T(ea)BR

I have two big problems, and those are buying too many books and buying too much tea. The problem is, I love books, and I love tea, and books and tea just go together so well. It's not nearly as fun to read without a large pot of tea next to you, and sipping on tea without a book in your hand just feels incomplete. However, I also have the dual problem of buying books then never reading them, and buying tea even though I don't finish any.

To curb this problem, I've been trying to read every book I buy and finish a few containers of tea by at least Christmas of this year (if only so I can by more tea). Since books and tea go so well together, I've decided to make finishing off my tea more fun and less anxiety producing by thinking about the teas I will finish while I read certain books, because you have to have the perfect tea to go with the right book.

Here is my first round of book and tea pairings, which I should note all come from Teavana, because loose leaf tea is the best kind of tea and Teavana has a lot of sales, which is mostly how I end up getting four bags of tea instead of the one I went in for originally...

1. Anna and the French Kiss & strawberry rose blush

This sweet-sounding romance deserves an equally sweet, soft, pretty tea to go with it. Strawberry rose blush definitely fits the bill, with its light strawberry flavor and rose-infused goodness. I need a fluffy romance once in a while, plus I've been meaning to finally read a Stephanie Perkins book for a while now, so Anna and the French Kiss seems like a good way to go since if I like it there are two companion novels in PAPERBACK which means they won't be expensive to acquire yayyyyy!!

2. A Fierce & Subtle Poison and All the Wind in the World and winterberry

I love magical realism fiction, which is a little unfortunate for me because there's not a lot of that genre under the YA label. I've been meaning to read A Fierce and Subtle Poison since it came out because of the magical realism aspect and THAT COVER, and I won All the Wind in the World from the Goodreads giveaway, which I hadn't even known until the package came because the email I use for my account is from my old blog so I never check it anymore, so I got a lovely bookish surprise. 

Winterberry is a mixture that is partially made out of Teavana's strawberry lemonade tea. Strawberry lemonade seems like a very summery tea, which seems like a perfect fit for at least the tropical cover of A Fierce and Subtle Poison. And for me, winter always seems like such a magical season, so the name "winterberry" just fits with magical realism, which I'm sure will be a part of Samantha Mabry's second book, All the Wind in the World, as well.

2. Forever in Love and berry almond amaretto 

I have had an admittedly rocky relationship with this series. When I read the first book for a blog tour, I actually kind of hated it and had a lot of trouble coming up with positive things to say about it for the review. However, something about it must have stuck with me, because I was still compelled to read the sequel, Lost in Love, which I loved. I embraced the ridiculousness of the romances and ignored the fact that the characters' voices sound very similar and just enjoyed it for the romantic fluff it was. Plus, Lost in Love got some serious DRAMA, especially with that twist at the end.

In Forever in Love, I'm expecting the girls to wise up and shoot headlong into the slightly darker stuff, which definitely calls for a slightly darker, but still sweet tea. Berry almond amaretto is definitely the perfect tea for those vibes, since it's sweet with the berry but the almond kind of tempers the sweetness and gives it a bit of a darker flavor. I am super excited to read this one even though I have terrible series amnesia and only remember the cliffhanger ending of book 2, but hopefully I'll catch on soon once I start reading and enjoy it as much as the second book.