I loved these books, the premise behind Themis just so beautiful, you book a remembrance meal and hopefully get to meet someone from your past who is no longer with you. It's a lovely idea, one I wish so much we could all experience, but the emotion, the sensitivity involved in the writing andit is so beautifully handled. An emotional pleasure

Let me tell you this: I LOVED the first book. It was one of my top 10 reads for 2024, and I had no idea there would ever be a book two.
I've said it before, and I have to say it again, but Asian writers have a way of writing that just hits different. Everything reads better, the food is described better, and it's like reading poetry with new letters all at once. This book is like this. Its healing, its heartbreaking, Yuta manages to send me into so many emotions that I cannot put the book down. I would go as far to say that this book is a little bit better than the first, and I don't understand how. All I can tell you is that this novel made me feel, think and learn. I have it in my brain and it will not go away. This book needs the attention, and the translator has done wonderful work. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book, and letting me give my honest feedback.

A sweet, easy read in this second instalment of Chibineko Kitchen stories. I loved the premise of these books, you book a remembrance meal and hopefully get to meet someone from your past who is no longer with you. It's a lovely format, and beautifully handled. This series deserves much success, it is a joy to read.

ARC Review: *The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars – tender, lyrical, soul-restoring)

There are books that feed your imagination. And then there are books like *The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen*—ones that feed your soul.

In this quietly magical sequel, we return to the seaside haven of **Chibineko Kitchen**, where meals do more than nourish—they open a window to the past, offering visitors a single, sacred chance to reunite with someone they’ve lost.

**Kotoko**, now working in the kitchen that changed her life, continues her journey of healing alongside the enigmatic chef **Kai** and the playful kitten **Chibi**. This time, they welcome new visitors, each with a heartache quietly simmering beneath the surface:

🍵 A woman with a terminal illness, yearning for her mother’s wisdom.
🍵 A recluse peeking out from years of isolation.
🍵 A widow wrapped in grief, blind to the love still around her.
🍵 An aging actor chasing relevance—and purpose.

Each story is a gentle exploration of grief, love, connection, and the courage to move forward. There’s a warmth in the prose that feels like holding a hot cup of tea on a rainy day. The narrative is sparse yet vivid, unfolding like a haiku—brief, beautiful, and deeply felt.

**Tropes & Themes**:
🍚 Magical Realism
🐾 Healing through Food
🫖 Found Family
🌊 Gentle Second Chances
😿 Emotional Catharsis (with a side of cat magic)
📖 Literary Style with Cozy Heart

Like *Before the Coffee Gets Cold*, this is not a plot-heavy book—it’s a quiet contemplation, a tapestry of moments that linger long after the final page. And yes, there are **recipes** included, which feel like a gift: an invitation to continue the story in your own kitchen.

*The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen* is a love letter to what it means to keep going, to keep cooking, and to keep our memories alive in the most nourishing ways.

**Thank you to John Murray Press and NetGalley for this breathtaking ARC. I savored every page like a bowl of warm miso soup.** 🐾🍲

Last year, I read the first one instalment and remember loving it. I was really excited to be invited back to review this second story in the Meals to Remember series.

What worked for me:
😺 I really like Kai and Kotoko. I was disappointed we didn't spend as much time with them in this book as the previous one. I'm sensing a slow burn development arc for these two characters but I worry that the impact may be lost unless the customer stories evolve as the series continues.
😺 Like the first book, this has a quiet theme of cats, even outside of the restaurant cat.
😺 At the halfway point, something different happens to shake up the experience the latter two diners have at the restaurant. I really appreciated being surprised and the way that two new elements were introduced into the mix - it was a perfectly timed change for this reader!
😺 The food sounded delicious and I'll always love it when novels include recipes!
😺 As with the last book, the cover design for this volume is excellent.

What didn't work for me:
😿 The first two stories both had uncomfortable and unconvincing romance plots that felt awkward to read. I wasn't a fan of the morality / self-improvement 'messages ' either (YMMV but I find this so patronizing in fiction).
😿 Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Go-Between series, I get so irritated by the customers: they go to all this trouble to pull a poor dead soul back from beyond the veil but then are too meek or awkward to have a conversation with them and waste loads of limited time wringing their hands instead of engaging with the people they're there to see!
😿 Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Food Detectives, and The Go-Between, this book suffers from repetition. I could see the author trying to shake it up, reminding us of backstory throughout the book rather than info-dumping in the first story; but it felt like we couldn't be trusted to remember core rules or backstory from the previous book. While I appreciated the author paying attention to the different ways they said it, I'm not sure the Kai/Kotoko need to comment on the cat getting out of the restaurant every single chapter.
😿 As with the previous book, the translation felt a bit stilted and British. There were a few word choices that felt kinda off and the writing had a monotone, simplistic feel (as though written for a younger audience) that I don't remember from the first book.

