**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Reading the blurb - time-travelling coffee shop - I was expecting a faster-paced book and so it took me a little while to settle into this book. I became charmed by it's slow and careful story and ended up enjoying it.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a great novel which gives the characters the chance to redo their past mistakes as well as the 'what ifs'. I really enjoyed the concept and liked how going back to the past doesn't change the present, but the characters themselves were able to change their futures. It teaches how you can only learn and grow from your mistakes. Bearing that in mind, the chance to go back and do something differently from what you had previously done, already shows they know where they went wrong and have faced the consequences of their mistakes. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone as it is a short read and everyone wants the chance to go back and correct a mistake from their past.

Four beautiful little stories about traveling through time. You can't change present, maybe not even future, but you can change yourself. You can change your attitude and way of life. Book send this positive and warm message. It is so atmospheric that you can smell those mocha beans and start to crave a cup of coffee.. It's very light to read, but in the meantime it is full of meaning. GREAT!

I have a rather varied mix of feelings about this book, so let’s tackle everything in order:
1) Cover. Attractive picture, but doesn’t match the book. Don’t put a cat on the cover if a cat isn’t ever mentioned in the story. It would look better in sepia tones (in fact, the Japanese book cover is exactly that: the same picture but sepia, and with no cat) with a ceiling fan and three clocks on the wall, all showing different times. Maybe even a wisp of steam rising from a coffee cup. These are all important elements in the book that would be worth reflecting on the cover.
2) First page. And by that I mean the copyright page. Intriguing to see the translation is copyright the publisher, not the translator. I can only hope Geoffrey Trousselot was suitably compensated for surrendering his copyright.
3) Literary style. On the whole, this is great, and Geoffrey Trousselot has done a skilful job of rendering the delights of this story into English. However, it needs a final editor’s eye, as it suffers a little bit here and there from translatorese: we all do it – get so bound up in the turn of phrase in the original language that we convince ourselves it sounds good in English too. It could also do with a little editing for the target readership. For example, I’m not entirely sure why the author suddenly digresses into an idiot’s guide to the progression of Alzheimer’s – it simply made me wonder whether dementia is far less well understood in Japan than other parts of the world. That said, this is an ARC after all, so I’m assuming (hoping) that there’s a final edit and proofreading to go yet.
4) Story. Now to the good bit. A wonderful, subtle, gentle window onto Japanese culture and manners. Four achingly poignant tales of love, loss, and revisiting the past. You would wonder how any kind of story could evolve out of the stringent rules the author imposes in this time-travelling scenario (you can only move to another point in time within the café, you can’t even leave your seat, and however differently you may handle the revisited moment, NOTHING will change in the present). But each of these brief trips is the key to the time traveller herself making a fleeting connection with someone lost, reconciling herself to that moment, and gaining a deeper peace and understanding of how to move forward into her future life.
The lyrical storytelling deserves five stars. I’m hoping the other niggles will be ironed out before publication to do the story justice.

A sweet quick read, translated from the Japanese, which I really enjoyed.

In one seat of a little backstreet cafe, the coffee drinker can travel through time - but must drink their coffee and return before the coffee goes cold.

Four stories make up this book - all exploring personal relationships, and all creating an intimate atmosphere. The characters are beautiful, the setting atmospheric, and the stories thought provoking. Inevitably you will end up trying to decide on your own moment that you would travel to.

I really enjoyed this book. It was quirky and very distinctly Japanese. I can see it being turned into an anime.

The story is about an old cafe in Tokyo, which has a 'magical' seat which can transport the person seated in it into the past.

There are a number of rules which must be followed such as in the past they cannot leave the seat and can only meet people who are in the cafe, and the most important being they have to finish their cup of coffee before it goes cold.

The book follows the moving stories of a number of cafe patrons, who for different reasons wanted to go into the past.

The only negative thing about the book was the names - most of them began with K and it was difficult for me to cement who each character was in my mind - but a bit of flicking back through the book helped to solve this.

I really heart warming book.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is about a cafe in Tokyo that allows you to travel back in time but only for the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee before it gets cold. We follow four different characters, each with their own reasons for going back. It was quite a moving book which really makes you think.

