Gain Access The Color Of Tea Assembled By Hannah Tunnicliffe In Digital Copy

and beautiful. This book is set in Macau, so ticks the box for China in the sitelink for An Around the World Reading Challenge.

I have been sick this weekend so yesterday I hauled myself up in bed with this book that I picked up in a charity shop in Honolulu late last year and lots of fluids.

Its a bit chic litish, but it also touched on some pretty large issues such as the mistreatment of "domestic maids" from the Philippians.
There were a lot of cultures in this one: English, French, Australian, Filipino, and Chinese,
On the whole I enjoyed this book, it is about tea and cake after all! I enjoyed it even though dare I say this it's a woman's women's book, : I was very interested in the premise, but less thanpages in, there was already talk of bulging members, Nope. Not going there. The Colour of Tea is the first novel by New Zealandborn author Hannah Tunnicliffe, Set in presentday Macau, this novel tells the story of Grace Miller who is trying to come to terms with some devastating news that will change the future she thought she had.
Her marriage is fraying and she is having difficulty holding her life together, Finally, she makes a bold move, something her Mama might have done: she opens a small café, where she serves tea and macarons, As it grows in popularity, she encounters other broken souls and finds friendship and the beginning of fulfilment, But then her husbands uncharacteristic act threatens her happiness, and old ghosts come to haunt her, I found Grace, at first, rather selfindulgent, selfpitying, but her character grew on me, so that, by the end, I was completely absorbed in her story.
As the story progressed, we kept getting hints of her life with her mother, which obviously influenced her behaviour and kept the reader entranced.
This novel has an original plot, some wonderful characters and authentic dialogue, Tunnicliffe touches on the sense of where you belong and also on the plight of migrant Filipino workers in Macau, This is a wonderful, evocative novel that is reminiscent of those by Barbara ONeal, I thought that using macaron names and descriptions as chapter headings which echoed events in that chapter was a delightful touch, A remarkable first novel. Can not go on with this, The scenario behind this was promising but I can barely keep my eyes open trying to read this, Story Description:

ScribnerJune,Trade PaperbackISBN:

Macau: the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a threebead 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 city 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, Graces 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 open a café where she serves tea, coffee, and macaroons, the delectable, delicate French cookies colored liked 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 its 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 macaroon baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.


A delicious, meltinyour mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, THE COLOUR OF TEA is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal,

My :

Grace and Pete Miller have moved to Macau for Petes job and they are dealing with some devastating news that affects their relationship deeply and they avoid talking about the issue pushing a wider wedge into their marriage.


Grace is also dealing with leaving her mother, Lillian, and hasnt seen or communicated with her in quite some time except for the letters she writes to her about remembrances of time together, but she never sends them.


Growing bored and needing something to do instead of sleeping around the clock, tossing down sleeping pill after sleeping pill to mask her emotions, she decides to open a café.
She calls it “Lillians” and her biggest seller is the beautiful and tasty macaroons she bakes, Her greatest passion is serving afternoon tea and baking the macaroons that look like semiprecious stones, Soon she carves out a place where she feels completely safe and comfortable among the expatriates and locals she befriends, Things are finally running along smoothly for Grace until Pete confides something that completely turns her world upsidedown,

Eventually Grace realizes that she simply cannot continue in the mindset she is in and learns that strength, independence, love, and families can come from the unlikeliest of places.


One of the things I loved about this novel, aside from the beautifully written story, was the use of very decadent French names for her “macroons” as chapter headings.
How utterly clever and delicious! An added love to this story was the fact that Hannah Tunnicliffes talent for writing had me totally lost and mesmerized in Lillians Café.
I really felt that I was sitting inside the café and could see, hear, and feel everything going on around me, I was a single observer seated at a table watching and listening it was an incredible experience!

For a debut novel this was bang on and Hannah Tunnicliffe is an author to watch!

I pulled The Color of Tea off the new arrivals shelf at the library during a quick scan before catching up with my son in the childrens section.
The lovely front cover caught my eye first, and then words like Macau and café and macarons jumped out at me from the back cover, making me think this might be an enjoyable read for one of the last weeks of summer.
I hardly expected a random pick to turn out to be such a wonderful excursion, not only to a foreign land, but into the human heart as well.


Grace Miller arrives in Macau with her husband Pete, who is in charge of construction on a new casino, They have no children, although not for lack of trying, and shortly after their arrival, Grace receives the news that her chances of becoming pregnant are gone, chased away by premature ovarian failure.
Worn out from the battle with infertility, she sinks into a depression that even Pete cant break through,

She is eventually drawn back into life and rediscovers her love of food, culminating in the opening of Lillians, where she sells coffee and tea and sandwiches and, most especially, the delicate macarons that her mother introduced her to years ago when they lived in Paris.
As she opens herself up to the life she is making for herself with the café, she begins to develop friendships with some of the women who cross her path, as well as exploring her troubled memories of her mother.


