Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe

De: C.B. Lee

Narrado por: Elyse Dinh, Emily Woo Zeller

A geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide in Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, C.B. Lee's fun, sapphic, cozy fantasy YA romance.

When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.

The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes.

As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?

©2025 by C.B. Lee. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Cozy, cute and creative!

Just the right amount of stakes wrap around this comfy story. The world building was delightful; Target as a liminal space through which a portal might open to an alternate reality? Perfect!

A great read full of excitement

This is such a cute GL read full of excitement and love and acceptance and found family even reconnecting with your own family through past trauma. This is so fun to read. A great fast paced story with a great amount of magic! Oh and did I me mention there is a dragons and a funny cat! A must!

Coffee shop AU

I absolutely loved this concept that C.B. Lee brought to life! It was the perfect amount of cozy and the way that grief is depicted is wonderfully done!

So cute and wholesome fun

Fantasy. Self exploration. Girl crushes. Dragons. D&d. First love. Brillant! The actors were great and story was fun and engaging. Light hearted

The world building was amazing!

The world was very fleshed out, and every explanation felt thorough! Overall, the story was engaging and had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would come next!

A literal coffee shop au!

I loved it! I hope to come back and write more when i have a minute but yeah!!!

Production note: some parts could have been edited a bit better— adjusting volume and transitions between clips. I was adjusting the volume at times or replaying. I am hard if hearing so it may be ok for others but i had to adapt.

Sweet and cozy

Wasn’t sure how I would enjoy this title but I was fully invested and loved every minute of this sweet story that showed that sometimes stepping outside the comfort zone will bring you joy

Definitely YA

This book is definitely targeted at younger readers. The two protagonists are high schoolers, and their struggles and fears are those of teenagers. So, as an older reader, I didn’t completely connect with them. High school was 50 years ago for me! 😁 So I had to try to put myself back in their shoes in order to feel a connection.

I think the world-building was really good. The magical system was well thought out, and described in detail, which made it seem plausible. (Maybe toooo much detail, but more on that later.) I enjoyed the different cultures explored through our two main characters, as their families were described and portrayed. I really felt like I could see each family and their dynamics. Both girls were complete characters, each unique in their personalities. They seemed very real.

Things I didn’t like:
1. The book dragged on too long. I felt like many, many of the detailed magical spells just slowed down the book. We could have seen the details once, to establish how it worked, and then just skimmed over spell casting later in the book. And overall, I just think it was dragged out beyond what it needed to be.
2. I thought the spat between Kat and Brenda was forced. It didn’t feel realistic to me. It was obviously just a plot device.
3. I ABSOLUTELY knew who the traitor was. I had them pegged from their second scene, long before we even knew there would be a betrayal. They just seemed obvious to me.
4. Sound quality: the two narrators had vastly different volume levels and speeds. I always had to slow down playback and reduce volume for Brenda, and then speed it back up and increase the volume for Kat. That was kind of annoying.

Overall, I think teens will LOVE this! It’s a fun, wholesome book with lots of fun magic in it! Wish I had found this when I was a teen!