The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a cozy and beautifully written short story collection. It's also the first book in a series, so if you enjoy this book, more stories are on the way. The book is about a cafe run by cats who give advice to people. All the stories are lovely and emotional. It was a really short book, and I enjoyed it a lot. If you like cats, astrology, and food, you should definitely pick up this book. I hope the other books in this series will also be translated. Thanks to Netgalley and Octopus Publishing for the arc.

An inspiring story with lovely characters, especially the cat. I always love to read Japanese fiction, because they always have a deep and meaningful story plot. This cafe is such a magical cafe. If there is a cafe like this in real life, please let me know! I am impressed by the imagination of the author. The story is much enjoyable!

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: Aug 29, 2024

This book is perfect for boosting the spirit and creating joy. It’s such a sweet story, that shares how entwined in life we can all be. I love the simplicity of the writing with the impact of the powerful underlying lessons being taught.

There’s something I find just so magical about Japanese translated books, I absolutely love them and this one is a real pleasure to read!! It’s so creative and original, filled with magic, enlightenment and lessons to reflect on that are so well delivered.

I also love cats and it’s wonderful how much respect cats have, with their belief of cats being good luck. I’d have to agree!

I give this book a wholehearted 4.25 stars.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and all involved in allowing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. It’s been a pleasure.

Beautifully magical. I loved this book, so easy to melt into and relax. If you love cats, you’ll adore The full moon coffee shop by Mai Mochizuki. 4/5

The title of this book is what caught my eye… The Full Moon Coffee Shop. And it has cats, brilliant - surely I’m onto a winner. The general concept of a coffee shop run by cats appearing magically certainly is interesting however the execution of this book fell a little a flat for me.

I find from previous Japanese lit fics that I’ve read we focus in on specific characters and each has their own chapter, this book kept to that structure and I quite enjoy it honestly. I found I like most of the characters well enough, but I didn’t particularly connect with anyone in particular which was a bit disappointing. 

I enjoyed the dilemmas each character found themself in. They were all relatable issues and by the end each character had taken something away from going to the full moon coffee shop.

The setting of the coffee shop itself sounds like somewhere I’d love to go! However the idea of massive human size cats walking on their back legs freaks me out slightly (also reminded me of new earth in doctor who - if you know you know). 

The bit that really didn’t work for me was how much astrology was in this book. The amount of talk of planets and signs and mercury being in retrograde is what fully lost me. I’m someone who usually finds stars quite interesting but this just didn’t work for me at all.

Overall an ok book but personally not one I will pick up again.

3/5 ⭐️

I really loved this, a coffee shop, cats, characters all connected to each other, heartwarming and inspiring.

These are the stories of 5 people living/working in Kyoto who visit the Full Moon Coffee shop, run by cats. The cats read their natal charts and give life advice based on the readings. This isn't an astrology book and the advice is more applicable than you first think. I read it in 2 sittings as I just wanted to find out more!

I'll be buying a print copy so I can re-read and flip through and look at the charts in more detail.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mai Mochizuki's "The Full Moon Coffee Shop" is a delightful and enchanting read that transports readers to a cozy, magical world. The story revolves around a quaint coffee shop that serves not just beverages but also solace and secrets. Mochizuki's writing is warm and inviting, with richly drawn characters that feel like old friends. The intertwining tales of the patrons are beautifully woven, each revealing heartwarming moments of connection and personal growth. With its charming setting and heartfelt narrative, "The Full Moon Coffee Shop" is a comforting and uplifting read that leaves a lasting impression. Perfect for those who love a touch of magic in everyday life.

A series of somewhat connected stories about people struggling with various aspects of their lives. At some point in their journeys they encounter a coffee shop run by cats, and find a path to learning more about themselves and about the world around them.

