Before the Coffee gets Cold was an interesting blend of magical realism and at some points non-fiction. I really enjoyed the premise of this book and how each short story was connected to the last. 

That being said, it's very clear that this was written by a man. Every story centred around smart women giving up their freedom in some regard to cater to mediocre men. Not once did a man choose to time travel, it was always the women going back to fix other people's problems. 

The time traveling rules got repetitive and new rules kept being introduced in each story which made no sense. There were many contradictions and lazily presented exposition that didn't really go anywhere. I was left with many unanswered questions which made the book seem very shallow (e.g.what's the point of the ghost's curse if it has no real impact? How exactly does an individual get to a particular time or date? Etc etc) 

The writing style also didn't do much for me. It was rather dry and matter of fact which made the characters seem very two-dimensional and rather uninteresting. 

Overall, some good aspects and an interesting premise but hindered by its depiction of women and its dull writing.