Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Café con Lychee: Liebe ist wie Bubble Tea

This is a really sweet story, a high school ‘enemies to lovers’ (where enemies is definitely driven by teenage angst). The character development and the handling of teenage emotions was really well done. While I’m definitely not the target age group, I still found it an enjoyable read. The book does touch on themes of homophobia and stereotypes, which is dealt with in a realistic but positive way.

I found the pacing a little odd and I think that’s why I’m not rating it 5 stars - the start takes a while to build and there’s a few plot points that are too convenient they border on unrealistic.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.75

Super cute!

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readingpicnic's review against another edition

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3.5

Overall a sweet story with some good humor. I do have critiques though. Firstly, the rivalry felt a little half-baked and didn’t make much sense (honestly seemed like it was just there so this could be labeled a rivals to lovers story). There was also such little time spent on describing the food and drinks they were making! Give me the descriptions that I was expecting from a book about food please! It does feel like some parts of the book that would have benefitted from more description were kind of just fast-forwarded through like this, such as the dancing and soccer scenes. The ending was also too neat, and a little unbelievable to me.

And what if they break up! Then their families are all tied up with each other and they still have to work together…

Mellie was also pretty awful and didn’t face any consequences whatsoever for that. One scene that I thought was really well done was when Gabi came to Theo’s place to apologize for his gay comment and Theo immediately understood that his parents were homophobic and asked for them to take a walk together. It was so sweet :’)

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phoenixinprogress's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

If this was a Reddit post, the comments would agree that everyone sucks here, but also that everyone is entirely loveable and doing their best to grow. Honestly I’m questioning if the characters are maybe a little too self reflective and open to change, but it didn’t cross the threshold of believability for me. All of the characters hurt each other and are hurt in turn, but everyone has the best of intentions. The story is a very loose Romeo and Juliet adaptation, but I think this narrative managed to turn a situation where everyone hurt and was hurt by one another and managed to find hope in that. Though I have a feeling this is one of those stories that would have a significantly less happy ending if the curtain closed any later.

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elsalter01's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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kk_123's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Honestly? I loved this book.

To be honest, it reminded me a bit of my own parents and how they were like before I came out to them. They would share passive comments filled with homophobia, but they have started changing their ways the moment I told them. They even defend the LGBTQ+ community now from my other relatives so that’s nice.

It made me tear up a bit at times due to the fact.

Departing from the slightly emotional side of this review, I think this book was well written, the story had a lot of potential and it reached just that. They even had a good reason to be enemies lol.

The reason it isn't a full 5 star read though is that I wanted to feel more between the two main characters. More pining after each other. At times it felt as if they just fell in love with the snap of a finger and that wad it, deal with the rest.

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robinks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I missed Roque’s voice 🥲 This is a classic Romeo & Juliet story combined with enemies-to-lovers, both of which I am not a fan of. The cultural bits that were included resonated, but I worry about kids outside of the cultures represented using them to stereotype others.

I also did not like how Gabi’s parents rationalized their homophobia, and Theo’s emotional development was a bit unbelievable.

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abitofcourage's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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