Tea for Two by Trish Perry

At first glance, I wasn't sure that my attention was going to be engaged by this book.  Tea for Two is a romance novel.  Pretty straight forward.  Counselor girl meets single dad of two difficult teenagers.  I have four teenagers, and I know how difficult it can be.  Sometimes I feel like our family is on a roller coaster, but in different sections; when one is up, someone else is down and someone else is holding their hands up in the air (never me).  So, Tea for Two almost felt like it should have been called Tea for Four because the problem children were very important characters, effectively nudging out a cozy twosome.  Not a big deal.

Millicent's Tea Shop and the town of Middleburg Virginia were prominent "character locations", but I'm not really sure that I felt the town of Middleburg- I didn't truly get that sense of being there that I look for when place is featured in a novel.  Especially if the author is going to write more books based on that particular place.  Although I did find myself craving tea and shortbread.

The characters felt real and I would like to compliment Trish Perry on her observant eye and listening ear.  I believed the somewhat everyday nature of the characters' plight- how to handle teenage rebellion, how to balance work, stress and relationships and I appreciated the heroine being a therapist who really knew her stuff.  Kind of a story AND therapy session together... ingenious!  I'm serious- by the end of the book,  I wanted to make an appointment with Tina Milano too.

I liked the Christian themes of healthy nonjudgmental fellowship, acceptance and that prodigals are always welcome home.  Isn't that how it should be?

If you like Debbie Macumber's books (I do) then I think you will enjoy Trish Perry's Tea for Two.

This week, the  Christian Fiction Blog Alliance  is introducing  Tea For Two  Harvest House Publishers (April 1, 2011)  by  Trish Perry  


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.  

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.

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