Meet Me at the Convenience Store by the Sea
by Sonoko Machida
translated by Bruno Navasky
Where to purchase: Amazon (Kindle)
ARC REVIEW
Orion Publishing Group
Pub Date: April 30, 2026
What It's About
The Tenderness convenience store is back. Located in Mojiko, Kitakyushu, Japan, the store is open 24 hours and the door is always open to whoever needs it. This second installment follows the same format as the first: a series of vignettes, each centered on a customer or employee passing through. Some of the characters from the first book return, their stories continuing where they left off. Others are new faces finding their way to Tenderness for the first time.
What Stuck With Me
Heavy topics, gently dealt with. There is a bully, and the girl who learns to say yes to the world instead of always saying no. A grandmother who simply does things her own way. Each one offers a perspective and a resolution, a small moral handled with care.
My Takeaway
If you have read the first book, this one will feel like returning somewhere familiar. I would start there before picking this up as the connections matter and the warmth of this series builds on itself. For readers who love healing fiction, the cozy café novel genre, or stories that are more interested in understanding people than judging them, this fits right in. And after finishing it, I am already looking forward to what comes next.
Other books you might enjoy
Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida
Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yasigawa
Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee Hye
eARC provided by Orion Publishing Group via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Where to Purchase
Amazon (Kindle)
All books mentioned in the review can be found on my storefront.