I love Japanese literature. I love all of Picador's cat-related Japanese stories. This seemed like a perfect thing to read.

It was.

Time travel can be messy, but Kawaguchi imposes a strict set of rules that prevent any complications. Let's be clear, this book isn't about time travel, it's about closure. When our characters sit down with a cup of coffee they can't affect the past, only experience it. This gives them an opportunity to close the door on a part of their lives they are hung up about.

This is Japanese literature at it's finest. Commentary on the human condition and how we strive to live the best life we can in the face of adversity. Hoping the relationships we form will matter in some way.

On top of that the characters were well written and we learn enough about them to care just enough when they themselves travel in time.

Now I need to find the movie! I'll definitely be buying the book to include in my ever-growing set of these books

@jake_reads_books on Instagram

5 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯✯

About the book
The entire story takes place in a coffee shop, Funiculi Funicula. From the description, this seems like an ordinary coffee shop – a few tables with a few customers, and a counter behind which members of staff prepare and serve coffee. In fact, the only things which appear to be out of the ordinary are the three clocks, all of which show different times (only the middle clock tells the correct time), and the constantly cool temperature, despite only a ceiling fan to regulate the temperature.

However, as the story develops, we learn that this is not an ordinary coffee shop. This coffee shop allows people to travel in time!… But there are some rules. In most books and films involving time travel, the first rule would usually be to not interfere with acts which happened in the past – this could cause irreparable damage. The first rule of time travel from this coffee shop, however, is that the present, no matter how hard you try, cannot be changed.

Altogether, the rules are:

The present cannot be changed (not that this is prohibited. Rather, that it is impossible to change the present);
You must sit in a certain seat (this seat is usually taken up by a ghost, who cannot be forcibly moved – but she does move once a day to use the toilet) and you cannot move from this seat or you will return to the present;
Because of Rule 2 above, you can only travel back (or forward) in time to meet someone who has visited (or will visit) the coffee shop;
You can only time travel once;
There is a time limit – to travel in time, you will be poured a cup of coffee. You must finish this coffee before it gets cold, otherwise you must take the place of the ghost (referred to in Rule 2 above).
Given the very strict rules, the number of scenarios in which you would want to time travel would appear to be very limited. The book, however, is split into 4 parts, each part providing a different person’s story in which they choose to travel back (or forward) in time.

Story 1
This is the story of Fumiko Kiyokawa, a career-driven woman who was in a relationship with Goro Katada, and was hoping that he would propose to her. Instead, however, he announced that he would be moving to America for work, and rushed off to the airport.

Fumiko hopes to go back in time to convince him to stay – despite her hopes being dashed by Rule 1, she is determine to give it a shot.

Story 2
This is the story of Kohtake whose husband, Fusagi, has developed Alzheimer’s. During the first story, we could see how Fusagi’s Alzheimer’s was affecting him. By Story 2, however, he can no longer recognise his wife – though he remembers that he has a wife and has an envelope containing a letter he wishes to give to her, if he can find her.

Kohtake wishes to go back to a time when Fusagi still recognises her, and find out what was written in that letter.

Story 3
This is a story of two sisters, Hirai and Kumi. Hirai, being the big sister, was destined to run the inn owned by her parents. Hirai, however, had other plans. She instead left home, and Kumi took over Hirai’s responsibilities in relation to the inn. Since Hirai left, Kumi had often asked Hirai to return home to the inn. At first, Hirai would listen to her requests patiently, before making it clear that she will not return home. But as the requests continued, Hirai grew weary, and started avoiding Kumi altogether. Until, one day, Kumi died in a car accident.

Hirai feels guilty. She feels that the accident was her fault – and her parents seem to think this too – and wishes to go back in time. She wants to tell Kumi how sorry she is for avoiding her all these years, and to see her face one last time.

Story 4
This is the story of Kei and her unborn child. Kei was born with a weak heart, and yet she is never seen without a smile on her face. She has been told, however, that because of her weak heart she is unlikely to survive the pregnancy, and there is no guarantee that the child will survive. This affects Kei’s mood – not because she herself might not make it, but because her child might not make it. And even if the child does make it, the only thing she will have given her child, is life.

Kei therefore wishes to travel to the future, to find out if her child survives and, if so, if they can forgive her for not being able to offer anything during their life.

