teatimelit

Cozy Conversations with Cait & Coco: Les Miserables

Hi, hello everyone! It’s Caitlyn and Cossette here, and we’re here to kick off a new series: Cozy Conversations with Cait & Coco! We’ll be rereading some of our favorite books, or stories with a special place in our hearts, and chatting about them. These will probably be lengthy posts, so make sure you grab a cup of tea, and get cozy! 

There’s no better place to start than Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The first Parsian edition was published on April 3rd, 1862, so we thought what better day to launch this series than on the 160th anniversary of a book that has influenced both of us in many ways?

A lengthy blog post, for a lengthy book. The two of us are incredibly sorry for how long this post is, but we did warn you and say it’s going to be lengthy and to grab a cup of tea. 

Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged Inspector Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.

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Monthly Wrap Up: March 2022

Hi, hello friends and welcome back to another wrap up post! We’re super excited to be sharing what books we read this month – it’s been yet another successful reading month for us all! 

This month Caitlyn read 25 books, Cossette read 31 books, and Mary read 10 books. 

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Review: Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

A clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love—with all its complications—by debut author Ashley Herring Blake.

Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.

When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.

Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to… 

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Book Recs: Books to Read Based on Your Favorite Musicals

Happy World Theatre Day my friends! Today is one of my favorite days because, and I truly am not exaggerating here, theatre is my life. I was in my first musical when I was 15, and since then I have been in over 15 shows, and worked on over 30 shows (including directing and stage managing) and my day job is running the education department at a theatre company. I really do live and breathe theatre.


As I will take any opportunity I can to combine theatre and reading — two of my favorite things(if you read that to the tune of My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, bonus points to you!) — I thought it would be fun to do a book recs post based on some of my favorite musicals!

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Interview with Emma Lord, author of When You Get the Chance

Hello tea party attendees! I’m so excited to announce that Emma Lord, author of Tweet Cute, You Have a Match and When You Get the Chance is joining our tea party today! Emma is one of my favorite authors, and well loved here at teatimelit! Her stories are fun, creative, heartfelt and filled with characters you can’t help but love! 

An effervescent, endearing, joyful contemporary romance of one young woman searching for her birth mother one summer, by New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord.

Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream to become a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super-introverted dad, who after raising Millie alone, doesn’t want to watch her leave home to pursue her dream. Not her pesky and ongoing drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not the “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm, always at maddeningly inconvenient times. Millie needs an ally. And when a left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do. She’s going to find her mom.

There’s Steph, a still-aspiring stage actress and receptionist at a talent agency. There’s Farrah, ethereal dance teacher who clearly doesn’t have the two left feet Millie has. And Beth, the chipper and sweet stage enthusiast with an equally exuberant fifteen-year-old daughter (A possible sister?! This is getting out of hand). But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one, without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along?

Joyous, heartfelt, and brimming with emotion, WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE is a novel about falling in love, making a mess, and learning to let go that will have you happy-sobbing and cheering all the way to the end.

Links for When You Get the Chance: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

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TeaTimeReads April Pick: Fresh by Margot Wood

Happy Spring, everyone! We hope that you’re enjoying OPHELIA AFTER ALL – we can’t wait to start discussion questions! We’re super excited to announce that our April book club pick will be Margot Wood’s FRESH!

Here is the full summary for Fresh:

A hilarious and vulnerable coming-of-age story about the thrilling new experiences––and missteps––of a girl’s freshman year of college

Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot’s mind when she’s too busy experiencing all that college has to offer—from dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Rose’s patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she’s having isn’t that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate’s boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she’s honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe. 

Links for Fresh: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

Content Warnings for Fresh: drinking, drug use, profanity, sex, and one scene with sexual assault

This month we’ve decided to try some new things that we’re all really excited about! We decided that this month we would try a loose reading schedule, which you can see in the image below. We also thought that since Fresh is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, it would be fun to stream some Emma adaptations (2020 Emma, Emma Approved, Clueless, etc.) as well as some new and fun ways to interact with each other through social media! More information about that will be coming soon, most of which will be detailed in the Discord. 

We’re super excited to read this fun and hilarious retelling! See you in April!

Mini Reviews: The Heartbreak Bakery, The Haunting of Hill House, Fake It Till You Bake It, & How We Fall Apart

Hello friends! We’re halfway through March, which is just plain crazy! How’re you doing with your reading goals? Things have been going well for me so far! As of this post, I’ve read 10 books this month and I just hit 50 books read this year, which was my goal for the end of the month so I’m feeling pretty confident right now!

I’m in the middle of 3 books right now and hoping to finish all 3 and start more by the end of the weekend. Last weekend was pretty busy, so I didn’t have as much time to read as I would’ve liked. That being said, I thought that it would be fun to post some mini reviews this week!

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Let’s Talk: Rereading Childhood Favorites – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Hi friends! Welcome to the first installment of my Rereading Childhood Favorites series – you can check out my initial blog post for more info! I’m a firm believer that books we read as children shape us into the adults that we become, and that’s part of why I am so excited about this series.

With my birthday coming up this week (the 12th) I thought that it would be fitting to start this series by discussing the book that I think influenced me the most in my adolescence: Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

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Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren’t really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer? 

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Wrap Up: February 2022

We here at teatimelit stand with our friends in Ukraine, and condemn the actions of the Russian state. We encourage those who are able to donate to the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, with all donations going to supporting Ukraine citizens who are vulnerable. You can find a link for the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund here, as well as another resource for where you can donate. 

Goodness, hasn’t February flown by? It’s been a big month for us all here, and we’re so excited to be sharing with you what we’ve read this month. 

This month Caitlyn read 19 books, Cossette read 17 books, and Mary read 7 books. 

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