A sweet, rich, fun read with depth of character and experience. This covers themes of self-coming out, stereotypes, cultural food, familial financial stress, rivalries, etc. I especially loved Theo's characterization as someone who deals with a lot of anger as a defense mechanism and seeing him lower those walls to let someone in was really wholesome and uplifting. 

<i>Cafe Con Lychee</i> is my first Emery Lee book but it won't be my last! I'm massively eyeing up <i>Meet Cute Diary</i> which also sounds awesome. 

<b>content warnings</b>: financial insecurity, brief mentions of divorce, racism + micro-aggressions, homophobia (from family members), toxic relationships, brief mentions of cultural appropriation, panic attacks, brief use of ableist speech