My thoughts on the book – 5 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯✯
Although, at times, the writing style was not the best, this was such a wonderful book that I was able to overlook the writing style. The book carried so much charm, while also being packed with emotion (as you can probably tell from the breakdown of the stories above, some of the stories are quite upsetting).

Given the rather strange rules to time-travelling in this coffee shop, it set a very interesting basis for the story and it was nice to see a different approach taken to time travel, which must have been difficult to do given the amount of books and films which involve time travel. I also appreciate the description of the coffee shop – the two things which seem unusual at first (the clocks and cool temperature), later seem to give the coffee shop a sense of timelessness. And the minor role the ghost plays through the stories is also a nice touch.

This was admittedly quite a short book, but this does not change the fact that I flew through the book because of how much I enjoyed it – once I got partway through a story, I just had to know how it ended. Therefore, despite the writing style not being to my taste at times, I still loved this book and all the charm and emotion it carried. This is a great example to show that you don’t have to have the best quality of writing to be able to write a beautiful story.

The story itself, therefore, earns 5 stars for what is my first NetGalley review.

This book was a sad but interesting one. The concept of a time travelling cafe was quite cool and I was happy to see another Japanese translation. However, it fell a little flat for me.

Time travel gets given the Japanese treatment - there are uncompromising rules that govern time travel but they are never explained. As the title suggests, one of the rules is that the traveller has to return to the present before the coffee gets cold; another equally baffling one is that time travel is only possible from a certain chair that is only available when the ghost occupying it goes to the toilet. It’s a relief in some ways for the book to forgo technical explanations on the mechanics of time travel in favour of exploring its emotional effects on the travellers. Four characters travel in time, often out of regret and guilt for something undone or unsaid. Whilst yet another rule mandates that the present cannot be altered, it is the characters who are changed through these brief excursions into the past. I wasn’t always a fan of the writing style, but this is a sweet and heartwarming novel (which has been made into what looks like a sweet and heartwarming movie).

This is an interesting concept - a specific chair in a coffee shop that allows time travel, but with very stringent rules - in particular that your coffee must not get cold before your return, and whatever you do in the past cannot change the present.
For me it was mixed, parts are charming, but the writing style didn't engage me (this may be due to it being in translation) and parts were irritating.

This is a quirky and unusual story. Translated from the Japanese, it has a slightly staccato feel to it. The way the people speak and act feels culturally different. The speech is more abrupt and the characters are more excitable. In fact, some of it read like the script from an anime film. I did get a bit confused with the characters, partly because three of them start with the letter K and the names did not denote male or female to the British ear.
As the story settled, the feelings and situations of the characters linked together more clearly and it was quite tender and emotional. The time travel aspect was a lovely alternative way of presenting the different stories, and the final message which was that you can't change the past but you can change your own attitude, was universal. The one thing I found odd was that there was no conclusion to Fumiko's story; why she was there at the end or what happened with Goro. A Japanese film has been made of this which I hope is eventually released on DVD here. (This does have a cat, to satisfy one reviewer.)

I flew through this book. It had me hooked from the start and I finished it the same day I started. But it left me wanting more, I didn’t feel like all the loose ends were tied up. I also wanted more back story on the Ghost. Who was she?

It was hard to know how to rate this book. I liked the concept a lot but, at least in my translated version, the writing is not impressive, by a long shot. And it's hard to know how much of that is because the translator is endeavouring to remain faithful to the original narrative which happens to be poorly written, or that the work does not stand up to translation, or that the translator has not done good work. As such I decided on 5* for concept, 3* for execution because at the end of the day, regardless of if the Japanese is flawless, my experience reading this version was not 100% enjoyable, giving a 4* because I am still happy to recommend this book. The overall story is lovely, at times the writing excellent, I laughed and cried in appropriate places. I think you, whoever you are, might well enjoy it.

The book is made up of four stories about different people using the cafe to visit a different time than their own. The first story is quite hard to read because the writing was very stilted and somewhat simplistic. There were also some continuity errors (how long people had known each other etc.) but please don't let that discourage you. The writing improves from here, it honestly feels like someone forgot to edit the first chapter, of the original or translation, I'll never know. When the plot picks up it's easier to get into it and not consider the writing and the book starts to shine.

