Book Review: Before I Knew I Loved You
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Series: Before the Coffee Gets Cold #6
Published: 2024
Publishers: Pan Macmillan
The Concept
We are back in the small Tokyo cafe, Funiculi Funicula. There is one special seat there. If you sit in it and drink coffee, you can travel to the past or the future.
But the rules never change:
- You cannot change the present
- You cannot leave your seat
- You must return before the coffee gets cold
So this is not a time travel adventure. It is about closure, about saying what was left unsaid.
The Four Stories
- The Runaway: Azami ran away from home at 14. She could never bring herself to call her stepmother Yumiko "Mum." She goes back to finally say it.
- The Patient Man: Tomokazu has come to the same cafe every White Day for 7 years, waiting for a reply from the woman he loves. It is a story about love as patience.
- The Woman Afraid of Her Future: Rikako has just been diagnosed with cancer. She wants to travel forward to see what her future will look like. This is the heaviest story in the book, but also the most hopeful.
- The Student Who Misses His Father: Tsuguo lost his father when he was young. He goes back just to see him one more time.
And in between, we also get more of Kazu Tokita's story. She has blamed herself for her mother's fate as the ghost in the white dress, and she finally starts to let herself be happy.
My Take
This is not a fast thriller. It is slow, warm, and quietly heartbreaking.
Kawaguchi writes in very simple words, but the feelings are deep. Every story says the same thing in a different way:
We cannot change the past, but we can change how our heart carries it.
Read it if you:
- Have unsaid feelings for someone
- Feel like you were too late to say sorry, thank you, or I love you
- Want a quiet, cozy, emotional read
My Rating: 4.2 / 5
You can read it as a standalone, but if you start from Book 1, Kazu, Nagare, and the ghost lady will mean so much more to you.
Content Warning: Death, grief, cancer, and a car accident are mentioned. It will make your heart heavy, but it ends with hope.
Apeksha R. Tandel
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