Welcome to Fae Cafe is a fantasy rom com that brings together a human
and an assassin prince. Kate Kole is just simply minding her own
business, scoping out the competition, when a rather aggressively
rude male (turns out to be a fae) brings a dash of disorder to her
day. Well, when things turn...physical, the situation goes left, and
Kate is guilty of...muuuurder. *Gasp*
Well, this is officially the beginning...of the end. No, we’re just
kidding. This is the beginning of Kate’s and Cress’s story that
buds an unlikely romance, with some rather humorous moments sprinkled
throughout.
The blurb and cover
for this book promise a lot of fun to be found within these pages.
The book’s cover depicts a young woman, and a fae male sitting
together drinking what we can assume to be coffee. The fae guy
appears to be quite taken with the young woman. However, is it
reciprocated? The cover definitely gives off cozy vibes, but will
they be found within the pages of this story as well? Well, you’ll
just have to read to find out.
Welcome to Fae Cafe
by Jennifer Kropf is absolutely an interesting story, for the most
part. As you read this book you get to learn about who Kate Kole is.
Of course, you’ll have to exercise quite a healthy amount of
patience since Kate flutters back and forth between interesting and
just down-right annoying. Sorry not sorry but her abuse of adjectives
is enough to drive a sane person to the nearest abandoned asylum.
LOL! No, seriously. It’s like she doesn’t know how to simply pick
up a dictionary. They still do exist in this fiction fantasy realm,
right? Well, we hope they do anyways.
This story
alternates between Kate and Cress. It’s easy to tell who the
chapter is focusing on by the headings of each chapter that will
either have a female depicted character, or a male depicted
character. Though Cress’s were typically the ones we looked forward
to the most since he got a sword and ivy swirls. Plus, honestly,
Cress is just more interesting as a character.
As Welcome to Fae
Cafe unfolds we get to learn about each of the characters in this
book, but Cress’s story is more interesting. Cress’s story has
more backstory and gives readers a better idea of who he is. Is he an
arrogant character? Honestly, yes, he is. However, he isn’t the
only one. LOL! To be honest, Kate is, too. They are the definition of
two wrongs don’t make a right.
Cress has come to
the human realm after one of his assassin brothers was killed. His
agenda? Revenge. While Kate may be insanely incompetent, she has some
helping nudges along the way that have her enslaving this fellow
assassin brothers who came to the human realm with him.
There is some humor
in what Kate does concerning them, but unfortunately, for this
reader, it wears off rather quickly. The intended humor element we
mean. Kate insists on taking things too far for our liking. She never
stops to consider how she would feel if someone subjected her to the
things that she forces them to do. Now, to be fair, the author does
come back and have Kate express some remorse concerning her actions.
But for us, it’s just too little too late.
Cress and his fellow
brother assassins bring the majority of the humor to the storyline.
Unfortunately, Kate just brings...more than a little annoyance. To be
fair, there are moments of where we like her. But then she typically
shortly there after does something that proves to be irritating and
that little bit of liking we had towards her...evaporates like steam.
Are we being biased against her? No, not really.
Typically with any
book we come into each one with the intent to immediately like the
FMC, but Kate just drives that dry pretty quickly.
Now! With that being
said, Welcome to Fae Cafe honestly does have some redeeming
qualities. The question begs though...why do the heavier rom com
elements take place in the final 30% of the book?? We wanted more of
it throughout! We wanted more give and take between the characters.
As it is, it’s Kate giving in spurts, but doing most of the taking.
Plus, we wanted more of her backstory. It just wasn’t enough. We
also wanted more focus on her working to open the cafe. We get spurts
of attention to this here and there, but it all ends up flashing by
once she enslaves the assassins to do her bidding.
While this book was
heading towards 4 star territory, the author probably had an idea
that there would be readers like us who would be preparing a mildly
scathing review. LOL! Well, this book has some major saving grace
with some really well done twists, surprises and unexpected elements
sprinkled thoughout this book, but especially towards the end. So
just go ahead and settle in. Think that you’re getting to the point
of putting this book down for whatever the reason? Just hang in
there. You’ll be happy that you stuck with it.
We will warn you of
this though...grab some tissues and just have them on hand. Don’t
worry, nothing is going to happen for quite a while, but after the
65% - 72% mark of the story...have them nearby. You’re going to
need them. This author intends to bring a tear or two to your eyes.
This book has an
interesting ending, but the good news is that it seems like we’ll
be returning to the Fae Cafe sometime in the near future. This is
good news, because honestly, Cress has unfinished business and it
will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Welcome to Fae Cafe
is an interesting fantasy cozy rom com that despite the irritating
behavior of certain characters, is a lot of fun to read. We look
forward to returning to them in the future.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Thank you to the
author, Jennifer Kropf, and R&R Book Tours for the opportunity to
read and review this book. We look forward to what comes next.
Welcome to Fae Cafe (High Court of the Coffee Bean Book 1)
Publication
Date: October 2023
Genre: Cozy
Romcom/ Fae Fantasy Elements
There are ten
golden rules if you want to survive an encounter with a fae:
Don’t
ask their name.
If they
ask you what your name is, lie.
Avoid
looking directly into their eyes.
Don’t
invite them to your book club.
Don’t
instigate a snowball fight.
Never let
them burn their mouth on coffee.
Don’t
ask them where they’re from.
Don’t
tell them where you live.
Never
mention their queen.
Don’t
try to kill them with an ordinary human gun.
If you fail to
do any of these things, enslave them immediately.
On a
cozy fall morning, Kate Kole is nestled in a coffee shop in the city
of Toronto reading her favourite novel when she accidentally kills a
guy who's being rude to the coffee shop's cashier. Unfortunately for
Kate, the person she killed was a fae assassin of the North Corner of
Ever, visiting the human realm in secret.
From there, four
deadly fae assassins come to the human realm to hunt her down for
breaking a fairy law and killing one of their own. Leading them is
Prince Cressica Alabastian, the most feared and deadly fae assassin
of the North and heir to the North Corner of Ever.
After the
assassins arrive in the human realm, things go terribly wrong. To
Prince Cressica's horror, his assassins unwittingly get roped into
running a cozy café on Kate Kole's behalf. To blend in, the fae
assassins are forced to learn how to do basic human activities like
cleaning up after themselves, driving without road rage, reading
popular fantasy books at book club without getting into alpha male
fights over what they’re reading, and in general, be nice, all to
blend into regular human society.
With a temper
like no other, and deadly power that's unmatched, Prince Cressica
seeks to get revenge on Kate Kole. But as he aims to strike where it
will hurt her the most, the Prince finds himself enchanted by his
human target in more ways than one. And when the darkness of the Ever
Corners comes knocking at the human realm's door, he needs to make a
choice that could cost him everything.
With coziness
for days, WELCOME TO FAE CAFÉ is a new spin on some of the most
popular fae fantasy tropes, in a setting where fae most definitely
don't belong. If you like fantasy and you like rom coms, this may
just be your cup of tea. (Or coffee.)
AVAILABLE ON
AMAZON
& OTHER FINE RETAILERS
Tour
Organizer: @rrbooktours
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