I totally loved this book for several reasons.

First, I am a sucker for a good rom-com story. This one delivered and did not need the inclusion of super-steamy scenes to put the reader under a trance. You can empathize with Fiona's stumbling through a sticky situation. And you can completely appreciate her appreciation of Gabe.

Second, as someone in the blogging/influencer space, I thoroughly loved seeing a positive portrayal of someone in the space. It had me longing to get more into travel blogging.

Third, there is such attention to detail about the Japanese culture as it is experienced by Fiona. It makes me want to book a trip there soon.

This is the first book I've read by Julie Caplin. However, I doubt it will be the last.

Many thanks for the ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

What a beautiful book! Despite being an avid reader I’ve not read many books set in modern day Japan. This book made me really want to visit. The author describes things so clearly, I almost felt like I’d experienced some of the locations myself. Fiona, the main character is strong and likeable and I enjoyed her journey. I also really loved the relationships she builds with Haruka, Setsuko and Gabe. I’ll definitely be looking to read more books by this author.
Thank you so much to netgalley, the author and the publishers for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book--so full of heart, whimsy, and an overwhelming sense of joy. The perfect escapist read for those who feel overwhelmed by everything going on in the world right now.

Sadly I was not a fan. I hate love triangles and this one was no exception. I was attracted by the japanese setting but not enough to overcome the lacking (imo) romance.

The Little tea shop in Tokyo is a romantic comedy about Fiona who wins a competition to visit Japan on a mentoring trip.
It is a story about letting go of the past and embracing life now.
The story takes you to Japan and through the descriptions makes you feel that you are actually there.
I would recommend this book. I have already purchased othertitkes from this author after reading this.
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

<strong>The Little Teashop in Tokyo</strong> is a cute story about a girl, <em>Fiona</em>, who wins a trip to Japan with the opportunity to have her pictures from Japan in an exhibition in London after the trip. When she arrives in Tokyo, she's supposed to be mentored by a famous Japanese photographer, but instead meets <em>Gabe</em>, an equally famous artist, who, however, broke her heart ten years earlier.

The book is quite adorable and the part about getting familiar with Japan and Japanese culture called out to my travel-loving soul. I felt truly inspired by the descriptions of the culture, beautiful sights and tasty food. While I'm not dying to see the urban parts of Japan, such as Tokyo and the famous Shibuya crossing, I'd absolutely love to go to their mountains and the more historical cities, like Kyoto.

<img class="size-full wp-image-5928 aligncenter" src="https://wondrousbooks.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/giphy.gif" alt="giphy" width="500" height="281" />

On the other hand, I had some problems with Fiona and her attitude towards Gabe and their relationship. For starters, I was pretty annoyed with Fiona's incredible insecurity and her going on and on and on about how unattractive she is. <em>You've got him, hon, enjoy it!</em> Not to mention the overload of drama about the alleged incident ten years earlier, which was so innocent I just couldn't believe it could ignite so much tragedy in Fiona's life. Gabe, I preferred. He was pretty torn up by a previous relationship, but things like that do happen.

The two of them had some nice moments (when Fiona wasn't bemoaning herself), and I quite enjoyed those, so I believe if Fiona was less of Fiona, I'd have really liked the book. Therefore, I'll definitely be checking out Julie Caplin's other books from the series. I'm particularly excited about <strong>The Little Cafe in Copenhagen</strong>, because Copenhagen has a very special place in my heart.

This book was pretty good. I didn’t particularly bond with any of the characters, but by the halfway point I was at least a little bit attached to them. The narrative was very peaceful. I think this is the kind of book someone reads when they go on holiday or to the beach. The descriptions of Japan and Japanese culture were beautiful. I loved reading all the moments with the Kobashi family. The romance is very slow burn and the ending was very sweet.

The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin is a wonderful escape when we, quite literally, have to stay where we are. I have read several of Ms Caplin's novels, and love the variety of international settings that serve as a backdrop to the clever and well-developed romantic trysts of her adventurous protagonists.

This time around, we are whisked away to Japan, and immersed in a culture that mystifies, intimidates, and delights in equal measure. When blogger Fiona wins an all expense paid trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, her local host turns out to be, against all odds, her one-time professor, Gabe. Although they shared only a brief flirtation many years before, Fiona is shocked and offended that Gabe appears to have no recollection of her, let alone the moment in time they once shared.

I must say that I was less enamoured with the inevitable romance between Fiona and Gabe than I was seduced by the luscious and vivid descriptions of Japanese culture. If Ms Caplin has not spent an extended period of time in the country, she has certainly done her research. The novel itself reads almost as a travelogue and is, essentially, a love letter to a country that has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Loved visiting Tokyo in this book, as it was well written by the author. I liked how most things were beautifully described on the story. Look forward to reading another book by this author

Utterly delightful. Perfect for fans of Roselle Lim and Jenny Colgan. A recommended purchase for collection where light women's fiction is popular.