Full disclosure - I DNF'd at 60%. It was pure drivel. While the premise is somewhat interesting (albeit way too similar in style to Toshikazu Kawaguchi's), it has a huge flaw that is infuriating and frustrating at the same time. While I only read the first two stories, both of these wax lyrical about astrology in nauseating ways. I don't want to provide too many spoilers, but the author takes astrology way too seriously, and I just can't read a book that does that. I've lost all respect for the author, his writing, and the story. It became meaningless and a waste of time of enormous proportions. There is literally nothing for me in a book that has pages upon pages of astrological theory (and charts!) and describes in an unselfconscious way why it all makes sense.

Honestly - unless you believe in astrology, or at the very least find it inoffensive, this is a book you should stay away from. I literally felt offended reading it (despite the writing itself being not half bad).

I'd raise a point also I never have on Netgalley - this book has fundamentally false advertising. On the surface it feels quaint, fun, and exciting. It's none of these things, in reality - rather an ode to astrology and horoscopes.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This one is for cat lovers and fans of the series "Before the coffee gets cold". A very cozy read, that filled me with warmth. I can only recommend this book. It's beautifully written and let's you dive into a magical world. I hope there will be more from this author and maybe even a similar book.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Aug 2024) by Mai Mochizuki and translated by Jesse Kirkwood is a feel-good magical realism story about a mysterious pop-up café truck run by… talking cats.

Set in Kyoto, the café will appear on full moon nights and only to people who are in need of a break or a new perspective in life. Yes, this trope is really being overdone in both Japanese and Korean fiction, but personally, I really love it.

Also, food/drinks and magical cats, who could resist? What set the story apart from others similar to it is the astrology theme. Basically the cats dish out advice based on their customers’ horoscope, in addition to serving delectable food and drinks.

This book has 3 chapters, featuring 3 different customers namely Mizuki, Akari, and Takashi. The stories are interlinked. Hope-filled and warmly gentle, they flow really well and are highly entertaining.

The original Japanese #満月珈琲店の星詠み is actually a series that started in 2020. To-date, there are 5 books (swipe to see them in order). I’ve only read the first 2 books though. Don’t think I intend to read them all.

The original books feature ilustrations by Chihiro Sakurada. In an interview, Mochizuki shared that she had wanted to write a novel with an astrology theme but found it difficult to start. By chance, she came across Sakurada's illustration on Twitter, featuring a cat owner of a coffee shop truck, and she thought she could write a story with this work on the cover. So she went to meet Sakurada, who was exhibiting at a doujin event, and they decided to collaborate. Pretty cool eh.

I thank #NetGalley and the publisher Octopus Publishing for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley & octopus publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A coffee shop that randomly appears that is run by talking cats sign me up!

The book is split into 3 parts with each character having to overcome certain 'pit stops' in their life and the cafe has a way of showing them what it is the need most through their star charts. This was certainly a unique take and I think if you were more into astrology you would better understand everything better.

I enjoyed how each of our characters were linked but their stories still felt independent from each other. With a book of this length you are never going to get amazing character development but I feel the time we spent with each character was just right to get a snap shot into them as a person.

If you are a fan of what you are looking for is in the library, before the coffee gets cold, the kamogawa food detective you will enjoy this one.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is a sequence of three interconnected stories. Each story starts in the real world before taking a swerve when the talking cats appear who host the full moon coffee shop. This swerve took me by surprise (‘before the coffee gets cold on an acid trip’ was my first reaction) but I was expecting it for stories 2 & 3. I’m not sure I fully accepted the premise because the cats all had the western names of planets and gave advice to their coffee shop guests from western astrology, yet the story is set in Japan. The east-west fusion didn’t work for me. I also didn’t buy all the astrological stuff either. However, our characters all find it useful to get their lives back on track or to be more honest with themselves and thus have happy endings.

Whilst I love cats, this just wasn’t quite my cup of coffee. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a pretty fast read as it is not an over long book but is a great read.
It has a comforting feel about it and the idea that the café is run by cats with no fixed location is an intriguing one. It deals with horoscopes and learning about yourself as an individual.
This is a fabulous read and very different.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a beautifully written selection of short stories revolving around a mysterious cafe run by anthropomorphic cats. It's as if you mixed the styles of "Before the Coffee Goes Cold" with a dash of Studio Ghibli.

