A short, sweet book about second chances and getting one’s life back on track.

Kyoto: There’s a magical coffee shop which appears only during a full moon. There’s no way to order - the staff, of talking cats no less, brings each guest what the staff thinks each guest needs. Along with food and drink, the cats also serve advice, helping those that seem a bit down on their luck to right the path of their lives.

The book is broken into several chapters, each one telling the story of someone connected to the person in the previous chapter. The first chapter is the most detailed, giving lots of information about how the coffee shop works, etc. The first person is a scriptwriter who was once the rising star. But after a few flops, she lost her confidence and slowly spiraled downward. Now writing scripts for a dating game app, she’s low on money, living in a dreary apartment, eating instant noodles for lunch. She sent a former colleague a copy of a script she’d been working on; when the colleague asks to meet for coffee, she’s hopeful that this might be her big break. When the meeting doesn’t go as she hopes, she’s invited to visit the coffee shop down the street - the Full Moon Coffee Shop - where she’s given some astronomical advice on what’s gone wrong with her life.

The subsequent chapters follows pretty much the same pattern - someone who’s in a rut or a little disappointed in life which receives some sage feline advice. There’s hints about what happened to the characters in the previous chapter, with the epilogue tying everything together beautifully.

I enjoyed this book. It is VERY short - I felt like it was over just when I was getting into it. It’s translated from Japanese, so lots of ideas were new to me (although not too hard to understand).

Highly recommended! I received a copy of this from NetGalley.com that I voluntarily chose to review.

Cute little story! I like how the characters are intertwined. I also like the descriptions of the cafe and the cats!

This book was a beautiful journey featuring adults at various cross roads in their lives. It was cozy fantasy at its finest. This was my first non-manga read from Japan. The message was beautiful. The plot unfolded perfectly. This was a heartwarming novella that I think lovers of cats, cozy fantasy, and/or journeys of personal growth will really enjoy.

Content: mentions of cheating and closed door touching

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the arc!

This was super cute and whimsical. As different characters come to a cross roads in their lives, they turn to the smart and elegant kitties of the Full Moon Coffee Shop to help them find their way. Brilliant in advice and astrology, the Full Moon Coffee Shop cats are a big helping hand and help the characters find their way to a happier and more fulfilling life.

3.5 stars

This was a cute little book, a very quick read. I liked the intertwined story of all the characters and the ways things were revealed and sort of come together throughout each little vignette. The story of the cats and the magical cafe was also quite cute, especially as a cat person myself. However, many elements to the characters' stories and the messaging they get told about their astrological readings that felt kind of stereotypical. If you're really into cats or astrology or want a cute short book, this is a good recommendation.

This is one book I feel like I have a perfect pitch for - if you combined some lesser known Studio Ghibli vibes (Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns) with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, you'd find yourself at the Full Moon Coffee shop. As someone who is constantly searching for Ghibli vibes in novels, the opening scenes of this book caught me in a chokehold and sent me straight into whimsy. Cats? Check. Interconnected characters dealing with questions of life and purpose? Check. Unexplained, unexplainable magic? Of course.

As the novel continued, some of the excitement died down for me - the opening of the novel was my definitive highlight. I don't know that it carried the emotional payoff I wanted from it's conception, but it did possess a bright cast of characters that kept me reading until the end. The magic of the book pulls back as it goes on, which was to my detriment as a reader, but I know it won't feel that way for everyone. Either way, I would absolutely recommend this novel for people looking for the whimsical side of Japanese storytelling - it delivers on sheer vibes, which is never disappointing.

Review to be posted to Instagram @madthoreads 08/06/24

This book was a cute, cozy, quick read. It gave me vibes of The Midnight Library. There is a collection of characters that are facing different challenges in life and The Full Moon Coffee Shop helps them navigate their different paths. I think the story does a nice job of wrapping everything up at the end as well.

Like some others, I got a little lost with the astrology and could have done without it, but overall it was a good read! I would definitely recommend to someone looking for a quick, cozy read or to someone who is interested in astrology.

I really didn’t enjoy this much. I’m all for magical realism, but the in-depth astrological reading was lost on me. Maybe the wonder of a life-size cat was lost in translation.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC!

How many coffee shop books have I read lately? Answer - a lot. This one didn't quite hit for me, even though the thought of cats bringing me bespoke drinks and treats is delightful. This was really a look at astrology, and how people's star charts impact their decisions and life events. All of the characters were interconnected in some way/shape/form and The Full Moon Coffee Shop appears when and where it needs to depending on the person in question.

