Aaand Toshikazu Kawaguchi CONTINUES to make me cry with every single instalment of this series. I thought I'd read every possible tragic scenario and then I'm hit with a DOG??? Inconsolable. Will be billing you for my therapy.

This author never fails to write a book I won't read. I ended up reading the first three books in this series in under a week, and it still remains one of my favorite that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. As always, I love seeing the same characters over and over, and learning a bit more about them through the new characters. This one was amazing, and I definitely shed a few tears (especially over the dog chapter, and the daughter chapter). This author very much knows how to balance love, regret, and pain.

Another heartwarming, feel-good read featuring a cast of diverse characters and a magical cafe where the coffee at a special table can transport its drinker back in time. However there are specific rules and each person has to weigh the cost of going back versus the risk of being turned into a ghost until someone else breaks a rule. This wasn't my favorite in the series but it was still enjoyable with the unique charm characteristic of all the books. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I have loved each of the books in this series and this one certainly not disappoint. A page turner that I couldn’t put down since page 1. Love and would recommend to everyone!!

This was a great addition to the series. I love the emotional stories and different journeys to the past these characters took. I always walk away from books in this series with a deeper outlook on life. Would recommend to anyone struggling with mental health or just in need of some heartwarming stories.

It appears that the story has been lost in translation or culturally not a fit. Thank you for the opportunity to read it, however I didn't enjoy it.

This book brings me so comfortable. Before the Coffee gets cold, people stop in to meet pets or people they've lost. These are tales of the lost and getting a chance to say goodbye the way you want. Typing out this review, I get a bit teary-eyed. I truly loved this book. I will buy the physical copy when it's released.
Thank you, Netgally and Toshikazu Kawaguchi, for allowing me to read this.

Thank you for the opportunity to review "Before We Say Goodbye," the fourth installment in this lovely and heart-rending series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Before I began the book, I was a bit concerned that perhaps the premise was wearing thin and I wouldn't enjoy this set of stories as much as I had enjoyed the prior collections. Not to fear though, as Kawaguchi came through in a thoughtful, emotion-provoking way. This is a quick read, and perfect for a rainy day under a blanket with a cup of tea - or coffee - at your side.

We must have crossed the sequel bridge because this one was magic! I have enjoyed all the books in this series, but did not feel it was continuing in it's original vein. I feel that we went back to exquisite exploring of the human spirit here, exposing all our regrets and exploring our possibilities. I would especially love to see a beloved pet again :)

"Before We Say Goodbye" was my first read by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. The book is made up of vignettes such as The Husband, The Farewell, The Proposal and The Daughter which seem simply written but are rich with insight. I plan to read his other books as well, having read that the first is the best in this series. I recommend this for readers who enjoy gently told, uplifting stories. Thank so NetGalley for the ARC.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi has done it again with his soon to be newest release, Before We Say Goodbye! The latest installment in the before the Coffee Gets Cold series, available November 14th, brings us the next round of four heartbreaking vignettes at the one and only time traveling cafe. Would you be willing to go back in time if you knew your actions would have no effect on the future? If you couldn’t leave your chair? If you had a time limit? Is all of this worth it go back and get closure? This book was an emotional roller coaster for me, especially the second story. It’s been a while since a book has made me cry and Before We Say Goodbye had me sobbing. If that isn’t the mark of a good book, I don’t know what is!

This series holds a special place in my heart and is my favorite novel featuring magical realism. Before We Say Goodbye moves away from the saga of the cafe owners and their story to focus more on the unique characters who want to go back in time, but it is just as a good a story as the previous ones. This may be the weirdest series I’ve read this year, but I can’t recommend Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and its sequels enough! Thank you @netgalley for an ARC of this amazing novel!

A quick, easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me, just like the previous books!

Such a lovely addition to this series! These 4 stories were, as always, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

It was lovely being back in the Funiculi Funicular cafe again. While these stories — The Husband, The Farewell, The Proposal, and The Daughter — were not as powerful as the stories from the other books in this series, they still shared valuable lessons and meaningful connections.

