teatimelit

teatimereads March Pick: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

We’re incredibly excited to announce our March book for teatimereads — Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which has been on our radar since before its January release. We couldn’t be more excited to join Lily in 1954 Chinatown. For Last Night at the Telegraph Club, we highly recommend reading it with a cup of jasmine tea by your side! 

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Trigger warnings: abandonment, parental abuse, family trauma, sexism, misogyny, racism, racial slurs, deportation, death of a loved one, homophobia, internalized homophobia, miscarriage, police brutality

Links for Last Night at the Telegraph Club: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | Indiebound

teatimereads February Pick: A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey

We’re incredibly excited to announce our February book for teatimereads — A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow.  With a beautifully written tale about the 3 F’s (family, friends, and food), grief, and an incredibly sweet romance, and you guessed it, tea, we couldn’t be more excited to have chosen A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow for our February pick! We highly recommend you settle in with a warm cup of Vanilla Black (you’ll find out why when you read the book), English Breakfast or a London Fog, paired with some good snacks. 

For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan. The plan was 1) take over her abuela’s role as head baker at their panadería, 2) move in with her best friend after graduation, and 3) live happily ever after with her boyfriend. But then the Trifecta happened, and everything—including Lila herself—fell apart.

Worried about Lila’s mental health, her parents make a new plan for her: Spend three months with family friends in Winchester, England, to relax and reset. But with the lack of sun, a grumpy inn cook, and a small town lacking Miami flavor (both in food and otherwise), what would be a dream trip for some feels more like a nightmare to Lila…until she meets Orion Maxwell.

A teashop clerk with troubles of his own, Orion is determined to help Lila out of her funk, and appoints himself as her personal tour guide. From Winchester’s drama-filled music scene to the sweeping English countryside, it isn’t long before Lila is not only charmed by Orion, but England itself. Soon a new future is beginning to form in Lila’s mind—one that would mean leaving everything she ever planned behind.

Content Warnings: family member death, breakups (friendship & romantic), mental health issues, grief, and dementia. 

Links for A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow:  Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound 

To find out more about teatimereads please click here. You can also join the server by accessing this link! 

Happy reading!