It is not clear whether her marriage will revive in the same way as the other areas of her life, but the stress of avoiding the pain they have both been through finally pushes both Pete and Grace to the breaking point, forcing them to decide whether they will turn towards each other or walk away completely.


I love so many things about this book that it is hard to know where to start, The setting is exquisite, both in terms of the sights and sounds of Macau and the textures and aromas of the café, The characters are richly drawn and revealed gradually as the relationships deepen, so true to life, Even the male characters show us multiple facets of their personalities, rather than being relegated to the background of the womens lives,

Although I do have to admit that I am weary of the seemingly ubiquitous bipolar mother in contemporary novels, Tunnicliffe handles Graces memories of her mother in a way that isnt too maudlin or selfpitying, with Grace composing imaginary letters in her head to her mother like a sort of journaling.
These compositions serve as a reflection of the journey Grace is making towards owning her own life and being open to the possibilities of good things coming out of bad.


I feel like I have only scratched the surface in trying to convey how much this book has touched me, and I can only hope that you will pick it up and discover it for yourself.
I received a copy of The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe through the Goodreads Giveaway contest,

This is the first novel by New Zealandborn author Hannah Tunnicliffe, I was very impressed. It was well written, and I found myself snuggled up on the sofa this afternoon reading this book, I would classify this novel as a chick lit, Set in presentday Macau, this novel tells the story of Grace Miller who is trying to come to terms with some terrible news that will change the future she thought she had.
Her marriage is falling apart and it takes all of her energy to hold her life together, Finally, she makes a bold move, something her Mama might have done: she opens a small café, where she serves tea and macarons, As the cafe grows in popularity, she encounters other broken souls and finds friendship and satisfaction, But then her husbands does something to threaten her happiness, I found that I was completely absorbed in her story, All along we keep getting hints of her life with her mother, which obviously influenced her behaviour and actions, I thought that using macaron names and descriptions as chapter headings was a original idea, I found myself after I finished the novel, looking up recipes for macarons, tea biscuits and scones, I think I might bake tonight! A very enjoyable read, I think the author got paid a bonus each time she used the word "macaron, " Not only was I tired of hearing about macarons in every other sentence, I wasn't impressed with the writing style, The main character is unsympathetic and the other characters aren't well developed, The plot is unbelievable and wraps up too neatly in the end,

Can't recommend this one, Für Grace bedeutet das Leben in Macao Loslassen und Neubeginn, Es wird Zeit für sie, sich mit ihrem vergeblichen Wunsch schwanger zu werden abzufinden und ihrem Leben einen neuen Sinn zu geben, Kurzentschlossen eröffnet sie in Macao ein Café,
Wer bei dem Cover und der Kurzbeschreibung an einen netten, unterhaltsamen Frauenroman denkt, wird schnell eines Besseren belehrt, Es ist nicht die heile Welt von Macarons backen und Tee trinken, die ich erwartet habe, Hier gibt es handfeste Probleme, die sich durch das ganze Buch ziehen,
Obwohl ich mir von dem Cover etwas anderes erwartet hatte, gefiel mir das Buch sehr gut, Der Schreibstil ist sehr schön und hat mich sofort eingefangen, Ganz nebenbei erfährt man einiges über das Leben in Macao und wie man Macarons backt,

Fazit: Wer nur eine heile Welt sucht, wird mit dem Buch nicht glücklich werden,
When it comes to tea, I'm all about it, and that includes books, There is something familiar about tea that makes it so appealing around the world,

I enjoyed this book, Set in Macau with a diverse populace for a Chinese island, the story weaves the lives of Gracebarren wife with a rocky marriagewith a small cadre of women who change her into the secure and confidant woman she becomes.
Her cafe brings these women together with macarons and teaa match made in heaven, The characters are well constructed and you share the ride with Grace's ups and downs,

As in most books these days, there are depictions of romanticized sex, but not too badnothing I find in most books these daysand not enough to distract from the storyline.