An easy, relaxing and cosy read and an absolute delight!

What a sweet uplifting little book. I enjoyed this story about a connected group of people who need some help to find their life paths. Different and enjoyable. I bet it is even more beautiful in the original Japanese, but it reads well in translation.

Thank you so much for approving my request. I've copied my review here and added some technical feedback that I noticed as well, below.

My review:
2.5
Enormous talking cats running a coffee shop that only appears on a full-moon… say no more, I’m in! While the premise is fantastic, the writing enjoyable, and the story quite sweet, this is let down by how strongly astrology features in the book.

<b>What worked for me:</b>
• The cover is stunning! When I saw the cover and read the synopsis, this rocketed into my Goodreads TBR list right away.
• Writing style: I was instantly transported to the narrator’s world within the first page. The vivid and detailed descriptions allowed me to conjure up a beautiful mental picture of the music they heard, the food they were cooking, their view out of their apartment, the visiting cat…
• I was not expecting to see French language sprinkled throughout the first few pages! My little Canadian heart <i>loved</i> that!
• I loved the illustrations at the beginning of each new section (the Full Moon Pancakes sounded delicious and coupled with the illustration, this part made me hungry!)
• Satsuki the actress made a wonderful speech after she was fired that I was really glad to see in this book. It addresses misogyny head-on demanding to know why she is the only one being fired for an affair she had with a married man which is both overkill and sexist as hell. Her speech was moving and challenging some of the industry and cultural toxicities of vilifying and destroying women in situations where men, who are just as culpable, don’t experience any fallout.
• I loved the storyline of Miss Serikawa and the old conductor - the way this touched her students was heartwarming! I loved Megumi’s assessment that the dreams were the cats’ way of thanking them… that’s a much nicer way of looking at it then the astrology stuff.

<b>What I wasn’t so keen on: </b>
• I <I>hated</I> the astrology stuff and it really adversely affected my enjoyment of the book. I was trying to suspend disbelief about the moon phases stuff and tried to see it as part of the story. When the astrology then took centre stage, I had a <i>really</i> hard time continuing to suspend disbelief. Again, I tried to tell myself it’s just world building and part of the story but the fact there are folks out there that actually believe this and take is super seriously kept niggling at me. I don’t love that the problems our characters were going through, the strengths and challenges they had, and elements of their personality were attributed to something so vapid as star signs. I would have preferred a narrative where our characters were more in the driver’s seat about their choices and took responsibility to change - I didn’t like how the astrology made them victims of their destiny rather than the architects of it. There was something disempowering about it.
• Repetition across the three sections when the cats explain the houses/star chart stuff
• A common bugbear of mine is when authors insert technobabble into books without researching it properly. Some of the nebulous references to Takashi’s work in “IT” were questionable. What did he actually do? They claim he’s a security expert but his work is more data analyst/dev ops. Then, when the cats say “IT work is about data and communications”, I got more confused again. I wouldn’t say a security expert, or many software development jobs, are “all about communication”; they’re more about logic and problem-solving. I think, unless they can speak to the specifics, keep it high level or give them a job/field that you understand a bit better. I also think Takashi should leave the web/UX design advice to his colleague, he gives Megumi some odd advice!
• My ongoing frustration with English translations continues to be Britishified language. In the first section, Mizuki notices some school kids on the train and estimates them to be in “Year two or three”. I looked it up and Japan has a very similar grade school set up to Canada: I think a Japanese speaker would have said “<i>Grade</i>two or three”. There were a lot of mentions of “primary school” throughout the book, when, I think, in Japan, folks would say “<i>elementary<i> school”.
• A Mercury Cream Soda sounds… lethal? I can’t be the only one who read that and assumed it meant the metal?

