Before We Say Goodbye was such a lovely read. Each story surprised me, just when I thought what was happening, it took a different turn. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants a calming read. Although some stories will make you tear up like The Farewell did for me. 😢 I always have a soft spot for dogs.

One thing I would change or do differently (since I’ve read the first three in the series) is not give too much description of previous happenings or characters. I understand it may be due to the fact that not everyone reads books in order, but some things were repeated too often.

Overall I truly enjoyed this book and the previous three. Thank you for my copy.

A bittersweet ending to an amazing series. This left me wanting more more more from Toshikazu Kawaguchi. These stories will make you laugh and cry and think to yourself “would I sit in that chair, given the chance?” So sad to see it end.

I should know, having read the previous three, that this one was going to hit in all the FEELS, but my GOSH! All the stories are just fantastic, but story #2 and story #4 made me ugly cry like I never thought I could ugly cry and left me wishing I too could go back in time.

These have been some of the best books I have ever read and I am so glad I took a chance when I read book 1 [I never thought I'd like them much love them, but here we are] and I cannot recommend them enough - the stories will move you, change you, and bring you hope and dreams and the idea of love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot - Translator, and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Hanover Square Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for the eARC of Before We Say Goodbye. This is bittersweet - the conclusion to one of my favorite series. However, I adored the stories in this installment, and this may be my favorite volume. The story with the dog and the one with the daughter particularly hit home for me. What a beautiful series, with such a satisfying conclusion.

4.5⭐️

Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) is the fourth installment of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series and personally one of my favorites (along with Book #2, Tales from the Café ).

Set in Café Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo, we meet an interesting cast of characters (both old and new) – café regulars, owners and staff and first-time visitors who come to the café for the unique experience of time travel. The rules are the same and no one can change their past. Then why go back? Love, regret, nostalgia, guilt, the need to say goodbye and to share what was left unsaid. In four interconnected stories we meet a former professor who spent most of his life busy with his career desires to speak to his wife who is now bedridden after an accident; a husband wants his wife to take the opportunity to say goodbye to their beloved dog Apollo who passed on while she was dozing; following a cryptic message left by her deceased former boyfriend a young woman visits the café to meet him for the last time and finally a young woman hopes to say goodbye and apologize to her deceased father for her behavior toward him during their last meeting.

The beautifully written, insightful and heartwarming stories inspire pause and reflection. This short novel left me with a lump in my throat and a smile on my face. Definitely recommended for fans of the series and can be read as a standalone.

Many thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Before We Say Goodbye was published in the United States on November 14, 2023.

In the latest installment in this series, each of the four stories mostly center around regret. The four characters all regret their last time with someone and wish to go back and do things differently, whether there was something they didn't say during that last interaction or something they said that they wish they could take back. Unfortunately, there's nothing they can do to change the outcome of what happens to that person (or dog), but they can try for one last positive interaction.

We explore a bit more of how the time travel works, although much of it is still a mystery. The familiar café employees are there guiding everyone through the rules. Although the stories are chronological, they are written in a way they could easily be read out of order as short stories. They're written fairly simply, while still capturing a wide range of emotions. Since the relationships and situations in each story are so varied, I definitely connect more with certain ones over others. But because of that variety it's interesting to continue to explore this question of what would you do if you had one chance to travel through time to see someone.

I enjoyed my fourth journey to Cafe Funiculi Funicula, where people can, in a sense, travel through time to spend a few minutes with someone with whom they need to complete some unfinished business.

I find the individual stories touching and meaningful, as each person gets something different out of their journey. This collection touches on people wanting to clear the air or say something to someone they care for who has either died or is somehow unable to be contacted.

I listen to these books as audiobooks, and since they are a Japanese translation, it helps me with the names and the places so I don't get stumbled up. The narrator is the same for all four books so it gives continuity and he does an excellent job moving through the stories.

The weakness in this book, as with all of them, is the constant repetition of the rules for the time travel and the somewhat immature (not really how to explain this) reactions of the people to whom they are explained. It's repetitive for the reader to have to go through the rules/questioning of the characters about the rules/repeating again of the rules over and over again. I think the stories could be much stronger without that repetition, but it's there and I doubt it's going to change.

Overall if you like sweet stories about heartfelt issues, this is a lovely series to experience.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a series but following the vignettes into the lives of the staff and visitors of Cafe Funiculi Funicula had me devouring the first four books and excited for the next one to be translated. Every book in this series reads almost like a short story collection with the spotlights on the characters and their time travel in the famous cafe. Emotional, reflective, very cozy magical realism series.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for the e-ARC!

