Before the coffee gets cold- ARC review (Late)

Title: Before the coffee gets cold

Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Sci-Fi, Cosy reads

# of pages: 208

Date of publication: 19^th September 2019

Did you ever say at least once, “If I could go back in time I would do things differently.” If yes, then this book is for you.

Imagine a café lets you go back in time, what will you do, whom will you meet? And tell them those things we regret not telling them. There is only 1 rule, you have to drink the coffee before it gets cold

Before the coffee gets cold is about 4 different people from different instances in life go back in time to say those words, they missed saying.

Fumiko lets her love of life, Goro go to the USA. But could she do things differently?

Kohtake is a nurse by profession. But what will she do when Fusagi loses his memory and her, his wife?

Hirai stopped talking to Kumi over the familial inn. Is the inn more important than Kumi?

Kei is pregnant despite her heart condition. Will she be able to raise her child as she wished?

The book has four chapters for the 4 people. As a reader, you won’t realize this until you finish the book. The best part of the book apart from its theme is its setting. The author set the entire book in the café. The description of the setting is beautiful and imaginative. It transported me to the café while reading the book. Each important element has added more charm to it. The bell that rings (clang dong) every time a visitor enters café, or the visualizing the steam arising from the hot coffee. And the name of the café “Funiculi Funicula” is one you cannot forget! You will be the bystander while all the scenes in the café will play right in front of you.

The central theme is about to seize the day (carpe diem). We often miss our window of saying those words to a person and have that regret deep down in our hearts. And keep repeating in our mind sentences like this “Wish I could say this” or “Wish I could go back in time”. But the time is now, all we have is now. Whatever we have to say we should say it now, what happens tomorrow we never know.

The author chose 4 characters separated by age groups and life situations but have one thing in common, their desire of one chance to say the unsaid. The story takes time to build. The rules of the time travel make you wonder.

Before the coffee gets cold is a book nudge to look around and asks a vital question, are we living in the moment?

Thank you NetGalley, Picador and Pan Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My rating: 4.5 stars

P.S. I love the cover of the book.