As you might be able to tell, I think astrology is a load of bollocks; so, while this book ticked every box for me, the astrology detracted from my enjoyment significantly. It plays such a core part of the story that it almost needs to be mentioned in the blurb - early reviews are showing that I’m not the only one disappointed by this theme. The messages in this book are really great, I just hate they’re largely attributed to astrology. If the astrology had been left out, and they’d emphasized that the kids saving magical cats are now giving them sage advice as adults as a way of thanking them, this would’ve been a five star read for me.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. The approval email notification was personalized to the book and a really nice touch. Thank you so much, Octopus Publishing! 🐙✨

Technical feedback (not part of my review):

Pg 29: “his hair was dyed blonde on the outside and light blue on the inside”. Is there a clearer way of illustrating this character's looks? I'm not sure what the 'inside' and 'outside' of hair would even be...

Pg 191 the font changes. This might be to depict the dream but as there’s a chapter break, this isn’t needed and looks more like a formatting error than an intentional design choice. Ditto for Megumi’s dream sequence.

It bears repeating that I recommend the prevalent astrology theme be mentioned in the blurb. Negative Goodreads reviews are saying a fair few of us felt duped by this. For expectation management, this might help filter out those of us that don't want to read about astrology.

This book is what many describe "healing genre".Characters are interconnected and they all discover a magical cafe run by cats where astrology has an important role on these people's lives. I wanted to love this but it was just a cute story,. There were really good points throughout the story, though. I was a bit lost when astrology made an appearance. It was entertaining and quick read as it is a short one.

Talking, astrologer, dessert serving cats. Yes that’s what this book is about and it’s fantastic.

We meet several people with a past connection who are all at a bit of a moment of crisis or challenge in their lives. They have a surreal moment where they each experience a coffee shop in which cats read their astral charts and serve them mind blowing desserts, helping them to see their next steps more clearly.

This is a lovely book, a very gentle book about nudging people into achieving their own happiness and success, whilst enjoying the nostalgia from re-kindling memories and past connections. It’s very sweet and wholesome. If you enjoy cosy Japanese fiction this will likely be a winner for you.

I enjoyed that this was set in Kyoto. It felt like a lovely location for this book.

I received a review copy of this book from Octopus Publishing via NetGalley for which my thanks.

Along the lines of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Kamogawa Food Detectives books in its broad structure and emotional appeal, but also with a little more depth as well as uniqueness in having its base firmly in astrology (the only piece of fiction I’ve read so far to be so), The Full Moon Coffee Shop not only turned out every bit the delightful and heartwarming read I was expecting but even more, and quite a perfect start for my #ReadingtheMeow2024 reads.

The first in a series and translated by Jesse Kirkwood, as the book opens we meet a former primary school teacher Mizuki Serikawa who now writes scripts for games (mostly for the side characters) and has all but lost interest in life, no longer taking any pride in her appearance or care of herself, and surviving only on instant ramen. A last-ditch attempt at reviving her TV-series writing career (in which she was once at the top) seems to fail sending her further into depression. But then at the restaurant where she met and was let down by young and successful producer Akari Nayakama, she finds not only surprise fans but also an invitation to a strange café she’s never heard of before. Reluctant and after some dithering, she does make it to the place—amidst the beautiful cherry blossoms, just by the river Kamo in Kyoto and to her surprise finds a place run not by humans, but cats. Besides feeding her some delicious pancakes (Full Moon Pancakes with butter and Astral Syrup), these cats (who are special in another way that we soon see) give Mizuki insights into herself and into the age we live in that she had never considered before. Using astrology and Mizuki’s chart, they help her see things from a new perspective and understand where she’s perhaps been going wrong in life, giving her new purpose and motivation.

We then learn more about the producer, Akari Nakayama who shares a deeper link than we first realise with Mizuki as also with actress Satsuki Akiwara whom also Akari has had to deal harshly with, than we first realise. As these two ladies and after them various other connected characters find their way to the Full Moon Coffee Shop, which opens up magically at different locations in Kyoto, its various special cats, from a Singapura named Caelus to Cranus the tux help them understand themselves as never before. Readers also begin to see how these characters are bound together, but fate it seems connects them and our magical café in another way too!