I loved the setting, the background, up until the point that the cats started speaking about astrology. It went too deep and lost me at that point. I love fantasy, I love a bit of woo, but the thought that these cats who were really planets would just start popping off about star charts was apparently a bridge too far for me. I can see this being for you if you are DEEPLY into astrology.

Translated from the Japanese, this incredibly well-crafted novel (almost novella) tells the story of connected persons who have come to a moment in their lives when they need something and it is provided by a pop-up cafe run by cats who can also be seen by people. They bring you the exact beverage and treat that you need even if you did not know you wanted it and tried to order something else. And, the master is almost an astrological counselor. Sure to be a book club favorite.

I didn't really feel much for this book. There was nothing wrong with it, but I think it needed to be longer? I just felt a disconnect with the characters overall

Having read the “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” series and other similar themed books, I had high expectations for this book, which were unfortunately not met. It was an okay story, with banal characters.

Notable lines:

“But what you say does make a lot of sense. The tea starts out as water, but experience transforms it entirely.”

“As long as you make sure the roots are happy, the plant will produce beautiful flowers. And if it doesn’t, then you only ever need to look at the roots.”

“That means that if you want to produce your best work, you need a home where your inner self can truly relax. If you don’t, you’ll feel miserable, and things will only go from bad to worse. In other words, for you, home has to be a sanctuary.”

A cute fast read, but unfortunately it was not for me. While I loved the premise and aspects of the story, it fell a little short in the execution. The astrology elements seemed to have more of a focus than the fantastical elements, which I was not expecting. It felt more like an astrology class being taught by cats. I know this book will be for some people. If you like astrology or want to learn about it, this would be a good book.

I really enjoyed how adorably cozy and magical this was. Considering its magical realism, one of my fav genres. The cats were adorable and stood up on their little hind legs to interpret star chats and impart their glowing wisdom on those that need it. It was a perfect lil book!

If you like an astrology class taught by cats, this is the book for you! I loved the ways the stories of the different characters came together. I love cats. -But pedagogical cats, not so much. Rather than an enchanting story with a lesson to be learned, it felt like a lesson with stories to emphasis its points. I'm afraid that for me it felt a bit heavy handed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine for making ad advance copy of this title available for an honest review.

Whimsical concept. It wasn’t really my taste. The astrology kind of threw me for a loop, but I liked how it weaved it into the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the e-ARC

This is a short book of three interconnected stories following people who are feeling unsatisfied with their lives and the decisions that got them there. They all stumble across the mysterious Full Moon Coffee Shop, staffed by talking cats who all seemed to be named after the planets. While talking with the master, everyone we’re following has their star chart read by the cats, which helps explain why their lives have turned out how they have, and how they could change their lives moving forward.

When I started reading I was a little skeptical, because the horoscope element was so strong and was feeling a little like an astrology lesson. But as I continued and eventually saw how everything connected, I really loved how it all came together, culminating with a bittersweet epilogue that completes the story. It’s a very short read, so I would recommend to anyone, but especially anyone who in interested in translated fiction and magical realism!

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

This is a psychological or perhaps astrological series of stories that are loosely tied through a script writer or substitute teacher.
The Full Moon Coffee Shop only appears at a full moon and seems to appear to people who may be as a cusp in their life.
The unusual serving staff prompt the patrons to evaluate their personas.
This was a bit of a strange book that I wasn’t overly captivated by regardless of some of the interesting characters.

“The Full Moon Coffee Shop” is a sweet and hopeful story. The major characters are all stuck in life in some way — career not fulfilling; lack of love life; strange problems at work; public figure exposed for making poor choice; career derailed; etc. Each person will come across the Full Moon Coffee Shop when the need is right. And this is no ordinary coffee shop. Not only does it appear unexpectedly, but the servers choose your food and drink for you and the offerings have a celestial flare to them. Also, the shop is run by talking cats who are representations of the planets, and who will read the customers star charts and help them understand why their lives have progressed in the manner that they have and what needs to be done, in a more general sense, if they want to get their lives back on track. There are connections between the various characters, personal or professional, but they all share a common connection that they do not realize initially, and which is an integral reason why they were privileged to experience the Full Moon Coffee Shop.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a quick and interesting read. Imagine a coffee shop that only appears during a full moon and only to people who need a message from the cats that run it. All the astrology stuff, the cats were quite knowledgeable, didn’t interest me so I didn’t connect on that level. Thecharacters seem disconnected or have minor connections for much of the book but it all comes together in the last part. I liked the cats a lot and there was significance to them in the end. Great ending.I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.