I so enjoyed 'The Lido' and although this is a very different book it was equally readable.
Telling the story of Stella's Cafe, open all hours, we see things through the eyes of the two lovely waitresses, Mona and Hannah. They are best friends, both trying to make careers for themselves.
The tales of the folk who frequent the Cafe are gentle and interesting.
A very nice book.
Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy.

Well written, a totally new story-line. Stella's cafe is open 24 hours a day, Mona and Hannah work there. We learn all about their lives and those of the customers they meet., loved it

I would give this a million stars if I could.

This book was one of my most highly anticipated reads for 2020, and I had a major dance party when I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC. The 24-Hour Café is centred around a café/diner in London, where people can find comfort at all hours of the day. Hannah and Mona are two of the cafe's waitresses, creatives trying to find their place in the world at the same time as affording their rent. The book is multiple POV, but the first half of the novel is largely shepherded by Hannah, and the second by Mona, with snippets from the café patrons and alternate staff dotted throughout for extra character.

For a book set up in this way, I consider it to be an act of brilliance to create a story where both halves of the book are just as great. I thought I'd be sad to transfer from Hannah to Mona, but within minutes I loved Mona just as much as I loved her friend/roommate/colleague. This 24-hour slice of life follows a pivotal moment in their friendship - at thirty, the girls are forced to question their decision to follow creative passions, and to continue working in the café environment when so many of their friends have moved on and followed more traditional paths. Mona is finally catching her big break after so many years, whereas Hannah's own life feels stagnant, and she is reeling from the aftermath of an unhealthy romantic relationship. Both girls know the struggle of a creative passion, and how it can shape your life, so well. As a writer myself, currently working in a café, this resonated with me so highly. This book captured a lot of my feelings so accurately, as well as the fond memories that you collect when interacting with so many customers on a daily basis. Not only was this a look into the many stories of customers in a café, but also a closer look at hospitality staff, and the thoughts behind the people pouring your coffee on your morning commute.

Speaking of customers, the snippets of alternate POV from passing customers is what made the novel such a great one. I think it leaves a lasting impression long after turning the final page; that you interact on a surface level with so many people daily, but you can never truly know their story. From POVs such as John, the big issue seller outside the café, Monique, a woman struggling with post-natal depression, and Joe & Haziq, a young couple struggling with immigration laws, the book gives such a wide and thought provoking variation of life experiences. The way that the novel ended wrapped it all up so well, and I shed a tear for some of the characters that I had grown to love. At the end of the day this is a novel about growing up, the complexities of friendship,. and the many stories that people have. I have not loved a book like this for a long time, and I cannot wait to purchase the physical copy when it comes out, so that I can read it all over again.

I loved this book (and the cafe!).
Although the two main characters and their stories were extremely engaging I actually preferred the customers whose stories were just touched on in the book- particularly the couple being separated by immigration law and the elderly couple re-finding love.
The way the story, for the main part, covered a single 24 hour period in the cafe was a great premise and the dipping out of the 24 hours to cover some back stories did not detract from the pace at all.
The ordinariness of the characters, their situations and their problems drew me into the cafe far more than anything overtly dramatic ever could have done and made the setting and the people all the more real.
A great read with a lovely ending.

I absolutely adored this book!

Hannah and Mona are waitresses at Stella's, a 24-hour a day cafe in London. During their shifts, they see all sorts of people coming in and out, and this book does give a short snapshot of a few of the customers they get in. Everyone has a story, and some of them get told in here.

However, the book is about female friendship, and how important that actually is to women. A strong female friendship is something to treasure and never take for granted, and it is the sometimes rocky path that this friendship takes that is charted here.

I loved these two main characters. They are flawed people but they are strong and determined as well. One is a dancer, the other a singer. They are getting older though and competition for jobs in their industries is fierce. At what point do you give up on your dream? Do you do a bit of lateral thinking about how to make a living or do you keep on pushing on?

Such a gorgeous, complex tale. I loved every single part of it.

5 stars from me. Wish I could give it more! I just wanted to keep on reading....

Thank you to TBC and Orion :)

Libby Page's The 24-hour cafe intertwines the stories of two women, Mona and Hannah, with vignettes from the lives of customers in the cafe where they work.

Page is a good writer. Her prose is silky smooth and unpretentious, dialogue and characters are immediately believable. Customers' troubles and triumphs intersperse with the lives of Mona and Hannah in a way somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge novels, and with the author displaying a similar warmth for humanity and the beauty of ordinary lives.

The novel is not a conventional romance but a love story of female friendship and all the more enjoyable for that.

Firstly have to say I love the authors fascination with people and also London and how she mixes these 2 things up and writes books on them, clever and living here her observations are spot on

The book is all about the ‘24-Hour Cafe’ but surprising to me it focused more on the staff than the customers and the staff’s previous lives ( went back and forth, past and present with staff and customers ) and at times the customers almost seemed an ‘added thing’, they and their stories felt rushed and we only got a bare minimum with some, my fav customer was Dan who decided to spend all night there ( a through no fault of his own homeless Uni student ) and how a chance meeting with a crossword lover insomniac changed his life!

