The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop
by Takuya Asakura
A bookshop of blossoms, regrets, and stories that heal.
ARC Review
Publisher: HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter
Release Date: August 28, 2025
Every so often, a book lands in your lap that feels meant for you right in that moment. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop is one of them. Healing, magical, and tender, it reminded me why I love this little corner of fiction where regrets can be faced and stories have the power to put us back together.
Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this novel brings people with unfinished business into a space where time bends. In this book, it is a bookshop cafe called Sakura that only appears during cherry blossom season. The tree outside is unforgettable: its blossoms run from deep magenta to the palest pink and white, an ombre of every shade that cherry blossoms can take on. Inside, Kozue, a mysterious young girl, and her calico cat Kobako wait for visitors carrying regrets and sorrows, helping them find the peace that they needed.
What I loved most were the details. Each visitor is drawn in by a book, a page read at just the right time. There is even a soundtrack that as good as it may have been should have included Bolero, as much as the book had it weaving through it. There are nods to other works of art: The Neverending Story, The Glass Menagerie, Kokoro, Night on the Galactic Railroad, and many more. It made me want to pause and look things up, to follow the threads beyond the novel itself. Not all books make me curious in that way, but the ones that do I treasure. In a way the stories became interactive for me. Bolero was playing at my house too.
It is not a heavy book, even when it deals with sadness. The tone is hopeful, the writing simple and clear, and the magic never tries to be explained away. I found myself grateful to spend time in this world with its blossoms, its books, and its quiet promise that even in regret there can be healing.
Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the early read in exchange for an honest review.
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Where to purchase it:
Preorder or Purchase when available on Amazon | Bookshop.org
First time on Bookshop.org? Click here for a discount code.
Set the Mood for The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop
Soft throw blanket for quiet evenings
Cat Bookshelf Journal for notes on the books within the book
Cherry blossom candle to carry the mood off the page
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