teatimelit

Blog Tour + Review: The Ivies by Alexa Donne

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it’s deadly.

Alexa Donne delivers a nail-biting and timely thriller about teens who will stop at nothing to get into the college of their dreams. Too bad no one told them murder isn’t an extracurricular.

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ARC Review: Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Everyone likes Humaira “Hani” Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita “Ishu” Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.

Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.

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Let’s Talk: Books I Want to Read in June

Hi, hello friends and welcome back to teatimelit! I thought it would be a nice time to take a break of my usual scheduled reviews, and discuss some books I’m excited for! May has already been a good month for me reading wise, however I do think I’m starting to slump, so I’ve decided to look forward to June and see what books I can pre-plan to read. Be sure to let me know what books you’re looking forward to next month, but without further ado let’s see the list!

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teatimereads June Picks: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston & Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Hi, hello friends! We’re super excited to be bringing you another month of teatimereads. The books in June were just too good, our tea party attendees chose 2 books to read this month! That means double the fun for all the participants of teatimereads. The two books chosen this month are One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. The tea party will be reading One Last Stop from June 1 – June 15 and Ace of Spades from June 16 — June 30. We’re so incredibly excited for this month, and we hope you are too! 

One Last Stop is one of our most anticipated books for the year, so we’re super excited to be reading it with everyone!

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Links for One Last Stop: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound 

Content Warnings for One Last Stop: mentions of death (grandparent, other relative) in chapters 11 & 16, brief allusion to/mentions of fire + hate crime (Upstairs Lounge Fire) in ch 11, mentions of a car crash in chapter 16, mentions of addiction/alcoholism, police violence, homophobic violence and hate speech, childhood neglect, racism, arson, drinking, light drug use (weed), semi-public sex, exploration of depression and anxiety, memory loss and cognitive issues, familial estrangement, familial death, grief, missing persons, implied PTSD

Ace of Spades is a new favourite for Cossette, so we’re super stoked to be sharing this book with the tea party attendees! 

Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high-school game…

Links for Ace of Spades: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound

Content Warnings for Ace of Spades:   racism, homophobia, bullying, blood, alcohol consumption, car accident, racist slurs, stalking, emotional abuse, panic attacks, anxiety, outing of queer characters, suicide ideation , suicide attempt, death of parent, gun violence, murder, toxic relationship, sexism, forced institutionalisation, drug use, police encounter/involvement, incarceration, mentions of death penalty, revenge porn.

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

Happy reading! 

Review: Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson

Two girls. One night. Zero phones.

Kat and Stevie—best friends, theater kids, polar opposites—have snuck away from the suburbs to spend a night in New York City. They have it all planned out. They’ll see a play, eat at the city’s hottest restaurant, and have the best. Night. Ever. What could go wrong?

Well. Kind of a lot?

They’re barely off the train before they’re dealing with destroyed phones, family drama, and unexpected Pomeranians. Over the next few hours, they’ll have to grapple with old flames, terrible theater, and unhelpful cab drivers. But there are also cute boys to kiss, parties to crash, dry cleaning to deliver (don’t ask), and the world’s best museum to explore.

Over the course of a wild night in the city that never sleeps, both Kat and Stevie will get a wake-up call about their friendship, their choices…and finally discover what they really want for their future.

That is, assuming they can make it to Grand Central before the clock strikes midnight.

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teatimereads: An Announcement

Hi friends! as a mod team, we weren’t aware of how much fatphobia is in The House in the Cerulean Sea, nor did we realize that it was based off of “The Sixties Scoop”, where the Canadian government removed Indigenous children from their homes and placed them with unrelated white, middle-class families (more information here).  

For those unsure on how this book was chosen, each month the tea party attendees suggest & vote for a book they want to read. The suggestion came from a tea party attendee, and we did not think to properly research and look into the chosen book before announcing that, and for that we are deeply sorry. In the future, we promise to do a better job of vetting all suggestions. This book does not align with our morals, or the morals of our book club, which is why we have decided to pull The House in the Cerulean Sea as our teatimereads may pick.

