not doing much for me. its about a mysterious pop-up cafe that only open when the moon is full and it's staffed by cats. deeply explores astrology which i couldn't make sense at all. so. i'm sorry.

Rating 2.5/2.75
If you know anything about me it's that my ultimate reading niche is Japanese short stories that either involves food, books or cats---usually all at once. I love a good collection of interconnected short stories so this book was naturally on my radar. Unfortunately, it wasn't as meaningful of a reading experience compared to other books in this category I have read over the years. This is by no means a bad book but this was just alright for me. It was your typical book in the genre about a group of people seemingly lost in different aspects of their lives and receiving some guidance from unsuspecting sources. While usually this does it for me alone, this one missed the mark for me. I was all for a cat run cafe, I mean why not...but the info dumping about astrology and star charts became too much very quickly. I think if astrology is your thing then maybe give this a go but I don't really recommend this as your introduction into this niche genre. Maybe Trying What You are Looking for is at the Library by Michiko Aoyama. Same concept but was easier to digest.


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4*

Let me preface this by saying I loved this book but I understand it's not for everyone.

This is a short book, created from a lot of different intertwining narratives and with the first person narratives, it can occasionally feel more like an exposition dump than a true expression of feelings from character POVs.

None the less, it was a low-stakes and comforting with some astrology and magic thrown in food good measure.

I felt like this was a let down for me. The writing wasn’t bad but the storytelling wasn’t there. I had high expectations from the way this was marketed.

Oh this book is just so cute! It's whimsy, it's fun, it's creative, it's beautiful. There are star charts, cats, coffee, and so much astrology. The writing is soothing and comforting, I've read a fair bit of magical realism but have never quite been so soothed and calmed after. Beautiful story!

I loved everything about this sweet little book. Each character you meet in this novella has something that makes them feel stuck in their life. Until, that is, they visit the Full Moon Coffee Shop, where the lines between reality and the dream world become blurred. While at the coffee shop, they learn things about themselves from none other than giant cats.

The story unfolds in a series of vignettes that are all tied together beautifully. I really loved how the characters found the support and guidance that they needed from the most unlikely of sources. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes cats, has ever felt stuck in the their life and searched for answers, or likes daydreaming about the dream world.

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced readers copy in return for my honest review.
#TheFullMoonCoffeeShop #NetGalley

3.5

I love a cozy Japanese novel with magical realism, and this one involves a coffee shop that only appears at the full moon and who serves life advice alongside decadent, tailor-made coffee and desserts.

The book, like many others in this niche subgenre, is primarily told through slice-of-life vignettes. I love how the characters were all linked together in some way and how their stories intersected more and more as the story progressed. There is quite a lot of astrological material in the book, and as someone who is not particularly interested in (or knowledgeable about) astrological charts, these bits didn’t really keep my attention. Aside from those, though, the story and life lessons learned were lovely to read. The characters grew as they pursued new interests, reinvigorated career goals, and took a chance on love; each learning that it’s never too late to follow the stars and make a life change.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Random House for the advanced ebook copy!

🐈🐈🐈🐈 / 5

THE FULL MOON COFFEE SHOP by Mai Mochizuki

thank you to @randomhouse and @netgalley for access to the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

quick thoughts:
☕️ magical pop-up coffee shop in Kyoto run by cats
🪄 Japanese literature, magical realism
🍡 sweet, light-hearted, thought-provoking
👍🏼 would recommend to fans of magical realism!

wow, this was such a sweet read, and it made me miss Japan even more! this gave me an excuse to post some pictures from our trip earlier this year 😌

i enjoyed the cozy vibes of this story and thought it was the perfect time of year to read it. i loved learning more about astrology and star charts, and it’s inspired me to learn more about my own star chart. the writing and translation were exceptional, and i was immersed in the story. i can’t wait to check out more of this author’s work!

This is a difficult book to describe, particularly if you aren’t familiar with this type of Japanese literature centering around cats and the lore surrounding them. Cats are a symbol of good luck in Japan. The legend of cats is that they return a favor to those that treat them with kindness—a metaphor for how we should all treat one another, perhaps.

The book is told in three vignettes that each center around a different person but all of whom connect as well. The Full Moon Coffee Shop can be anywhere, we learn. And it can’t be found, it will find you. The shop is run by magical cats, and it finds people when they are lost and not sure what is next in life. The cats know exactly what you want to drink without you saying, and they know how to help you.

The book opens with Mizuki, who is a former teacher who writes scripts for games. Mizuki is in a bad place, she’s lost any interest in her life. She’s stopped taking care of herself. She lives on instant ramen. After failing a pitch for a television series to a producer named Akari, Mizuki is in a deep depression with nowhere to turn. She finds herself encountering fans. Unexpected, though she was very popular previously. She is invited to a café she has never heard of, and she reluctantly drags herself there. The café is run by cats instead of humans, and it’s surrounded by cherry blossoms. The cats bring her pancakes and use astrology to help Mizuki see her life in a different way.

The next primary story is Akari’s, the producer who turned down Mizuki’s script. Well, the executives turned it down, Akari respects Mizuki since they worked together early in her career. Akari is also in a place where she was searching for something. We learn that Mizuki was her teacher when she was in primary school, so telling her that they weren’t interested in her script was particularly hard. She finds the café along with the shamed actress from her show, who was publicly humiliated for having an affair. Akari also has a history that she has pain from. The café brings them both what they need.