I tried so hard to get through this one, but around 75%, and countless hours of falling asleep while reading, I had to throw in the towel. I also struggled with the first book in the series. I love the stories, but there’s something about the writing that makes it so hard to get through. Maybe if it was written differently, I wouldn’t be struggling so much. I want to love these books but maybe now isn’t the right time for me…

"Last Chance to Say Goodbye," the fourth installment in Toshikazu Kawaguchi's enchanting Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series, beckons readers into the magical confines of Café Funiculi Funicula. This time-traveling Tokyo café grants its patrons the extraordinary chance to revisit the past under strict temporal constraints—all within the duration it takes for their coffee to cool.

Kawaguchi's previous novels have unveiled poignant tales of reconciliation, rekindled love, and familial bonds through the café's mystical journeys. In this latest installment, readers encounter a fresh group of visitors, each grappling with their own unique emotional landscapes.

Guided by Kawaguchi's trademark heartwarming characters and poignant storytelling, translated seamlessly by Geoffrey Trousselot, the novel immerses readers in a world where pivotal moments from the past beckon for resolution. With each visitor's tale, Kawaguchi provocatively prompts readers to ponder their own past and what they would say or do differently if they could go back.

"Last Chance to Say Goodbye" is a captivating and emotive exploration of regrets, second chances, and the universal longing for closure. Kawaguchi's masterful storytelling and the café's mystical allure once again blend seamlessly, offering readers a poignant reminder of the profound impact of our decisions on the tapestry of life. This evocative and introspective novel is a testament to Kawaguchi's storytelling prowess and a heartfelt invitation to contemplate the complexities of the human experience.

I just reviewed Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. #BeforeWeSayGoodbye #NetGalley

3.5 stars

In this 4th book in the 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' series, four 'time travelers' want to make amends. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

On a side street in Tokyo there's a little coffee shop called Funiculi Funicula that has a very unusual feature. It allows people to travel back in time. There are rigid rules for time travelers, however, as follows:

- Whatever you do, you CANNOT change the present.

- You can only interact with people who have visited Funiculi Funicula.

- You must sit in one specific chair in the café to time travel, and you can't leave the chair for any reason. The catch is, a ghost - in the form of a woman reading a book - occupies the chair and only leaves once a day to go to the toilet.

- A cup of coffee starts the journey, and you MUST return to the present before the coffee gets cold. If you don't return in time, YOU become the ghost in the chair.

Regular denizens of the coffee shop include:

☕︎ Nagare Tokita - the owner of the café; he's over six feet tall and wears a white cook's uniform.

☕︎ Kazu - Nagare's cousin, who works as a waitress in the café; she pours the coffee for the time travelers.

☕︎ Nana Kohtake - a nurse in a local hospital; she drops into the café every day after work.

☕︎ Fumiko Kiokawa - a university graduate who knows six languages; she also visits the café every day after work.

*****

In each of the four vignettes in this book, someone is haunted by something that happened in the past, and feels compelled to go back. The four time travelers are:

⏲️ The Husband

Monji Kadokura is a husband, father, professor, and adventurer who traveled extensively for his work. Over the years, Kadokura spent little time with his family, and left the task of raising the children to his spouse.

A few years ago, Kadokura's wife Mieko had an accident, and she's been in a vegetative state ever since. Now, the professor wants to go back and speak to his wife one more time.

⏲️ The Dog Owner

Sunao Hikita and her husband Mutsuo never had children, but they had a beloved golden retriever named Apollo. When Apollo was approaching the end of his life, Sunao and Mutsuo took turns staying with the dog around the clock, so Apollo wouldn't pass alone.

Sadly, Sunao was dozing when Apollo went to his reward, and she feels terrible about her lapse. Thus Sunao wants to return to the past.

⏲️ The Girlfriend

When Hikari Ishimori's boyfriend, Yoji Sakita, asked her to meet him in Funiculi Funicula, Hikari knew Yoji planned to propose. Hikari, who just got a job as a wedding planner, explained she wasn't ready to wed, and Yoji promised to wait for her.

Now, half a year later, Hikari says he's become interested in another woman. This spurs Hikari to visit the past.

⏲️ The Daughter

Michiko Kijimoto decided to attend university in Tokyo to get away from her father, Kengo, who was always telling her what to do. When Kengo visited his daughter at school, she was rude and disprespectul.

Shortly afterwards, Japan experienced the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, in which Kengo perished. Thus Michiko wants to go back and speak to her father once again.

