teatimelit

ARC Review: When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

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.

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Wrap Up: August 2021

Hi, hello friends! Another month done and dusted: where has the time gone? This month was a good reading month for all of us here at teatimelit, and we cannot wait to see what we read next month too. This month Caitlyn read 22 books, Cossette read 28 books, and Mary read 8 books.

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Spotlight + Interview: The Boy With Fire by Aparna Verma

Hi, hello lovely readers! I’m so incredibly excited today to spotlight a very exciting Adult Fantasy debut, releasing the 31st August! The Boy With Fire is an exciting debut by Aparna Verma, filled with lush imagery and interesting magic. If those two things sound like something you’d enjoy, here’s the full synopsis:

Dune meets The Poppy War in Aparna Verma’s The Boy with Fire, a glorious yet brutal tour-de-force debut that grapples with the power and manipulation of myth in an Indian-inspired epic fantasy.

Yassen Knight was the Arohassin’s most notorious assassin until a horrible accident. Now, he’s on the run from the authorities and his former employer. But when Yassen seeks refuge with an old friend, he’s offered an irresistible deal: defend the heir of Ravence from the Arohassin, and earn his freedom.

Elena Ravence prepares to ascend the throne. Trained since birth in statecraft, warfare, and the desert ways, Elena knows she is ready. She only lacks one thing: the ability to hold Fire. With the coronation only weeks away, she must learn quickly or lose her kingdom.

Leo Ravence is not ready to give up the crown. There’s still too much work to be done, too many battles to be won. But when an ancient prophecy threatens to undo his lifetime of work, Leo wages war on the heavens themselves to protect his legacy.

The first of The Ravence Trilogy, The Boy with Fire is the tale of a world teetering on the edge of war and prophecy, of fate and betrayal, of man’s irrevocable greed for power — and the sacrifices that must come with it.

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Blog Tour + ARC Review: The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

In 1911 New York City, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell spends her days as a seamstress, mourning the mysterious death of her brother months prior. Everything changes when she’s attacked and a man ends up dead at her feet—her scissors in his neck, and she can’t explain how they got there.

Before she can be condemned as a murderess, two cape-wearing nurses arrive to inform her she is deathly ill and ordered to report to Haxahaven Sanitarium. But Frances finds Haxahaven isn’t a sanitarium at all: it’s a school for witches. Within Haxahaven’s glittering walls, Frances finds the sisterhood she craves, but the headmistress warns Frances that magic is dangerous. Frances has no interest in the small, safe magic of her school, and is instead enchanted by Finn, a boy with magic himself who appears in her dreams and tells her he can teach her all she’s been craving to learn, lessons that may bring her closer to discovering what truly happened to her brother.

Frances’s newfound power attracts the attention of the leader of an ancient order who yearns for magical control of Manhattan. And who will stop at nothing to have Frances by his side. Frances must ultimately choose what matters more, justice for her murdered brother and her growing feelings for Finn, or the safety of her city and fellow witches. What price would she pay for power, and what if the truth is more terrible than she ever imagined?

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Interview with June CL Tan, Author of Jade Fire Gold

Today’s tea party guest is June CL Tan, author of Jade Fire Gold, and we’re so excited to have her at our tea party! I was so lucky to read an eARC of Jade Fire Gold, and absolutely loved it — it comes out on October 12th in the US and November 4th in the UK, and it’s one that you won’t want to miss! We’ve also got a special something going on over on our Twitter, which I’ll elaborate more on at the very end! 

In an empire on the brink of war . . .

Ahn is no one, with no past and no family.

Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child.

When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her arcane magical abilities.

But they may have to pay a far deadlier price than either could have imagined.

Links for Jade Fire Gold:  Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

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Let’s Talk: August Reading Prompt Jar Wrap Up

At the beginning of this month I decided that I’d choose all of my August reads – with the exception of ARCs and book club reads – by pulling prompts out of a jar. With August coming to a close (Miss Swift was right, August really did slip away into a moment in time) I thought it would be fun to look back on the prompts and books I read this month.

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Spotlight: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam

Hi, friends! I thought this week it would be fun to spotlight my current audiobook read: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam. Despite not being very far into this book, so far it’s absolutely fantastic! Written in verse, this book is compelling from the start, and you will find yourself utterly entranced by the poetry. Centred around Amal, a teenage boy convicted and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, this book explores the systematic racism in the justice system in an impactful and devastatingly beautiful way. And I tell you what, I cannot wait to finish it and write a full review for the blog. 

Here’s the full synopsis!

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think

will be my life

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

Like I said, I cannot wait to finish this book. I can just tell it’s going to be a five-star read. What are you currently reading? Be sure to let me know in the comments below! 

Links for Punching the Air: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound 

Openin’ Up: theatreathon announcement

Hi friends! We’re so excited to bring to you today the theatreathon! To celebrate the incoming Tony Awards, and celebrate theatre in general, we thought it would be fun to host a read-a-thon to combine both of our loves! The theatreathon will run from September 1st – September 30th. You can find the official prompts and book recommendations for the read-a-thon below, and be sure to keep up to date with us on our socials! You can follow [@] theatreathons to see how everyone else participating is progressing, and be sure to use the hashtag #theatreathon to stay connected!

To keep up the excitement, we’ll be hosting reading sprints throughout the read-a-thon through our twitter page, to keep everyone inspired and motivated. We hope you enjoy this read-a-thon, and have as much fun participating as we did make it! 

While there’s a lot of prompts in this read-a-thon, feel free to pick and choose the ones you feel inspired by! Do as much, or as little, as you’d like to do – the purpose of this is to have fun, celebrate theatre, and read some new books!

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teatimereads September Pick: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado & This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Hi, hello friends! We hope you had a wonderful August, and September continues on being lovely. We’re so excited to announce that the tea party has a tie for 2 books this month, so we will be splitting our time between two books. The two books selected this month are FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA by Crystal Maldonado and THIS POISON HEART by Kalynn Bayron. The tea party will be reading FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA from September 1st through September 15th, and THIS POISON HEART from September 16th through the end of the month. We are so happy that these two books are our September reads, and we hope you are too!

FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is one of Caitlyn’s favourite books of the year, so we are very excited to be reading it alongside the tea party.

Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.

Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing–he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.

A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

Links for Fat Chance, Charlie Vega: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | IndieBound | Bookshop

Content Warnings for Fat Chance, Charlie Vega: Fataphobia, mentioned death of a parent, mentions of sex, underage drinking (chapter 13), racism, a strained relationship with a parent, diet culture, emotional abuse + manipulation

Our second book of the month is THIS POISON HEART by Kalynn Bayron! This book is fun, exciting, and will definitely fill your fantasy needs. We are so excited to be reading it alongside the tea party in the second half of September! 

Darkness blooms in bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s new contemporary fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power.

Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch.

When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage.

When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.

From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her. 

Links for This Poison Heart: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

Content Warnings for This Poison Heart: brief depictions of grief, mentions of adoption, murder, death of a parent, blood and gore, decapitation, dismemberment, strong language

We hope you enjoy reading along with us this month, and we cannot wait to start discussing with you all! Happy reading!