and the family relationships.I disliked that it was an enemies to lovers kind of thing in which the characters, as enemies, didn't have any fun chemistry—instead of bickering or having a rivalry in any interesting way they just spent an awful lot of pages feeling either mad that the other didn't like them, guilty that they didn't like the other, or some combination thereof. Other than some time spent dealing with some internalized homophobia the time before realizing their mutual attraction was kind of boring!

[bumblybee-190414 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Café Con Lychee is a Romeo-and-Juliet queer YA romance about two boys whose families own competing cafés in the same town. Used to only having each other to vie for customers' attention, when a new competitor comes into town, Theo and Gabi take it upon themselves to do all they can to help their families' cafés stay afloat--and end up changing their minds about each other in the process. Having read Meet Cute Diary, Lee's previous book, I started off a little concerned that Theo sounded very similar to Noah in Meet Cute--which for me was a big turn-off. However, it quickly became clear that Theo is very different from Noah and not quite all sharp edges, which I really appreciated. Gabi, likewise, is not a "perfect" love interest, either, which was another issue I felt I had with Meet Cute. Both Theo and Gabi are dealing with different family issues; neither has an ideal home life, and I appreciate that Lee takes a look at both these situations, as unfortunately teens are likely to be facing similar ones at home. My only real critique is that the plot itself is a little unbelievable in certain parts. I don't really buy that no one would notice a rarely-used room at a school being used for non-school functions, and I'm honestly not really sure how the boys are able to keep their Big Plan under wraps from their parents and the school. That being said, these issues are fairly minor and aren't really at the heart of the story, anyway. Overall, I really enjoyed this read! Fans of the genre will love it, and for this reader the characters make up for any thin parts of the plot. Theo and Gabi are fantastic, and you'll be rooting for them every step of the way. Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.