I love the fact that each of our characters goes to visit someone with a plan in mind and returns having gained, not the knowledge they expected, but one that them makes happier and more content. In each the characters usually end up having the conversation they wish they'd had but couldn't, for a number of reasons. This leaves them with a greater understanding of their situation and they are enlightened by it, things cannot change but how they choose to meet those things can.

I think that's a really hopeful, beautiful, message - that we can be overwhelmed by our grief and fear, or we can face it. Often the reality is a mix of the two, but it would be nice to think we can face our troubles head on.

A really lovely little novel - short but sweet, the vignettes and characters were very appealing, and I really enjoyed it

This is a hard book to review without giving anything away. One of the best things about it is finding out about the characters and their stories and I don't want to spoil that for anyone else.

So, what can I tell you? well, there's this café, there is some time travel, a group of interesting characters. On my part there was some surprise, some aha! moments and some tears.


The story moves along pretty quickly, I read the book within a couple of days. I just wanted to get back and find out what happened. The time travel is dealt with well, there are lots of rules but that makes it a lot easier to fit into the story. Don't be put off by the fantastical element, it's much more about the characters and the time travel is just a way of getting to their stories.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a beautiful and heart-breaking story about coming to terms with loss.
The story is set in a little cafe designed for people who are minding their own business. In this cafe, it is possible to travel in time back to a point you want to revisit. You cannot change the past but you can change how you see it, and therefore change yourself.
Each time someone travels in time, the reader is drawn in deeper into the lives of the characters. The story starts innocently enough. Fumiko wants to revisit an argument with a boyfriend. It is cutely resolved, and then the stakes get higher. You would have to be a cynic to be unaffected by the end. Four stars.

I have to admit to being a little disappointed in this (and not only because of the lack of a cat despite one being shown on the cover). Having recently developed a love of Japanese fiction I was very excited to come across this on Netgalley, particularly when I read the blurb and discovered it was a story involving time travel (I love stories with time travel). Perhaps my expectations were too high as while I loved the concept behind it I didn't really connect to it. It became an OK read rather than something special.

The story is set in a small cafe where if you sit in a specific seat and follow a set ritual you can travel in time. There are a number of rules but the most important is that you must return before your coffee gets cold. You can't change your present by going to the past but you can go back and re do moments you regret or see someone you've lost in some way to get closure. It's a wonderful idea and there are some truly touching moments but these were few and far between..

It's so difficult to tell with translated fiction how much of the problems come from the translation and how much from the original but I did feel like the writing let it down. I am starting to think this is just typical of the Japanese style of writing, short, quick sentences, little in the way of description or emotion, but I felt this was particularly lacking.

I can't say any of the characters were particularly likeable and they often come across as blunt, rude and unfeeling. They make fun of Fumiko for example, for wanting to go back to the time her relationship ended as if she's silly for being upset the man she hoped to marry chose his work over her. There are times when it seems in fact that the author views all women as silly, nasty or manipulative. It could be a cultural thing or it may be something has gotten lost in translation but I found a few comments irritating, the woman who doesn't need a phone because her husband has one, .another who believes tears are a woman's key weapon. They are all little things but they kept cropping up time and again.

Added to this it's a little repetitive in places and some of the rules around time travel seemed a little inconsistent or forced to fit the story. I also thought the ending left a little too much unresolved.

It is however an intriguing read and does make you ponder a few things. At around 200 pages it's also quite a quick read so it's not too difficult to make it to the end.

Overall, an interesting and different read that was just missing the emotion needed to elevate it. If you're a fan of Japanese fiction you'll likely enjoy it.

Despite the appealing subject, the writing ruined the reading for me. It is written more as a theater play than anything else, with the right setup and characters. Everything is explained and the whole story takes place in the coffee shop.

The blurb is very accurate, so I won’t get into details. However, nothing in it to keep my interest. The characters are like puppets, their dialogues disjointed, the actions artificial.

The time travel part is more of a disguise here, I wouldn’t classify it in this sub-genre; it’s more of a magical realism story about regrets and things not said or done until too late and the possibility to change that; well, sort of.

Not my cup of coffee at all.