*****

The stories are quirky, touching, and illuminating.

If you could go back in time, who would you choose to see?

Thanks to Netgalley, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and Hanover Square Press for a copy of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the fourth book in the series, and it was written beautifully. Each book I end up crying, and it was no surprise I did for this one too. All of the short stories revolve around regulars who go to a cafe that has the ability to grant someone a trip to the past. However, there are strict rules when traveling to the past. One of them being that you must drink your cup of coffee before it runs cold. These chapters revolve around four people who travel to the past to deal with love, loss, and guilt. This was a bittersweet read.

Fourth installment got me ugly sobbing like never. All due to the second story with a dog. The main theme here was regret. All characters move back in time to fix themselves internally and relive themselves from grief and guilt. The first two stories were the most interesting, the two last - not so much. But that doesn't mean they were any less. It's a quite even book. I think out of all of them, those characters will stay with me the longest. Also, as opposed to previous parts the workers of the famous café were in the background, and I'm pretty sure there was even a time jump, like the third book never happened. With that being said, I enjoyed exploration of themes, and I'm curious if there will be more coming up in the future.

* the book will be posted with this review on my SM on 11/17.

I have to start this by saying I am a big fan of the BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD series. Every single book has felt wholesome, inspiring, and made me cry (including this one!). However, I was definitely thrown off by this latest installment in the series.

At its core, this novel brings in new cafe patrons who want to go back in time, all for good and unique reasons that give them the opportunity to overcome adversity, regrets, etc. There were interesting characters (even including a dog <3) and varied reasons for their wanting to return to the past, and varied lessons learned, as in the other books in this series. However, they didn’t feel as compelling as the patrons of previous installments in this series.

One thing I have loved about these books is, each person who visits the cafe has a story related to why they want to go back and in time, and every time, it feels so organic how they share their story with the cafe employees (and thus, the reader). This book, on the other hand, does much more telling than showing. I was disappointed with how abrupt and direct the storytelling was in this one, especially compared to the others in the series.

There was also a lot of repetition. I know that the rules of the cafe are often told in previous books in the series as well, which makes it easier for readers to jump into the series at any point, but in this one it felt like we were beat over the head with each rule in every single story. Which is, again, so unlike the previous books. While the rules may be repeated in the past in multiple stories in one installment, I didn’t notice it quite as much as in this one. And it always seemed to have a purpose, usually emphasizing one to dig deeper into the rule and the implications of it.

There were sporadic moments in the novel where it was written in first person, which I don’t believe has been the case ever in this series, let alone for just one story here or there. So that threw me off a good bit. We usually have a third-person omniscient narrator. Including in this book; however, there are slight deviations that feel more like misses than an intentional choice. Especially at this point in the series.

Unfortunately, this latest installment did not work for me and made me feel like they pushed to put out another because it’s been a successful series. Rather than leaning into the aspects of the series that makes it so enjoyable, heartwarming, and even heartwrenching to read. I did still enjoy it overall but I did feel like I skimmed it some because of the redundancy and it just didn’t feel as cozy or as compelling as previous ones in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Books, and Hanover Square Press for the opportunity to read this latest novel in advance of its release in exchange for my honest review.

Touching, heart-warming emotional stories that where diverse characters travel back in time to resolve unfinished emotional business. This fourth novel in the series Before the Coffee Gets Cold, but my first read, features a magical café in Japan, Café Funiculi Funicula, that enables patrons to travel to their past. Strict rules apply: such as no changing present outcomes, staying in the time-traveling chair, and time is limited to getting back before their cup of coffee cools.

Four people get a chance at time travel: a husband who needs to apologize to his wife who’s currently in a vegetative state; a woman needing to say goodbye to her beloved dog who died while she was sleeping, a woman who declined a marriage proposal, and a daughter who in her youth after her mother’s death drove her father away from her.

The whole time reading you find yourself mulling over if you could go back in the past to talk to someone - what would you say and why would matter so much to you. From lost loved ones to deep regrets, the powerful possibility of saying goodbyes or righting emotional wrongs has powerful resonance.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

If you've read any of the previous 3 books, then you're already familiar with the premise of this series. BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD is a cozy, comforting and bittersweet series about travelling back in time to have one final conversation with a loved one. It is no different in this fourth installment BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE. We are back with a new set of visitors to the magical café Funiculi Funicula with stories titled The Husband, The Farewell, The Proposal and The Daughter.

