Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Book Review: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe

Title: The Color of Tea

Author: Hannah Tunnicliffe

Publisher: Scribner

Pub date: 6/5/2012

Source: The Library








Goodreads summary:

Macau: the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a three-bead necklace. It was time to find a life for myself. To make something out of nothing. The end of hope and the beginning of it too. After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea.

Grace opens a cafÉ where she serves tea, coffee, and macarons—the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea steeped and macaron baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.

A delicious, melt-in-your-mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, The Color of Tea is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal.

My review/thoughts:

Grace Miller and her husband, Pete, are living in Macau, China for Pete's work. After they find out they can't have children, Grace opens a cafe called Lillian's where she makes macarons and serves tea. Grace makes friends with people she wouldn't have otherwise known after she opens Lillian's. We meet Marjory, Rilla, and Gigi just to name a few women that Grace becomes close to. Gigi is a feisty character that I liked reading about and was very memorable. This is the first time I've read about China so that was cool since I've never been there. Grace has a lot of issues but she works through them in the book. Overall, this was a light and fast read. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It was a fabulous read. As soon as I finished, I wanted a macaron.


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Review: Being Lara by Lola Jaye


Title:  Being Lara

Author: Lola Jaye

Publisher: HarperCollins

Date Published: March 13, 2012












Lara gets the surprise of her life on her 30th birthday. She is an adoptee of two white Londoners who adopts her from an orphanage in Nigeria. All of her life she has thought of herself as an alien. As a little girl, Lara would get stared at while she was out and about with her parents. At 30, Lara starts a new chapter in her life because she finally gets to discover who she is and where she come from. The story weaved her story and her parents' story to explain why Lara is the way she is. We travel from the past to the present from Africa to London. Lara's grandmother and her best friend Sandi were the voices of reason in this book. It was a fabulous read. The main themes were self-discovery, family and forgiveness. I really enjoyed this book. This was the first book I've read by Lola Jaye and it won't be the last.