teatimelit

TeaTimeReads July Pick: The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

Hi friends, we hope that the month of June has been treating you well and that you’re enjoying our current read THE CARTOGRAPHERS! We’re so so excited to announce that our TeaTimeReads pick for July will be A.R. Capetta’s THE HEARTBREAK BAKERY! 

Here is the full summary for The Heartbreak Bakery:

Teenage baker Syd sends ripples of heartbreak through Austin’s queer community when a batch of post-being-dumped brownies turns out to be magical—and makes everyone who eats them break up.

“What’s done is done.”

Unless, of course, it was done by my brownies. Then it’s getting undone.

Syd (no pronouns, please) has always dealt with big, hard-to-talk-about things by baking. Being dumped is no different, except now Syd is baking at the Proud Muffin, a queer bakery and community space in Austin. And everyone who eats Syd’s breakup brownies . . . breaks up. Even Vin and Alec, who own the Proud Muffin. And their breakup might take the bakery down with it. Being dumped is one thing; causing ripples of queer heartbreak through the community is another. But the cute bike delivery person, Harley (he or they, check the pronoun pin, it’s probably on the messenger bag), believes Syd about the magic baking. And Harley believes Syd’s magical baking can fix things, too—one recipe at a time.

Links for The Heartbreak Bakery: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound

Content Warnings for The Heartbreak Bakery: descriptions of gender dysphoria, misgendering (non-malicious)

We’ll be doing a loose reading schedule this month, but of course, feel free to read at your own pace!

Have a wonderful rest of the month, and we hope you’ll join us next month in reading THE HEARTBREAK BAKERY!

TeaTimeReads June Pick: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Hi, everyone! We hope that you’ve been enjoying LIKE A LOVE SONG! We’re looking forward to starting discussion questions soon! Today is the 22nd, which means it’s time for us to announce our June pick for TeaTimeReads. We’re so excited to announce that in June we’ll be reading THE CARTOGRAPHERS by Peng Shepherd! 

Here is the full summary for The Cartographers:

What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence… because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps…

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history. 

Links for The Cartographers: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

Content Warnings for The Cartographers: death, murder, gun, estranged parents, grief, fire

We’ll be doing a loose reading schedule this month, but of course, feel free to read at your own pace!

We hope that the rest of May treats you well and that you’ll join us in reading THE CARTOGRAPHERS next month! As always, you can join the Discord here.

Tea Time Reads: Fresh Discussion

Hi, everyone! We’re so excited to bring you our discussion questions (and answers) for Fresh! We hope you enjoyed reading it along with us this month, and be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments!


Before we get into the questions, I just wanted to pop in and say that unfortunately, Fresh just wasn’t for me. In fact, I really struggled to get through it, and it actually caused me to slump. But this is ok! Not every book can be for me, and I am confident I will bounce back. For the sake of my own enjoyment and my own reading routine, I DNF’ed Fresh, so I won’t be answering the questions this month. Love, Mary.

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TeaTimeReads May Pick: Like a Love Song by Gabriela Martins

Hello, friends! We hope that you’re having a lovely spring so far and that the end of April is treating you well. We’re so excited to announce that our May book club pick is LIKE A LOVE SONG by Gabriela Martins! 

Here is the full summary for Like a Love Song:

Fake boyfriend. Real heartbreak?

Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star…until she’s dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating—it could end her career.

Her PR team’s desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy—not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William—and realizes that maybe she’s the biggest fake of them all. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart?

Links for Like a Love Song: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound 

Content Warnings for Like a Love Song: mentions of anxiety/panic attacks, death of a parent (dad), child abandonment/estranged parents, mentions of homophobia, mentions of xenophobia / racism

We’ll be doing a loose reading schedule this month, but of course, feel free to read at your own pace!

We’re really looking forward to reading this super sweet story with you all next month!

tea time reads: Ophelia After All Discussion

Hello friends and happy Friday! For those of you who have been partaking in our book club, tea time reads, we’ve loved reading Ophelia After All alongside you! If you’re new — or newer to the blog, we have a book club that’s centered around diverse reads. We’re hosted through Discord and would love you to join us if you haven’t already.  This month, and moving forward, we’ll be sharing the discussion questions and our answers ahead of discussions. 

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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!

TeaTimeReads March Pick: Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

Hello everyone! We hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying CRYING IN H MART. We’re super excited to announce that our March book club pick is Racquel Marie’s OPHELIA AFTER ALL!

Here is the full summary for Ophelia After All:

A teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie.

Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.

So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love–and sexuality–never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all. 

Links for Ophelia After All: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

Content Warnings for Ophelia After All: mentions of underage drinking and vaping, topical mentions of sex, cut-off use of a homophobic slur (challenged), condemned homophobia, discussion of anti-Blackness within a mixed race Latine family (challenged) 

We can’t wait to start Ophelia After All next month and we hope that you’ll join us!

Teatimereads February Pick: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Hi all! We hope that January is treating you well so far and that you’re enjoying this month’s read DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS. Our theme for February is Non-Fiction and we will be reading CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner! We’re really excited to be highlighting a new genre for teatimereads and hope that you’ll join us!

Here is the full summary for Crying in H Mart:

An unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band–and meeting the man who would become her husband–her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

Links for Crying in H Mart: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

Content Warnings for Crying in H Mart: Death of a parent, death of a family member, trauma, addiction, cancer