Before We Say Goodbye is a nice addition to the series and I recommend it to others who loved Before The Coffee Gets Cold. If you have read this first books, go back and read those before starting this one.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s new book from the Café Funiculi Funicula series is pure comfort. The special café in Japan serves coffee and time travel to patrons looking for closure or a second chance. In the series’ unique fashion, the new batch of café visitors share wistful stories of regret and uplifting visions of hope. Readers looking for more can check out the first book, Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

I do adore how intimate and stage play-esque this entire series is. Over multiple books, the cafe and its staff and regulars have become a comfort space to return to time and again. That said, I prefer when the stories revolved around the lives and mysteries of the staff and the regulars, because the beats of when standalone customers stop by have become extremely repetitive and predictable. This one seems to have stepped back entirely from the lives of Nagare and Kazu and their friends, and the main stories are rather lackluster. No new ground being broke in terms of slice of life, human emotional landscape either. Still, there is some comfort in returning to the familiar, and if there's another installment, I probably still will.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

For some reason this book felt much shorter than all of the others, but it has to be my favorite! I was able to connect with the stories more, especially the one about Apollo.

I would definitely recommend this series. They’re easy-to-read stories and you could easily read one story at once and then pick up the book at another time and not feel like you missed anything and need to reread.

The rules are simple. You have to sit in a specific chair in the cafe. You cannot get up from the seat. You must drink all of the coffee before it gets cold. If you can follow those rules, you can visit the past. Oh, you will be stuck in your seat, so its only useful if the person you want to see has visited the cafe in the past. Would you do it? I asked myself the same question multiple times throughout the book. It takes a lot for a book to get an emotional response out of me, yet each story in this book made me feel something. I cried. Twice. I could relate to pretty much every character that made the difficult choice to visit the past. The writing/translation was excellent and the concept is unique. I have read other books from this series and loved them as well, so if you enjoyed previous installments I would absolutely recommend this.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc to review.

Absolutely loved this one as much as the others in the series, the emotions I get from this series is so real & deeply felt.

I think I missed judged this series. I read the first book and I don’t think I really appreciated it. I thought it was a bit boring. But upon reading this book I’ve changed my opinion of the story. I actually really like the characters and the flow. Not every story needs to be jam packed with action every second and even in the most seeming simplistic stories one can gleam some important lessons. Though a straight forward story that follows a similar pattern in every chapter, this book has a lot of heart.

My first time reaching for a book from the “Before coffee gets cold” series and I’m afraid it will be the last. I like simple things, but Kawaguchi’s writing has no charm to it. The structure and base elements of the four stories feel so repetitive and many characters are overly annoying.

The premise is always the same throughout the book and the series’ earlier installments. A local cafe allows customers to go back in time but with conditions including their inability to change the outcomes of past events. The people that interact with the time travelers remember their encounters but are unable to change fate. So much potential, but the author filled the pages with too much nonsense. I do like most of the endings, but when you enjoy only two pages out of each story, you cannot call the book pleasing. I don’t know if it’s the fault of translation or the writing, but the author simply doesn’t have the right flair. Everything here is too plain, and not in a nice way. The biggest issue of the writing is that the author spoon feeds us everything without leaving anything to the reader’s imagination. At any moment, we are being told how the characters are feeling without any room for nuance or subtlety.

I gave it an additional star as it did get me thinking. Time is always the best solution, but sometimes we don’t have enough of it to make things right, to finally give up pride and live without regrets. I really enjoyed the rejuvenation of the characters post time travel as we all have similar situations in life, so it is easy to relate a character’s redemption after making human mistakes.

At times the book seems loud, with characters contained in a small space shouting one over the other. I was hoping for some poetic prose to balance it out or Japanese life wisdom to pour over the pages, but no such thing transpired. Everything drags when it could just be an Instagram reel. Magical realism is such an enjoyable genre but there is an ocean of more interesting titles that make this little-not-so-lovely book feel a little stale.