The Little Teashop in Tokyo is a sweet romp through Japan! Focusing largely on photography and Japanese culture, I was reminded a lot of my time there but also learned plenty as well.
•
I'd recommend this book to someone who is interested in reading a light romance and has an interest in not only Japanese travel, but in the culture as well. Other themes are mother-daughter relationships, photography and body positivity. Surprisingly, I pretty much look exactly like the MC - extremely tall with red-blonde-brown sort of wild hair. As happens in the book, I've absolutely had people say weird things to me about my size or had people fixate on my hair. I've felt at times unconscious or proud of both, depending on who I'm with. Actually, my very first post on my personal IG was a joke I made about traveling to Japan and being a foot taller than everyone else, which did end up being true and did make me feel amazonian and ungainly. I really identified with that part of the book a lot, and I think it was really well done.
•
I also enjoyed the development of the romance. Caplin wrote memorable scenes with beautiful settings, heartfelt dialogue and good build. I think overall I'd rate it 3.5! If the sentences would have been shorter, I'd give it a 4.25. Unfortunately the sentences were consistently overwritten, making large portions of the book very tedious to get through. I would pocket this author for times when I have been bitten by the travel bug and I'm in need of a light read.

How wonderful it was to be transported to Japan, at a time where there isn't really any international travel.

I literally felt as though I was there alongside Fiona, as she takes in the sights, traditions, culture and way of life of Tokyo for the first time. Although I've never been from what I do vaguely know of the country, this all seemed incredibly authentic, and very well researched.

There were spatterings of Japanese words and their meanings, various practices, the Japanese tea ceremony and so much variation in the food that I was practically salivating at the descriptions. I could totally identify with Fiona's issues with chopsticks to eat with!

Yet between the clear love of Japan in this book, at its heart there is what could be a romance between Fiona, and her reluctant photography mentor Gabe.

Gabe who appears to be tired of life, and only doing a half hearted job at anything, is supposed to be helping Fiona, but rather needs an initial attitude adjustment.

I could completely sympathise with Fiona, about her mother, mine isn't quite as bad, but can be similarly frustrating, so I very much empathised with her there.

And the host family Fiona stays with, three generations are fabulous, and teach us all so many wonderful things about life in Japan, and the blending of the traditional with the modern. I would have loved to have gone to the digital art museum that the grand daughter takes Fiona too - it sounded amazing.

Such a fabulous story, I was loving every single second of it, and it was a shame to then realise I was in my garden and not actually in such a different country. Another top notch book in this romantic escapes series from one of my favourite authors, Julie Caplin.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily,.

Travel blogger Fiona has always dreamt of going to Japan, so she jumps at the chance to enter a contest for an all-expense paid photography mentorship there. To her surprise she wins and she believes she's headed for the trip of a lifetime, that is until she arrives and finds her mentor for the two weeks is none other than Gabe, the man who broke her heart and made her life miserable ten years prior. And the worst part? He doesn't even remember her. As the pair makes amends, they find that the cherry blossoms aren't the only things blooming. I wanted to like this, but it just really wasn't for me. The plot felt clunky and the dialogue unbelievable. I didn't like Caplin's writing style and didn't connect with any of the characters. Fiona was so insecure and not in a charming modest way, more in an eye-rollingly annoying way. I really felt her grudge against Gabe was so blown out of proportion and childish as well. The only thing I will say I liked was all the Japanese culture woven throughout. Other than that, I'd pass on this.

I've loved every Julie Caplin book I've read and this is up there with the best of them. I spent 3 weeks in Tokyo many years ago and reading The Little Teashop in Tokyo was like returning to see how things have changed. The sense of place was extraordinarily real.

Just as real is Julie's treatment of the romantic relationship of gnarly problems and real people who are flawed and just a tiny bit battered but strong and decent too. The photography angle (see what I did there?) feels well-researched and added to the fascination of the book.

A big, fat five stars from me.

Thannks Netgalley and the Publisher. I loved this book. I had the pleasure of going to Tokyo a year ago and bought back good memories. Good story and great characters.

I discovered the Romantic Escapes books last year and dove right in and devoured them all quite quickly. I've found them all to be charming, witty and make me want to travel wherever Julie has based the latest book. I was quite excited to read The Little Teashop in Tokyo but sadly I feel this missed the high bar that has been set by the previous books.

This novel follows Fiona as she travels to Japan after winning a photography contest. She's to be mentored by a well known photographer for two weeks and then have a grand exhibition of her photographs once it's all done. As a photographer, I was eager to follow Fiona along in her journey since I'd be able to more closely relate to her than the other previous heroines. Fiona makes it to Japan and finds out that her mentor is now someone she made a fool of herself over when she was a teenager and is mortified when he arrives to pick her up.

