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This story is largely set in a café called Funiculi Funicula in Jimbocho, in the Kanda area in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, with a sign on the corner of an alley. The name seems to have no particular reason. But what makes this café stand apart from others is that it seems, as word gets around, that the coffee one could order could also take you back in time. Not permanently, there is a set amount of time, but enough time to connect and ask their questions or share their regrets, all within a limited period of time - the time it takes from the beginning to end is from the time the coffee is poured, and ends just before the coffee gets cold.

In order to begin the journey to the past, there is a special chair in the café, which one needs to wait for a particular chair in the café, which a certain customer will be occupying, and you must wait until that person to leave the chair, and visit the restroom. Then you may sit in the chair which will take you back in time, but you must stay on the chair while you are in the past. And there is another stipulation, who you can go back to meet is limited to those who have visited the cafe previously.

This is the fifth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, but not having read the ones that preceded this one, I enjoyed it as a stand alone read.

At 240 pages, this is a relatively short read, but it explores so many regrets that people have had over the years, and the sorrows that follow. The questions never asked, the questions never answered.


Pub Date: 05 Nov 2024


Many thanks to for the ARC provided by Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press