This was a book I jumped at when I saw it listed both because of the cats (no surprise there) but also because its name ‘The Full Moon Coffee Shop’ reminded me very much of a Kdrama I enjoyed some years ago, Hotel Del Luna (still one of my favourites that I’ve watched) where a hotel for spirits who haven’t been able to cross opens every Full Moon night, with the characters helping the spirits find the answers they are seeking. The Full Moon Coffee Shop did in a sense turn out the same, a café magically appearing every Full Moon night only to those who need it—not spirits in this case but real, live human beings who’ve perhaps lost their way or been unable to find what they’re really looking for in life.

The cats who run the café—and there’s a whole set of them—make this additionally special. As we read on, we realise they are no ordinary cats. However, even more of a surprise awaits us as the book gradually reveals deeper connections. In fact, the book is full of these, seemingly serendipitous happenings, meetings and links but which turn out to have more to do with fate, perhaps than chance. Everything links back and together so beautifully by the end, that one can’t help but have a smile on one’s face.

What set this book apart from the others I’ve mentioned and makes it more than just cats and people in need of help, though is the astrology. Because it is astrology and birth charts that these cats use to give our various characters better and deeper understandings of themselves. And along with them, the reader too gets to learn a fair bit about it, different stages of life, the influences of the stars and planets, how each person’s unique chart shapes they way things can turn out for them—not necessarily fated in that it can’t be changed but more like a map that helps one navigate life, especially the obstacles likely to arise in one’s way or one’s own fears. What I found even more interesting was the broader insights into the age that we live in, once again from the perspective of astrology. It was fascinating to learn how things transition across ages in terms of values and value systems, natural and manmade occurrences and how humans too must adapt to these changes (to which we are much more resistant than we might realise), with lessons from each age to be carried into the next—an aspect of the book which had a lot more profundity than I was expecting. It also left me curious as to why the author chose to base the work on Western astrology rather than the Japanese/Chinese systems (a question to which I haven’t yet found the answer).

Beyond the astrology, characters and even the cats, the book has much more--there’s Western classical music referenced all through (Pathetique and Nessun Dorma among them), plenty of delicious sounding food (desserts, really—all of which one would want to eat) and also very much the lovely city of Kyoto and many of its landmarks (with a very brief visit to Osaka too)—among them the Gokonomiya Shrine, Daiko-ji temple and the Otesuji shopping arcade.

All these elements together make it a rich reading experience, with emotional appeal, charm and much to interest one’s intellect too. At its heart though is also just humanness or humaneness, the compassion, love and concern for fellow creatures that makes us (or ought to) who we are and what really sets everything off for this story.

As a cat-themed pick, I did find myself wondering at one point whether characters other than cats could have done the same ‘job’—perhaps they could, but with the backstory we learn eventually, one realises though that it had to be the cats!

Published 29 August 2024. I love Japanese literature that features cats and interlocking stories where characters are 'healed'. This is such a one and is based on the legend that if you're kind to cats, they'll be kind to you, they'll repay you, and this is what happens here although you don't quite understand how everything is connected until the very end. Each character in the story is going through a difficult time for one reason or another and they come across a sort of pop-up coffee shop - named The Full Moon Coffee Shop as it only appears at full moon. There, they are served by talking cats! Magical realism - I love it. Each cat is named after a planet - and the cat that serves the main character in the chapter happens to be named after the planet that governs their birth chart. There is a lot of astrology in this book as the cats explain the character's birth charts to them - not telling their fortunes, but explaining how the planets affect their lives, helping the characters to understand themselves better and so enable them to adjust their lives for the better. On top of this, our characters are served delectable desserts and coffees with names such as 'Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float' tailor made desserts to compliment their charts. The format is reminiscent of 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' so will appeal if you like that one although I guess that some will find it a bit dry because of the astrology discussions. For me- it was a nice, cosy read - just as I knew it would be.