The good is that I really loved learning so much about Tokyo and Japan and it did make me want to travel there. I adored the relationship of Fiona and her host family and would have happily read a book completely without romance to read about her time staying with the family and more about the teashop.

The bad is Gabe. He's terrible and their relationship is terrible. I wasn't rooting for them, ever.

Overall it was a fine read but a disappointment to me in comparison with her previous novels (as much as it pains me to say this!).

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book as much as the previous Romantic Escape books (#4 and 5) that I read. It was OK, but didn't have the same feeling for me as the other books. I would give it 2.5stars. I blame it on Fiona and Gabe. I didn't love their romance (which was extremely slow occur) and predicted exactly what would happen. I found both to be highly annoying. I hated when they were together. Fiona constantly went on about how ugly she was and how Gabe ruined her life at eighteen. I don't think what happened to her was so horrible that she had to hide away. Most of her insecure feeling came from her mom, who was a huge manipulator. Her mom wouldn't even allow her to enjoy the free trip to Japan with all the text messages about dying and being left home alone. Fiona needs to separate that huge codependent relationship. Then there was Gabe. He was the worst mentor in history. The only thing he seemed to have going for him was that he was handsome. I honestly don't believe he would have remembered Fiona after ten years.

I loved reading about Japan. The description about the scenery, food and people was amazing. Especially the food, it sounded delicious. The cherry blossoms!!!! Would love to visit there!! Never realized their subways and trains would be so quiet. The Borderless digital museum sounds magical. Haruka and her family were the best part. They were lovely and always there for Fiona. The perfect hosts. I doubt Fiona's mom would change so much in such a short time.

Give the book a try, especially if you read the previous Romantic Escape books. This one just wasn't my cup of tea. Look forward to reading more books by the author. I love the Romantic Escape series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A lovely story. A fab ending. Julie Caplin had done a lot of research about Japan and it showed. Some things I knew but a lot I didn't. I loved the description of the cherry blossom. The tea ceramony was described well. .A nice feel good book.

I always love these Julie Caplin books as they give you a chance to go somewhere you dream of visiting. Except this time I have been to Tokyo - so was it going to live up to the real thing? I admit to waiting a couple of times to see if there were any rooky mistakes, as Japan is unique and it would be easy to spot something that didn't fit in. I can thankfully say yes it did live up to my experience . All the descriptions of the travel and the Japanese customs were so true to my own trip that I felt like I was there all over again.



The book follows Fiona who wins a trip to Japan. Whilst there she will be mentored by a famous Japanese photographier. Except that the mentor can't make it and instead someone she embarrassed herself with long ago called Gabe takes over the role. So begins a little bit of a cat and mouse story - with no spoilers from me as to whether the cat catches the mouse.



Some wonderful characters in this book - especially the Japanese ladies who I would love to meet. Hakura elegant and understated in her own unique way together with her lovely daughter and headstrong grand daughter. Julie has captured perfectly the generations in Japan. Also there is Yumi the petulant and spoilt former muse of her mentor Gabe. I really didn't like this character at all, wanting to tell her she had made her bed and she needed to go lie in it!



The lovely easy style of the book makes it a great read even if you've never been to Japan. The journeys and sights around Tokyo are so descriptive you will feel like you are there, or make you want to go again.

I selected this book for two reasons: one, the main character is a blogger and secondly, this is set in Japan, a country that merges traditions beautifully with technology and modernism. What is more? Fiona is also a passionate photographer, something I too love. Quite understandably, I was more invested in her photography experiments and the beauty and serenity of Japan that unfolded through her eyes than on the romance part.
Usually, I don't prefer reading travel romances. The story part and the travelling rarely gel together but surprisingly, Julies Caplin has managed that feat incredibly well. There is ample tension to keep you focused and Japan with its tantalising dishes and scenic beauty fits beautifully within the storyline. The cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, Digital museum and the silent trains . . . yup, Japan is added to my ever-growing bucket list.
Fiona and Gabe have their own flaws and it took me some time to warm up to Gabe. I don't know which is worse, a man who sleeps around or the one who is under the leash of a manipulative woman. Both are despicable and Gabe belongs to the latter category. Sorry, if I didn't jump in joy on meeting him. But as a wise man once said, people are capable of change and grudgingly though it may be, I am happy that Fiona gave him a chance.
I cannot conclude this review without mentioning Haruka, the kind but firm Japanese lady who owned the teashop. She is really a fairy godmother in a kimono and her tea ceremony was one of the most interesting part in the novel. Well, we could never really know about a country through a single book, but if you are interested in getting a taste of Japan along with a cute love story, then this is the perfect pick. What more can you wish for during this lockdown period?