What I'm on the fence about:
🐱 The stories within this book were sad and downright distressing in places. I expected a degree of this given it's a book about reuniting with the dead, but where the first book felt like a celebration of life or making peace with death, these characters all seemed more sad with melancholy endings.

These past two years, the market has been flooded, dare I say saturated, with books like these - cozy lil serial shorts wherein semi-interconnected characters meet with the dead through food. I've stopped reading pretty much every series because they're all starting to feel tired and formulaic at this point. Interestingly, while the Meals to Remember series does have its problems, I think it shows promise that similar stories don't for its story mechanics evolution and character development. I was glad to spend time with this book and I'm still intrigued enough to read the next one.

3.5/5

I loved the first book of the series, and was very happy to receive approval for this book, the second in the series.The Calico Cat at chibineko kitchen follows the same pattern as the previous volume. All the characters are good and the stories are heartwarming, it makes us feel at peace. There are a couple of characters we find recurring from the previous book. Overall it's a great read. I thank netgalley and John Murray for eARC copy.

I found the initial Chibineko Kitchen book slight, but soothing. The Calico Cat - as its title suggests - does not deviate from this norm. It instead contains four self-contained stories that follow the basic formula set up by the previous volume. We open with someone in crisis, who hears about the Chibineko Kitchen's Rememberance Meals (which, if you are not familiar with the previous novel, will briefly allow you a one time opportunity to meet the dead person you are remembering). We first go through methodical unpacking of the problem (someone with a terminal illness whose Mum died young, an old woman feeling lonely, a 40-year-old man who has never worked in his life...) They travel to the kitchen, interact with the staff and the cat, and then eat their meal. The magic occurs, they get closure or advice from the dead person, and then they return to normality, happier and able to face the world. And it then wraps up with a short recipe for an aspect of the remembrance meal.

There is comfort in the formula, and these are probably not best read in one sitting but over some time. There's a mournful self-help feeling that permeates, it is in the set-up, and usually the advice or solace given by the visitation is pretty obvious (a few just want their decisions confirmed). Takahashi is already running out of ways to kill people traumatically; here we return to terminal illnesses and car crashes, but I can certainly see this series continuing sporadically. There is a tiny amount of continuity with the staff of the kitchen, but you can easily drop in, and I found the whole effect, as with the original, really rather soothing.

Set in the same cozy Japanese restaurant, which serves ‘remembrance meals’ and is home to an adorable kitten, this story once again brings comfort and nostalgia to life. These special meals help people reconnect with loved ones who have passed away, offering closure and heartfelt moments.🥺✨

The book is divided into four parts, each featuring a remembrance meal, a recipe, and a touching story of love and loss. Kotoko and Kai’s journey continues, and we also see the return of familiar characters from the previous book.📖

If you haven’t already, do check out The Chibineko Kitchen for its blend of comforting Japanese cuisine and emotional storytelling and then grab this new release. At under 250 pages, it’s a quick yet heartwarming read!✨❤️

Chibineko Kitchen. Oh, what a wonderful place. I've already missed our sassy cat who longs to venture outside every time the door is left open even just slightly. It's no secret that I adored the first installment and was desperate to continue my journey here. I'm utterly grateful that I was given the pre-approved link to access this one.

The things I love about this second book is how the story comes full circle. At the very beginning, we already learnt the history of Chibineko Kitchen, how it became somewhat popular among those who needed it the most, and yet, this one adds more depth to the already existing background. The recipe in the end of each chapter is delightful! I love coming across it and would be delighted to try some. The little glimpses of the customers who order remembrance meals from both book one and two are equally sad. Though I gotta admit the first one is still my favorite to this very day. What's unfortunate is there isn't much happening to the relationship of our main characters, Kotoko and Kai, despite feeling at first that their chemistry was a bit rushed. Perhaps it will develop in the next book, which hopefully will be translated soon.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book that I really enjoyed. I have attached my review below.

The Calico Cat At The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, is the second book in this series that talks about four characters, each drawn to the kitchen by their grief and sorrow of losing their loved ones. Kai, the owner and chef at this magical and mysterious kitchen, prepares remembrance meals for his guests, that gives them a chance to reconnect with someone they’ve lost and get closure.

Each story is an emotional tale capturing the complexity of grief, love, heartbreak and the small things and memories we hold onto after losing someone we love. The writing is delicate with an atmosphere that feels like stepping into a dream at twilight - bittersweet, serene, and comforting.

This book offers quiet, reflective moments on grief and closure that feels like a warm hug. It's a beautiful and heart warming read that stays with you even after the last page.

This is a unique story about the characters meeting their loved ones who had died by eating remembrance meals prepared by the Chibineko Kitchen. We have Nagi, who only has a few more years to live because of her cancer and she had broken off with her boyfriend, meets her mother through eating remembrance meal. We have other characters who are also facing similar situations like Nagi, who are missing their loved ones and remember and meet them by having meals at the Chibineko kitchen.