We want to explicitly state that we do not condone fatphobia, and while we had been made aware of it as a trigger warning, we were not aware just how much of a role it played throughout the novel. 

We sincerely apologise for any harm this may have caused our tea party members. 

We recommend the following books to learn more about The Sixties Scoop:

  • Intimate Integration: A History of the Sixties Scoop and the Colonization of Indigenous Kinship by Allyson D. Stevenson
  • Ohpikiihaakan-ohpihmeh (Raised somewhere else): A 60s Scoop Adoptee’s Story of Coming Home by Colleen Cardinal
  • Behind the Smile: A Survivor of the Metis Sixties Scoop
  • No Quiet Place: Review Committee on Indian and Metis Adoptions and Placements by Edwin C. Kimelman

To show your support for the Indigenous community, and support the efforts to keep families together, we recommend donating to The Caring Society. Furthermore, this resource has a comprehensive list of Indigenous charities you can donate to as well.

FEATURE: CAFE AT 46 OLD STREET COVER REVEAL & INTERVIEW WITH HANNAH CAO

Hello friends! We’re so excited and honored to be revealing the cover of Cafe at 46 Old Street by Hannah Cao! We’ve been following along Hannah’s writer journey for a while now, and Cafe at 46 Old Street is one of our most anticipated releases of the year. After all, a new adult romance, with 4 POVs, found family, and a lost and exposed diary? What more could we want! It sounds like the ultimate comfort read! 

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home.

Hanh arrives in London with nothing but her sketchbook and her journal. She is starry-eyed at the idea of starting a new life in the city of opportunities— where she is no longer forced to sit at Friday dinners with her father’s new wife and kids, and where, on the down-side, she is no longer with her first love.

Winston has always been a little out-of-sync. As if to prove how disappointing he looks next to his Golden brother, he just dropped out of university and, on top of that, was dumped by his girlfriend over text. Living a life of dark espresso without the sugar, he is struggling to find a role in his own life.

Clementine is a quirky rarity, a splash of nosy and a cup of eccentric, destined to be the driving force of her parents’ otherwise sleepy coffee shop — if she doesn’t lose it to the looming competition threatening her eviction.

Alexander grew up unable to fit in, having moved from Italy to London with his overachieving mother at a young age and constantly changing schools. His quiet nature is a curtain to his fears, but his delightful tarts are a reflection of how others feel about him.

From the outside, their lives are simple: they’re a group of an overjoyed newbie, a strictly sober bartender, an exuberant coffee shop owner and a quiet baker trying to find their place in the world. But still waters run deep in the Cafe At 46 Old Street, so when reality comes catching up to them, threatening their routine and crumbling their lofty walls, their lives are changed in the matter of a year.

Will they find their way back home?

Links for Cafe at 46 Old Street: Goodreads 

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Review: You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry

TWO FRIENDS
TEN SUMMER TRIPS
THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE

12 SUMMERS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they’ll never speak again.

11 SUMMERS AGO: They’re forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.

10 SUMMERS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver.
Poppy holds his hand the whole way.

7 SUMMERS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.

2 SUMMERS AGO: It all goes wrong.

THIS SUMMER: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

You and Me on Vacation is a love story for fans of When Harry Met Sally and One Day. Get ready to travel the world, snort with laughter and – most of all – lose your heart to Poppy and Alex.

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Blog Tour + Review: The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk

Content Warning: protagonist is dealing with a lot of anger and some depression, various experiences of racism

Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her leg — and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it.

After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected — namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive castmate she just might be falling for.

But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she experienced in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet — something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else?

Touching, romantic, and peppered with humor, this debut novel explores the tenuousness of perfectionism, the possibilities of change, and the importance of raising your voice.

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ARC Review & Interview: Tokyo Ever After

Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izumi discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity…and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess.

In a whirlwind, Izumi travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.

Izumi soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairy tale, happily ever after?

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