Review: Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe

Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is another entry in the so-called "cosy" trend, as in "cosy young-adult fantasy romance." The spoiler is right there in the title: the two protagonists, Brenda Nguyen and Katherine "Kat" Woo, live in parallel universes linked by periodic fluctuating portals. Brenda's universe is ours; Kat's is our world, more or less, with an industrial revolution of magic instead of the internal combustion engine. (Which also means, for Kat's world, the existence of dragons, pixies, and other magical creatures, and nearly non-existent climate change, although capitalism is as rapacious in her universe as ours.)

Now, this could have been a very interesting scenario, with some thoughtful examination of the contrasts between the two universes, and an appreciation of the roads not taken in the magical one. Unfortunately, the author doesn't choose that route, instead settling for a meet-cute frothy romance between Brenda and Kat and some pretty thin, superficial worldbuilding. Which is obviously the direction she wanted to take, and more power to her. But in the end, that makes this story happy and bubbling with kambayas, and utterly forgettable. I did finish it, but I spent all of the back half longing for some grit in the gears, and a villain less cartoonish than the portal-crossing Shannon Mayfield. The book didn't necessarily need to be grim, but it did need a little more darkness than the author wanted to give it.

(Also? The silly subplot about reducing a dragon to the size of a cat and, conversely, making Brenda's friend Erica's cat Fancy the size of a minivan nearly threw me out of the story altogether. Because, really? Any house cat suddenly enlarged to be as big as a sabertoothed tiger would not be sweet and cute, but utterly terrifying. Look, I have two cats myself, and I love them, but I know for a fact if my fifteen-pound Mocha grew as large as a fucking Smilodon [maybe 1,000 pounds], I would run from him screaming, not try to ride him.)

That's pretty much the problem with the cosies I've tried to read, I think. They're okay while I'm turning the pages, and the characters usually hold my interest...and they vanish from my mind the instant I close the back cover. I like stories that are thought-provoking, and layered, and take some effort to tease out all the subtleties and facets. Those kinds of books stick with the reader long after they're finished. This one, unfortunately, didn't.

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