The third vignette will make sense when you get to Akari’s, so I won’t spoil it here. I found this book to be completely charming. A magical café that was much more than a café. It’s where those who are lost find their path in life, and the most magical part is that the café finds them first. It was nice how the stories intertwined, and a message of the serendipity of life. People who enter our lives for a purpose and then later that purpose is clear, but we don’t always see it at the beginning. Chance encounters, paying forward kindness, and celebrating the past and the future. Lovely!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒑 by Mai Mochizuki and translated by Jesse Kirkwood is a lovely feel-good story offered to me by @randomhouse Ballantine thanks to @netgalley, and then @prhaudio also granted me the audio to go along which was a perfect pairing.

This story follows a magical coffee shop, run by talking cats, that somehow manages to offer hope and a way forward for lost souls. This particular set of patrons are loosely connected which lent a feeling of continuity through these stories. These cats are heavily invested in astrology, which for me, was a bit of a disappointment. I had somehow hoped for more insight than star charts.

The audiobook had narrators who gave the character's voices a real life, and better pronunciation than I would! Especially for translated works, I love to listen to the names from a native tongue of the author. This aspect did help me appreciate this story more.

For a quick read for cat-lovers and fans of astrology, this will be a true delight.

A story, much like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, involves quite a few characters who all went to primary school together, but don't totally remember each other. As adults, they've seen to gone astray until they come to The Full Moon Coffee Shop. A magical pop up café hosted by cats that guide you on astrology based on your natal chart.

This was a feel good easy read, and I quite enjoyed how the characters lived intermingled.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I'm pretty sure I'm an outlier here and that this is a book that will be loved by many. It was a bit too twee for me. I love cats, but magic cats that can teach me a new life philosophy just aren't my cup of tea.

But lots of folks will LOVE this.

Absolutely loved this! Probably one of my favorite books this year. I just couldn’t stop reading and at a certain point I didn’t even care where the plot went because I was just really engrossed in the characters, the coffee shop, and the world! Bravo!

What a charming and delightful story! I loved the moonlit cafe setting with the delightful cat servers. I enjoyed seeing how the characters were connected and how they found their path through astrology and an unlikely little cafe. Just like the cafe, this book was exactly what I needed right now.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book!

This was so deliciously cozy!! Like a warm cup of coffee held in your hands while you're curled up under a soft blanket next to the fire. :) PLUS having cats read your fate??? Such a unique concept!! The writing was a bit blunt at times, but I've read translated books before, and that sometimes happens so I'm not holding it against the author since the concept and atmosphere the book created were absolutely magical.

Adorable short read, especially for cat lovers. Cozy, slice of life, light fantasy. Would recommend to anyone who needs a heartwarming read.

One of the sweetest, most gentle stories I've ever read. The Full Moon Coffee Shop appears to the characters in our story when they need it the most, and my gut tells me that the book does the same for the reader. This is a short (but fulfilling) collection of connected tales of individuals who are struggling to find their drive and what moves them. The Full Moon Cafe, run by mysterious, giant cats appears to them and serves them something delicious along with a reading of their star chart to help them along their life path. There is nothing tragic or particularly complex about any of the stories, and that is the beauty of the book- a slow-moving river that pulls you along to a quiet, calming conclusion.

If you enjoy cozy Japanese literature (Sweet Bean, Before the Coffee Gets Cold), astrology (even very casually!), cats, space, gorgeous descriptions of food, and a guaranteed cheerful ending, I cannot recommend this enough. I can see myself adding this to my yearly re-read list as a comfort novel.

I requested an ARC and am under no obligation to leave a review.

I’m not quite sure how I felt about this one. The stories were interesting, if a bit disjointed, but I didn’t feel like any of them quite got enough closure. 🫤
The café concept was cool, though. As were the magical cats, though the zodiac stuff confused me, mostly because I’ve never done a deep enough dive into such things to understand what they were talking about.

I didn’t love it, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it to some extent, so I’ll leave it at a solid “it’s okay but probably not my thing” middle ground.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

I absolutely love cats and to read about cats in the novel was great.
I really enjoyed the characters and the story. However I did struggle with the translation. I think that the translation was done well but you could tell that the novel was a translation.
Overall I enjoyed this story and I feel like if you like cats then I feel like you would enjoy the story. Would recommend to all cat lovers.

In The Full Moon Coffee Shop, Mochizuki, introduces the reader to Mizuki - a substitute teacher turned professional screenwriter who is now experiencing a loss of popularity and self in Kyoto, Japan. After meeting with a hopeful colleague and being turned down for her newest screenplay, Mizuki finds herself in a coffee shop attended by human-like cats full of the personal wisdom that Mizuki needs in just that moment.

This is the magic of the Full Moon Coffee Shop, from personalized wisdom and inner reflection to knowing exactly what you want to drink and eat without asking. After Mizuki leaves the coffee shop, others seemingly find their way inside. All those who enter realize they are deeply connected in some way to Mizuki and can credit her in some way with their success in life.

In life, some events are fate, some events are left to change, and some are left to the strength and desire of the person living the life. All who visited are left with a life-changing experience in the thought-provoking yet cozy little tale.