This is the part 2 of the Chibineko Kitchen series. I enjoyed reading about the characters who faced many issues and problems after their loved ones die and through eating remembrance meals, they get encouragement and courage to live their life to the fullest. I also liked how there were recipes of those remembrance meals at the end of each chapter--so that we could try out those meals at home! Overall, I feel this is an emotional, heartbreaking and tear-jerking novel and I do like that there are cats mentioned in the story as I am a cat lover :)

Overall I give this book as 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and JMP for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen is a warm, emotional read made up of four short stories. Each one follows a different person dealing with loss, and all of them visit a magical restaurant where they can see a loved one who has passed away—just for as long as the steam from a special meal lasts.

The stories are sad but comforting and are perfect for fans of Japanese fiction such as Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
I really hope there’s another book in the series!

A lovely read, just right for curling up under a blanket with a cup of tea and losing yourself for a few hours.

4 stars.
The Chibineko Kitchen is a place where you can see your loved ones again by buying a remembrance meal for them.
This really hits the sweet spot for healing fiction, it'll make you cry but in a good way, there is four short stories that follow one character per story; their loss/grief and subsequent healing.
This was a fast and short read, that being its only flaw, that it's not long enough.
It ticks the box for all the feels with each character. You'll be empathising with all of them.
I'm hoping it doesn't take too long to translate more in this series, I'm always in the mood for a Japanese translated healing fiction!
Thanks to John Murray Press over on Netgalley for the chance to review this!

thank you so much for this sequel! i really loved the first book and loved the second one as well. i can’t wait to see the next book in this series!!!

I adore this type of book, emotional certainly but so deeply comforting about the human condition. Four intertwined stories about loss and love. They are very comforting books.

The book comprises four intertwined stories centred around a magical restaurant that allows people to momentarily reconnect with lost loved ones, through 'remembrance meals' and only while the steam from the meal lingers. Once the steam goes, so do they. Also, let me take this moment to let you know, there are recipes in this book too which reflect each story.

This time the core theme is based around Parents.

- Miso Marinated Tofu – Nagi's Story
Diagnosed with the same terminal illness that took her mother, Nagi visits the Chibineko Kitchen seeking one last meeting with her. There, she learns from her mother's spirit that even a short life filled with love is meaningful. Supported by her father and boyfriend, Nagi rediscovers the value of time shared.

- A Black Mask Cat and Pork Belly Kara-age – Keita's Story
Keita, a drifting soul nearing forty, finds purpose after his mother’s stroke changes both their lives. Now married and expecting a child, he visits the kitchen to thank his late mother for never giving up on him. His story is one of redemption, gratitude, and new beginnings.

- A Cat Called Sora and Soy-glazed Sardines on Rice – Mitsuyo's Story
After the death of her husband and the loss of both her beloved cat Sora and a favourite musician, 70-year-old Mitsuyo falls into loneliness. Through coffee mornings and new friendships, she slowly reconnects with life. Her visit to the kitchen helps her bid farewell and embrace the present.

- A Calico Cat and Yesterday's Curry – Kumagai's Story
Theatre writer Kumagai asks for a remembrance meal to reconnect with the spirit of his son, who died young. With help from Kotoko and Kai, the meal becomes a heartfelt reunion that allows him and his ex-wife to grieve together and find some peace.

Each story is infused with deep emotion, and won't lie the last story choked me a little.
Personally, this read felt a little more heavier and dark, compared to the first book. Having said that, I'm so glad I got a chance to revisit the Kitchen. I hope there's room for a third helping.

I adored book one, so was so happy to receive approval for this book, the second in the series.

"Follow the bank of the Koitogawa river until you reach the beach. From there a path of white seashells will lead you to the Chibineko Kitchen. Step inside, they'll be expecting you."

The Calico Cat at the Chibeneko Kitchen was so beautiful and heartwarming and gave me everything I want and expect in a healing fiction. This book focuses on death and what we would do or say if we had the opportunity to speak to someone again who has passed on. I love how difficult conversations can be had, and how healing through the grieving process can be made easy by conversations had over a cooked and shared meal at the Chibineko Kitchen, enabling memories to be kept alive.

This book definitely gives out similar vibes to The Restaurant of Lost Recipes and Before the Coffee Gets Cold - all books which I adore.

I read this over a weekend morning and having read the first book was very much looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed. It offered exactly what I was looking for and I really enjoyed returning to the cafe, albeit under slightly different circumstances.

It is so sad and heartbreaking, but also uplifting and joyous at the same time. The themes are difficult, but the ending is beautiful.

Recommended to fans of Japanese translated fiction. Short fiction. Romantic/reflective prose and beautiful storytelling.