Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe is an immersive and beautifully rendered alternate universe YA fantasy by C.B. Lee. Released 1st July 2025 by Macmillan on their Feiwel & Friends imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
Alternate universe speculative fiction is rightfully very popular, and this is a good one. The characters are three dimensional and believable, the background settings are immersive and complete, and the author uses the chosen one trope to good effect.
Two Earths, one with magic, one without, connected by unstable portals. One nexus is located in a coffee shop and the two MCs meet without realizing that they're (literally) from two different worlds. The author uses the confusion to good effect (one's a gamer and the other one is absolutely gobsmacked that she faced down a dragon and lived to tell about it). It's nice to see female nerds/gamers get some positive representation. Both the MCs are female, and from SE Asian families, and the author does a good/sensitive/respectful job with all that as well. The romance plotline is sweet and gently written too.
There's a mystery involved and seeing them team up to save the world is satisfying and fun.
Four stars. It would be a good choice for public or home library acquisition, or for a nice sapphic buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.