Wednesday, April 13, 2011

CFBA: Tea for Two by Trish Perry

Song Stuck on the Brain: Sing Sweet Nightengale from Cinderella







This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:

Tea For Two

Harvest House Publishers (April 1, 2011)

by

Trish Perry




MY TAKE:


Tina and Zack's courtship is so much fun. The awkward dance of two people testing the waters, the flirting and the heartfelt connection they find. Trish Perry did a great job with the characters. Incorporating the teenagers into the relationship journey from the beginning was a nice touch.


On a more personal note, it always feels odd to read a book like this and realize I'm the same age as the heroine and yet she and all of the supporting cast have been married and divorced already. Or at least most of them. I appreciated Edie's character being a single, never married woman, but her romance wasn't the focus of the story. I loved the blossoming relationship between Zack and Tina, but it would be nice if the Edie's of this world got more focus. Maybe we'll get her story next. Not every 30 something female has been married once already.


My personal relationship history (OR lack thereof) aside. I thoroughly enjoyed Tea for Two.




ABOUT THE BOOK:



Zack Cooper tries his best to raise his children, but he's losing his grip on them in their teen years. They've both had scrapes with the local law.


Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel has the perfect woman in mind to help Zack. Counselor Tina Milano meets weekly at the tea shop with her women's group. Milly encourages Zack and Tina to work together to draw the teens back before they get in even hotter water. Milly never thought things might heat up between Zack and Tina. Or did she?


Tina's connections with the Middleburg police department prove a mixed blessing for Zack and his kids. Both her best friend and old boyfriend are officers on the force.


And when Tina's women's group gets wind of her personal pursuits and clashes, they want to help. The group's meetings at the tea shop take on a slightly different flavor. Tina wonders who, exactly, is counseling whom.


Although heroine Tina Milano and her women's group are mentioned in The Perfect Blend (the first book in this series), Tea for Two is where we meet her and hero Zack Cooper. I knew I would write this book while I wrote the first, so it was fun to plant a passing mention of Zack and Tina while I wrote Steph's story in The Perfect Blend. By the time I was able to write Tina and Zack's story, I was eager to unfold their lives, conflicts, and love. I hope readers will be eager to experience what happens to them!


If you would like to read the first chapter of , go HERE.


Watch the Book Video:






ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


A word from our Author: I started writing short stories—pretty bad ones. And I started taking creative writing courses to round out my degree. So I was in classes full of people just like me—lousy writers. But we were learning!


Then the Lord led me to a local writers' group, Capital Christian Writers, and the contacts and friends I made through CCW enriched my personal life and my writing life more than I can measure. Through CCW and through reading just about every book and magazine ever published by Writer's Digest, I started catching on. Now I'm writing full time and man oh man do I love it.


Before the writing began, I worked for attorneys in Washington, D. C. I worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission. And I was a stockbroker. A horrible stockbroker. How do people do that? Take responsibility for other people's financial futures? Yikes. I'm perfectly happy to take responsibility for the amount of time any one person wants to spend reading my books. If you enjoy the experience, then know that we both enjoyed it together. I love that about books.


In the midst of all that fretting over other people's money and writing about other people's lives, I racked up a few personal experiences myself. Some good, some bad, but all part of God's plan. Now I'm an empty nester living in Northern Virginia. My brilliantly funny son is in college. I have a savvy, gorgeous grown daughter, a charming son-in-law, and an amazing grandson.

No comments: