Rivals to love interest? Young adult romance with m/m interracial leads? And with this beautiful cover? Yes, I was absolutely intrigued and excited to listen to this when my library hold came in. Sadly, I was so disappointed with this story! Cafe Con Lychee follows Gabi Moreno and Theo Mori through their Junior year as high school rivals. These two could not be more opposite. Gabi is a people pleaser, secretly drawn to ballet, generous, kind, and rather awkward... he's also closeted. Theo is grumpy, bossy, athletically talented, brash, and out. These two begin the story as rivals due to their competing family businesses. The framing of the rivalry and competition between the Morenos and the Moris felt contrived (they're the ENEMY!) and unrealistic. As a character, Theo is so incredibly mean and angry. Throughout the course of the story, Theo is shown continually taking out his frustrations (with family, school, the Moris business, and his soccer team) out on Gabi through brash, rude, belittling dialogue and actions. Even after Theo and Gabi team up on their tea and snack delivery service, the setup and logistics for which Gabi did the work, Theo's attitude towards Gabi barely changes. And for his part, Gabi is shown as a passive character. He takes the abuse over and over. That level of meanness made it nearly impossible to believe that these young men should be together! I wanted to hold Gabi close and send Theo on his merry fcking way straight to therapy. The manner in which their interactions are portrayed in the text did not feel like a model for either a healthy or positive romantic relationship. Y'ALL. They are going to homecoming and Theo doesn't hesitate to call Gabi an a-hole. That dialogue isn't banter and doesn't come across as "joking" or "playful." That's not modeling caring and empathetic relationship dynamics between teens. And isn't that what YA (especially YA romance) should be modeling given its target demographic!?

I would also note that there is a lot of internalized homophobia and very thinly veiled homophobic language in the text. It all relates to Gabi's home environment, which is why he remains closeted until the very end of the story. I had high hopes...but alas.