If you are drawn to the melding of disparate lives into a solid, real friendship, then you will enjoy this book, This book drew me in in a slow, decadent kind of way, Each chapter was like a tasting but of stories rather than foods, Elegant and quietly lovely, I will be adding this one to my shelves of favourites, I have never tried a macaron, but now I must try one after reading this book, if I can be lucky enough to find this delicate French pastry! Yes, France is where Grace first falls in love with the macaron, not to be confused with a chewy, coconut macaroon, as the two are completely different.
I had to look up the two as I was a little confused about a macaroon and a macaron, plus I had to find the pronunciation, as I was and curious, too, to see if they were two separate pastries!
I went to Wikipedia to try to distinguish if these were two different items or one that America spelled incorrectly.
The macaron that was in this book is described at this LINK: sitelink wikipedia. org/wiki/Macaron
The confectionery is characterised by its smooth, squared top, ruffled circumference referred to as the "foot", and flat base.
It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth,
And as this:
The fillings cana range from jams to ganache to butter, Since the English word macaroon notice the double O's can also refer to the coconut macaroon, many have adopted the French spelling of macaron to distinguish the two items in the English language.
However, this has caused confusion over the correct spelling, Some recipes exclude the use of macaroon to refer to this French confection while others think that they are synonymous,
You'll notice "I" underlined and noted above the double o's for macaroon,
The macaron is not spelled incorrectly, but is completely different from the macaroon here in America, The macaron is entirely French,
The photos on the front of the book look exactly as the one did at Wikipedia for the French pastry, With that explained, and so no one mixes up the macaron in this book with the American macaroon, onto the review!
It took me forever to read this book.
Months. It was not a book that grabbed me and drew me into 'wanting or needing to read it, ' For myself, it was not a 'must read' book, It was enjoyable, but I did not feel the book pull me in where I had to read this story, Had I not felt as if I had to read it, I probably would have put it down, The beginning of the book was very slow and depressing, but I believe it was written this way intentionally, to show the depression that Grace was suffering through over the reality that she would never be able to bear children.
This debut author very much succeeded in what she was trying to do,
I also have a personality differences between myself and the main character, which made it harder for me to relate to this delicate, sad, soft spoken character.
I prefer a stronger character than Grace was, but I continued on, and happily, the character does becomes that stronger character in her own way.

Grace decides she would like to open a cafe in Macau making macarons, a delicate French pastry, She meets with a man, Leon, whom she knows from living in Paris, Leon loves Grace, and Grace finds herself liking him very much as well, but she realizes it's more for the love of the macaron and she has to put a distance between them.
She learns alongside him the intricacies of baking the macarons and getting them just right, There is a talent to making these just right, She perfects it and opens the cafe, calling it Lillian's, after her own mother, Once she opened Lillian's, her French cafe serving tea and macarons in China, the shop becomes bustling with customers and energy, Grace becomes a completely different person, She becomes much stronger, more confident of herself, much happier, able to be a boss and direct people to do things and more, She realizes she is happy, For the first time she is truly happy, all thanks to Lillian's, Lillian's made her face any fears and loss she had in life making her become whole,
I have to mention this author's style of writing, It is very beautiful. It is prose, thought and then very descriptive, all mixed together in the way Grace talks about her life, her husband, her friends Gigi and Rilla, writes letters to her mother and even the way the author names the chapters of the book, such as The' Pour Deux Tea for Two/Pink Earl Grey Infused with Dark Chocolate Ganache.
Every chapter is titled in this way, In some ways her writing is almost poetic at times in the way she describes many things, from the Chinese New Year, down to the french macaron and the way it is crisp at first, softens as it melts in your mouth and then the flavor explodes to life in your mouth at the exact time it's supposed to as a macaron should.

She also writes like this about the places she has lived, Macau, the people of Macau, and and in the apologetic letters written to her mother as Grace feels somewhat guilty for the way she left her mother, the way she did it, the words she used when she was younger, and in a beautiful way, asks for her forgiveness in these letters.
It is very special as you read this, as you can also see Grace's growth as a person as she writes the letters, never fully coming out and telling her mother what has happened, but describing them in a different perspective.
These letters were healing for Grace,
Grace is devastated by something that happens in her marriage, and finds she must climb out of this, too, She puts some of the blame of it on herself, where I had a hard time with that, Grace's character is a very forgiving character, and when it comes to a vow being broken in marriage the way it was, I am not as forgiving a person as Grace is regarding it, and she even puts some of the blame on herself as to what happened, where I would have played it over and over in my mind and not blamed myself.
The character really did struggle to overcome this and forgive him, but I could not have forgiven and gotten over it the way she did and I might even have left the marriage because of it.

Overall, in the end she found herself a completely different person than the person she was when she arrived in Macau, She was a better person for herself, her close friends she made, and her husband, The ending was beautiful, but predictable, I was disappointed with that, It was almost a fairy tale ending you could see coming to easily,
Overall, this book was a very delicate book just like tea and macarons, but strong in taste as tea can be, and just as macarons are supposed melt slowly and burst into it's flavor on your tongue.
If you love tea and delicate pastries, this book will be very much appreciated if you can get past a few of these things I mention.

I received this book for FREE from the Publisher, Scribner Books, a Division of Simon and Schuster, in exchange to read and write a review about it.
It is NOT required for this review to be either positive or negative, but, of my own honest opinion, “Free” means I was NOT provided with ANY MONIES to read this book nor to write this review, but to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading the book.
I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade CommissionsCFR, Part, sitelink access. gpo. gov/nara/cfr/wa
Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,
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