Mona and Hannah are the 2 main waitress characters, both insipid at times and and prone to rehashing their stories of old, a lot of the book is about their friendship and it does get waring

I did though love the idea of the cafe and pictured it as the now gone wonderful ‘Piccadilly Cafe’, anyone who remembers it will see the formica tables and waiters in their whites and the wonderfully normal
but comforting menu and pics and autographs of all the famous people on the walls within

I quite enjoyed it all told, not anything like I had expected it to be but had elements of a great read and the ending, well I LOVED the ending!!

7/10
3.5 Stars

I loved this book. I enjoyed how the friendship between Hannah and Mona grew the friends they met in between. The cafe where people come form friendships. The girls get to know the regulars their lives, loves & loses . It was good to see friendships formed and relationships between the older couple. I enjoyed how the author developed the characters and went into depth about them. The ending was lovely. I look forward to the next book from this author.
I will recommend this book to both family and friends.
Many thanks to both the author and net galley for allowing me to read this book.

A really nice read in a reasonably feel good style. Demonstrates true friendship and people watching in a great book with lots of mini threads along the way

3.5 Stars

Let me start this review by saying I LOVED the lido - so I probably came to this book with high expectations. And I felt a little let down by it. I loved the premise - the entire book takes place over only 24 hours in a 24 hour cafe. Genius idea! And I loved reading snapshots of the customers’ lives. I just found the bits about the two waitresses (and main characters) a bit over long and felt these sections slowed down the entire pace of the novel. I found myself skim reading their sections towards the end, which is not something I usually do in a novel.

I will try another by Libby Page in the future - in case this is second book syndrome - but I didn’t love this book as much as I though I would. All in all, an okay read.

I loved this book, and raced through it. I really enjoyed the way the story was told - focusing on the interactions between our main characters and anintriguing cast of characters they meet during their shifts at a 24 hour cafe. This mechanic allowed us a glimpse into lots of beautiful tales of love and loss, family and friendships, which wove beautifully with the story of our two main protagonist's friendship. A must-read for everyone that loved The Lido.

This was an enjoyable if simple read. The setting is a 24 hour cafe but this becomes a device to tell the stories of the staff and customers and their London lives. Some of the characters are a bit cliches but the author overcomes this with her affection for her subjects. This would be a great read for a holiday or long journey.

Page has impeccably blended the friendship of waitresses Hannah & Mona expertly around the compelling snippets of the ebb and flow of the customers that spend time in the 24 hour café. The little vignettes cover every emotion and leave you wanting to learn more of their protagonist’s tragedies and triumphs.

The café sounds like a fantastic place to while away the hours.

This is a gorgeous quirky read set in a 24 hour cafe in London. Based primarily around friends, flat mates and waitresses Hannah and Mona it explores their lives both as friends and individuals through current events, recollections and flashbacks. Their thoughts are well represented and offer two contrasting views on their friendship, both of which I felt sympathy for. It also features some mini stories of customers which offer a great extension to the main story but are also very well written in their own right. This is a fabulous book that really makes you wonder about the stories of those we pass by.

An interesting read with a great range of characters.

Set over 24 hours in a cafe in London, told from the points of view of the people who work there and the customers. I would have liked more of an epilogue.

Told over a 24 hour period, Hannah and Mona work in a London cafe and are best friends. They share a tiny flat and work opposing 12 hour shifts. They meet all kinds of people from all walks of life and this story focuses on one particular day. I liked how the book was written, it's a great idea. Some things were fleshed out in flashbacks but the best parts of the book were those interactions in the cafe. A book with plenty of heart.

While I absolutely loved the author's last book (The Lido) I just couldn't get into this book at all. In fact I felt like referring to it as the 24-hour snoozefest. Nice enough main characters but too much 'me. me, me' rather than an actual story. Not a book I will be recommending.

I was a huge fan of The Lido, so was really looking forward to this. I felt it took a little time to warm up, perhaps due to swapping between characters but I really cared about Mona and Hannah by the end. Thanks NetGalley!

The 24 Hour Cafe by Libby Page is a nice book. Unfortunately that’s all I can say about it. Not my cup of tea really. I can see how it will be popular but for me it was too twee.

An easy read that follows the lives of two waitresses, Mona and Hannah who work in a 24 hour cafe. Although seemingly the best of friends we see incidents that affect their relationship from both perspectives, but it takes until the end of the book for the two characters to understand quite how much their actions impact on the other person. Although this was enjoyable and an integral part of the success of the novel, I did find it a bit tedious at times as each customer's reaction to events in the cafe was dissected. Libby Page has an excellent style of summing up the characters so that each are unique and easily imagined.