Monday, August 13, 2012

The Color of Tea: Review and Giveaway

"A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe is a novel about Grace Miller, who yearns for a child and opens up a French café in Macau, China, where she and her husband, Peter, live. The couple desperately wants to have a baby, and their marriage suffers tremendously as a result of their inability to have child. Grace also longs for her mother, with whom she shared an odd yet intense relationship.  Not-so-slowly and surely, Grace immerses herself in her work at the café, and creates a new life for herself, although she still yearns for a child.  As she bakes macarons and brews tea, she builds her business and makes some wonderful new friends at her café, Lillian's.


I completely adored this novel, which conjures up exotic locales, flavors, and foods, such as, of course, the macarons featured so prominently in the book (pictured on the book cover, above, and to the left, photo courtesy of Wikipedia). Il est délicieux!  The author writes beautifully about food--I could almost taste the fabulously flavored macarons.  Grace's new friends, especially Rilla, Gigi, and Marjory, are offbeat, resilient, and always interesting. They bond over coffee, tea, and macarons, and support each other in numerous ways, small and large, as good friends do.

Most importantly, The Color of Tea  is about following your dreams--following your bliss--even when you're not quite sure how to accomplish your goals. This is a lovely and tantalizing debut novel with inspiring messages about the value of friendship and about bringing your dreams to life.  The Color of Tea is an emotionally satisfying read with a great deal of appeal for women of all ages. It would be the perfect novel for a women's book club, as long as tea and macarons were served at meetings.

If this book also sounds like your cup of tea (sorry, couldn't resist!), then you're in luck.  Originally published in 2011 in Australia as The Colour of Tea, this book is now published in America by Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.. Scribner is generously offering a copy of The Color of Tea to one of my readers (U.S./Canada only). 

  • To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment. 
  • For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower, or that you subscribe in Google Reader.
  • For an additional chance, post about this contest on your blog, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.

Enter by 5PM PDT on Monday, September 3.  One lucky winner will be randomly selected and announced on Tuesday, September 4.  Good luck!


Special thanks to Lisa from TLC for sending me this book.  For more reviews, please visit the other stops on TLC's The Color of Tea book blog tour.

29 comments:

  1. I loved Grace and liked this book a lot even though I wasn't crazy about the ending. No need to enter me.

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  2. I love anything to do with tearooms and cookies. It sounds like a nice book to read.

    I am already a follower of your "Notebook"

    iowagramma.ann@gmail.com

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  3. Exotic locales - perfect for a novel. Count me in.

    I am a follower.

    harvee44@yahoo.com

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  4. I loved this one too, and now I think I need to find out what a macaron tastes like! Fantastic review today, Suko! You did a really great job of relating just how deeply layered and absorbing this book really was. Thanks for sharing this!

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  5. I too enjoyed this novel, although agree with Kathy above - the ending was so unrealistic that it took away from the rest of the story. I was kind of bummed about it! :( Obviously no need to enter me in your giveaway!

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  6. I love how you loved this book! Friendship, lessons and macarons seem an unbeatable combination. I also loved the lipstick of the girl on the cover, although that adds nothing of revelance to your lovely post. :)

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  7. This sounds so good Suko! I enjoy stories about friendship. And those macarons look yummy.
    Great review, please include me. Thanks ;) I'll post this on my sidebar.
    naidascrochet@yahoo.com

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  8. This books looks and sounds really good. I'd love to enter yvone473[at]optonline[dot]net I follow through GFC.

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  9. Gosh, the cover alone almost sells this book. Sounds like a great read to top it off!

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  10. I want this book lol!

    -blog follower
    -tweeted Suko's Notebook: The Color of Tea: Review and Giveaway

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  11. Beautiful. Covet book sounds so interesting. Follower Lomazowr @gmail. Com

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  12. This wonderful novel sounds like a treasure. Many thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. What a lovely story and the cover is enticing. thanks for this chance. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  14. Sounds like a wonderful read and I love that quote. Happy as always to add this to my FB page, good luck everyone.

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  15. So glad you enjoyed this one. No need to enter me, though, as Serena just gave me her extra copy. :)

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  16. Oooh, dreams, friends, food ..sounds like my kind of book! Please count me in!! Thank you.

    jinkyisreading at gmail dot com

    gfc=Jinky

    tweeted= https://twitter.com/jinxtweet/status/235456517917257728

    fb'd= http://www.facebook.com/jinky.heartsbooks?ref=tn_tnmn#!/jinky.heartsbooks/posts/354096947999413

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  17. This one is on my wishlist and your review makes it sound even better! :) I'm curious about the ending though, as I have seen it mentioned in many reviews.
    (I follow you via Google Reader!)

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  18. Sounds like my cup of tea too. I posted the giveaway on the sidebar of my blog.

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  19. I adored this novel. It was so cute and wonderful. I'm giving away a copy as well...so no need to enter me.

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  20. Thanks for the comments, and for helping to spread the word about this book giveaway!

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  21. I love the idea of following your dreams. Sometimes it sounds so simple but it is such an important thing to remember. Sounds like quite the book!

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  22. I'd love to read this one! Please enter me :)

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  23. I am following.

    thank you

    oops here is my email

    chocolate and croissants at yahoo . com

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  24. The Color of Tea sounds like a good one. I like trying books that seem a bit different.

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  25. I am a first time visitor to your blog and this book sounds intriguing. Also, count me in as a follower.

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  26. "Emotionally satisfying" sounds good! I just followed with Google Reader.
    lacavanaugh AT appleblossom DOT net

    ReplyDelete

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