The Cybernetic Tea Shop
Grade : B-

The Cybernetic Tea Shop is a very quiet and sweet little novella which tells the love story of Clara, a highly-skilled technician, and Sal, a female robot, who has a tea shop in Seattle.

Clara has always been on the move, not staying long in one place, her wanderlust bringing her to new places nearly every year. Her latest move to Seattle and her love for tea lead her right into Sal’s tea shop that she’s been opening in remembrance of her former owner for nearly 300 years by now.

Robots are no longer built, haven’t been for a long, long time, but have been replaced by Raises. While robots have emotions and develop and are in many aspects like humans, Raises only get a certain programming. Robots are feared and disliked, nearly extinct, and often viewed as objects. Not so by Clara who is fascinated and one of the few people who treats Sal as a person.

The author takes her time to introduce both characters before they meet and their friendship develops naturally and plausibly into something more.

This story is neither an epic love story nor a mind-blowing science fiction, but it’s a great choice when you’re looking for something that is easy and lovable without being boring. The characters and setting are likeable and interesting and as every book is right for a certain time, this one might just be the right one when you’re in the mood for something charming.

Readers explicitly looking for asexual characters shouldn’t pass this one up.

Reviewed by Melanie Faber
Grade : B-
Book Type: Science Fiction

Sensuality: Kisses

Review Date : April 3, 2016

Publication Date: 2016/03

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Melanie Faber

My three passions in life are my family, books, and China.I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for 14 years, have the loveliest 9 year-old daughter, and we live together in Berlin’s beautiful quarter Prenzlauer Berg. We spend as much time together as possible and enjoy a quiet life — well, next to a job and school…Spending two years abroad in Macao SAR China made me want to change my profession, and so I’ve been studying Sinology since fall 2014. While going back to university with 33 is quite a challenge, I’m sure it was the right decision and I’m delighted to get better at speaking Mandarin little by little.In my free time and on my long commute, I love to read and I like my books to be diverse, surprising, and genre-bending. I will read the occasional contemporary romance, but my heart actually beats faster for genre books like fantasy, science fiction, or steampunk. Since for me, love is love, I read romantic stories about people of all gender and sexual orientation.
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