Book Review: Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee

‘Café Con Lychee’ by Emery Lee (e/em) was released in 2022 and is Lee’s second book. It follows the story of Theo Mori and Gabi Moreno, as their rival family restaurants are forced to acknowledge a common enemy: World Fusion Café, an establishment with mediocre food, but vibrant, Instagrammable drinks.

It is made very clear from the get go that Lee has a powerful command of character voice. On the first page you instantly know there is something between Theo and Gabi: “They say your life flashes before your eyes just before you die, but let me make something perfectly clear – whoever in charge of that clip better not put a single fucking shot of Gabriel Moreno or I’m pressing charges.” Seriously, what an opener. The second you open the book, you get slapped with the rivals to lovers trope and it’s delicious! There’s personality, there’s resentment and there’s the question about why Gabriel Moreno would be in Theo’s end-of-life montage.

The rivalry is apparent and it isn’t just derivative of rival restaurants, Theo and Gabi have a lot in common, they share a homeroom, are both are on the school soccer team, and both have a mutual attraction to the same sex. Not that Gabi is out. Never in a million years. Theo, however, is the only out student at their school, and Gabi can’t help but be a bit jealous that he has the confidence to be authentically himself.

I really enjoyed this book – it is a fun story about rivals bonding over mutual struggles, breaking rules, and realising they aren’t that different. The scenario that forces Gabi’s hand, the threat of his family losing the family bakery he was to inherit because of a slip in sales, is devastating to him. His sixteen-year-old world is in chaos. His dance teacher is leaving the school, his family business is going to close, his best friend is completely neurotic about the upcoming Homecoming dance, and just to make it worse, Theo, the star player on the school’s shambolic soccer team sprained his wrist – which was also Gabi’s fault.

What I loved was how Gabi and Theo respectively dealt with the new threat to their family livelihoods. While Theo’s abusive uncle, Greg lords closing the family business down since he owns the building, Theo lashes out and seeks a solution: innovation, beating the competitors at their own game. Food and drinks that taste good, being sold after school, in a bid to attract business back, Gabi isn’t sure what to do, but what he is sure of is that Theo will have worked out a solution, and if Gabi wants a chance of helping his own family, he needs to learn what Theo is doing.

What starts as Gabi’s guilt for injuring Theo, and thus insisting he help him with “deliveries” blossoms into a collaboration between both Gabi’s family bakery, and Theo’s family café. Their collaboration is what brings them closer, and oh no, now they’ve caught feelings!

I loved how Lee demonstrated how adults don’t necessarily trust children to make decisions, because they seem to exist under the guise that teenagers navigate in a world of melodrama and hormones, so when people have real problems, they’re often swept under the rug. It was a harsh reminder to the audience, no matter their age that they need to listen to others, really listen. I thought it encapsulated the anger and angst of teens feeling ignored, whilst also navigating real life-changing decisions that have every right to scare anyone.

Due to the split-narrative nature of the book, we get to see the anguish that comes from realising the enemy isn’t necessarily a bad person, and subsequently realising that both Theo and Gabi have caught feelings. It’s filled with delicious dramatic irony, and I loved wanting to scream at the both of them to use their common sense and realise that they reciprocate romantic feelings.

I really enjoyed ‘Café Con Lychee’, and would, absolutely recommend it!