Just like in the other novels, BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE was full of heartwarming moments and many valuable lessons on life, relationships and regrets. Each story revolved around themes of guilt, grief, love and loss. As I was reading each story, I felt for the characters and the emotions they were feeling in those moments. The stories always started off heartbreaking but by the end, there was a healing element to them—making the stories tender and touching. I specifically really enjoyed the stories "The Farewell" and "The Daughter."

I appreciated that this time around, the rules weren't as repetitive compared to the previous novels. The rules of time travelling were still mentioned in each story but, they were brief and the majority of the time, it was implied that they were already made clear to the customers. As someone who has read all the other books, it was great to have more time spent with the actual stories rather than the constant repetition of rules (which was an issue I had with this series before.) I would, however, love to have more of the focus be on the staff's backstory as they are the recurring characters in every book.

Since this series has been going on for so long, I'll be honest and say that the magical touch has faded for me. BUT, will I still read the 5th novel when it comes out? Yes because it's still a comforting, easy read that pulls on my heartstrings. Thanks to Netgalley and Hanover Square Press for the eARC!

3.5/5

Thank you to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

"Before We Say Goodbye" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, the fourth installment in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, is an emotionally resonant journey through our favorite mystical Tokyo cafe where time travel is possible. This time, the narratives are centered around final goodbyes, and each story is a powerful exploration of love, loss, and closure.

The diverse range of patrons coming to the cafe adds a layer of richness to the storytelling. From an absent husband bidding farewell to his wife to a daughter seeking closure with her father, every narrative is crafted with sensitivity and depth. The emotions are palpable, and each tale tugs at the heartstrings, creating a cathartic experience for readers.

Kawaguchi's writing, skillfully translated, captures the essence of the human experience as characters confront the inevitability of farewells. The Tokyo cafe serves as a unique backdrop, where the blending of the magical and the ordinary creates a touching exploration of the complexities of saying goodbye.

"Before We Say Goodbye" is a beautifully crafted addition to the series, offering readers a chance to reflect on their own relationships and the inevitable goodbyes, which makes this installment a truly touching read for anyone who appreciates stories that resonate with the soul.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before We Say Goodbye is the latest instalment of the series where we follow a new cast of characters visiting Café Funiculi Funicula. Although the premise is familiar to readers, Kawaguchi’s narrative expands on the purpose of time travel and questions readers once more, asking “Why is it so important to travel back in time and talk to the person who matters to you most?”

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Before We Say Goodbye is the fourth installment in Kawaguchi's Before The Coffee Gets Cold, and it returns readers to the cafe Funicul Funicula, where four new visitors to the cafe sit in a chair that will temporarily transport them to the past.

One of my favorite things about this series is that it's so consumable. This book took me maybe two hours to read, and it was a quite pleasant two hours. I laughed, I cried, and I was at peace.

There's nothing here that necessarily wowed me, nothing that felt particularly fresh or new or interesting - save, maybe, a woman returning to the past to see her dog - but I think that's what I love about this series. It's like putting on one of those YouTube study music/ambience videos, like sitting down in the room with the lofi girl. These books never shatter my world, but they do make me feel, and when I leave them, I am happy.

I think if you're a fan of the series, this installment checks all the right boxes and is definitely worth picking up.

I have always had a soft spot for these stories. Just the premise, being able to step back in time, if only for a moment… what would you do? The characters here were wonderful, charming and moving. I loved them. It’s easy to lose myself in these short stories. Book two of this series, Tales From the Cafe, seemed to be a perfect transition from the first book, and three moved seemlessly from there… unfortunately, this book changed the timeline a tiny bit. One of the characters is quite a lot younger in this book. It hardly matters, but I found it strange. On the other hand, that’s my only complaint about the book so… it was pretty great.

The book has a good flow to it. While short, it was packed with emotions and gorgeous imagery. I was constantly charmed by the characters. It was shorter than the last, being 192 pages to the third book’s 314; but that actually matches books one and two. I was actually hoping for more ( I always am), though this one didn’t seem short.

There is enough explanation and introduction that each of these could be read as stand alone novels, but I love how they all go together. Getting to see the cafe group again is always nice. One of the group being younger here tripped me up a bit, but it isn’t as if they actually said we were going for a continuous timeline. Before We Say Goodbye was a beautiful book-five stars!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
On the adult content scale, there is very little. Some light language, perhaps, but nothing major. I would have let my niece read it at any age.


I was lucky enough to recieve an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Press in exchange for an honest review. My thanks. I have already preordered my paperback copy of this one (I have the other three in paper and ebook). It comes out Tuesday, is it on your to-buy list?