The Perfect Blend

Welcome to The Perfect Blend. This week's book is Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman .  Four individuals who live in Cooper's Chase Retirement Home and meet each week in the Jigsaw Room to discuss and try to solve unsolved murders.   Shelly's tea (is DELICIOUS!):   Tropical Chamomile Dreams by Caribbean Fusion Sauces and Spices Loose Tea Candy's tea (also yummy):   Peppermin...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend. March is all about murder mysteries and we are springing forward with Betsy Reavley's Murder at the Book Club .   Nine women get together for tea and cake and a book discussion.  All friends, on the surface at least.  Until one of them is murdered and secrets start to come out....   *We give away some spoilers in this episode, so be forewarned. &nb...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Young, beautiful, talented and untethered by the usual conventions, Daisy Jones is on her way to stardom when she partners with the band The Six.  In a rockumentary interview style, Taylor Jenkins Reid characters revisit their past as a rock and roll band experiencing the wild and groovy 70s.  To celebrate the launch of Daisy Jones and The Six on Netflix, we...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend. We are going back to London in the 1800's- we can't seem to get enough of this time period- to talk about Things in Jars by Jess Kidd .  We are blending the phantasmagoric mystery full of intrigue, kidnappers, ghosts and Irish folklore with Connemara Kitchen 's Irish Tea and Tin Roof Tea 's Einstein's Equation.  Jess Kidd brings together a history, a mystery...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Shelly and I are exploring Laurie Lico Albanese 's book Hester.  We must really love Salem because we keep revisiting, and every time we go back we learn so many new things!  Albanese brings together some historical characters and adds some new twists to the Salem Witch legacy.  Hester is the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet Letter and you...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! February is going to feature all things dark and not-so-romantic here on the podcast.   We are kicking off with Sarah Penner's debut novel The Lost Apothecary.   Sipping Wild Iris and honey lemon teas, Shelly and Candy go back and forth in time exploring London England and some mysteries and miseries shared by some ladies 200 years apart.   Settle...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! We decided to wrap up our time travel month with Elizabeth Howell's The Science of Time Travel:  The Secrets Behind Time Machines, Time Loops, Alternate Realities, and More! The exclamation point is hers, not ours.  To find out why, grab yourself a cup of tea, get comfy and download this episode. Shelly's tea:   Trailhead Huckleberry from Winterwoods Te...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Matt Haig's beautiful book The Midnight Library is our feature this week.  Find out what we thought and what we paired it with on this week's episode. Shelly's tea:  From our first teaventure- Tea and Sympathy.  Taylor's of Harrorgate Organic Peppermint Candy's tea:  From Quintin's Tea- Southern Virginia Tea Company. Spicy Chai Connect with us on I...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Everything's all kay in the world with time travel agents zipping and zagging to save us all from our impending doom.  Throw in a gal whose timeline creates no ripple effect leaving her free to jump in and out without any clusterfarms.   Sam Bowring  made us laugh out loud with this time travel book.  We are looking forward to reading the next one...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! We are diving into time travel this month starting with Kate Mascarenhas ' book The Psychology of Time Travel.  It's a great dip back and forth in time as well as a murder mystery..... We visited the Southern Virginia Tea Shop to find something good to pair it with- Shelly chose Winter Wassail by the Yaupon Brothers and Candy found a Jet Lag Asleep. Both teas wer...

✨Bonus Episode✨ Welcome to The Perfect Blend and Happy New Year from Shelly and Candy🥳🪩 We have added an extra episode to wrap up our first (short) year of podcasting.  To celebrate, we chose Ami McKay's Half Spent Was the Night.  It's the perfect book to share on New Year's Eve and we are delighted to end our year with an author that got us started on our journey. We paired our book...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Gabrielle Zevin's sweet novel is just the thing to warm your heart and take a restorative break after all the holiday festivities.   To learn more about the author:   Gabrielle Zevin Shelly's tea   August Uncommon Tea Biarritz Candy's tea Asheville Tea Company Hibiscus Mojito Find independent bookstores here . ***Don't forget we are adding a specia...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! 'Tis the season and what better time than to read a new take on A Christmas Carol!  R. William Bennett's Jacob T. Marley is a look at Marley and what happened before and after his visit to Scrooge in the classic story.  Add this to your Christmas reading list and you'll keep Christmas in your heart all the year. R. William Bennett Shelly's tea:   Rosie...

Welcome to our Twisted Tea talk!  We delve into our first series murder mystery book and we are both looking for our next one. Not only does this books have tea, lots of yummy food, recipes - we got to travel vicariously to South Carolina.  <sigh>     Laura Child:  http://www.laurachilds.com Shelly's tea:  Bold Black Chai from Republic of Tea https://www.re...

Welcome to the Perfect Blend! It's time to deck your shelves with some seasonal reads!  We're talking about James Patterson and Tad Safran's The Twelve Very Messy Topsy-Turvy Days of Christmas.  If you've read it, please let us know what you thought about it! James Patterson:  https://www.jamespatterson.com Tad Safron: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1475075/ Shelly's tea:  https:/...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Our book is Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan Lake.  We wanted to finish up November with another North Carolina based read and this one was perfect! Links to some of the  things we mentioned: Joy Jordan Lake:  https://www.joyjordanlake.com/behind-the-scenes-gilded-moon Low Country Tea:  https://august.la/products/low-country?_pos=1&_sid=e94968...

Have you ever overdone it at a holiday dinner?  Maybe you’ve tested the tenacity of your stretchy pants and are feeling the tryptophanic trance as you tilt yourself into the recliner praying you’ll be able to bend enough to get up for dessert. Shelly and I are here to the rescue with some tea blends to have on hand for you and your company so you can enjoy your feasting without too much disco...

Welcome to the Perfect Blend! In this episode, Candy and Shelly continue to explore books set in North Carolina and share their thoughts on Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain.  They are intrigued by the mystery of Anna Dale, a 1940's artist selected to do a post office mural, who went missing. They discuss the power of art and how the characters move past  tragic events....

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! Shelly and I picked a favorite that our good friends recommended.  Thank you Kathy and Mary! Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen takes place in our stomping grounds of North Carolina.  We thought it'd be nice to feature some stories from our neck of the woods.  As far as we are concerned, anything gardens and magic is a win as far as books go.  We...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! This week we are discussing The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.  It's a definite turn from what we have shared in October, but it's always good to stretch your reading chops and try new things.  This wasn't a happy joy story.  In fact, we wrestled with some of the characters and their choices.  My goodness, not the typical homecoming you'd expect. &nb...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! This week's featured book is Douglas Adam's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.   We are both big fans of his work and were delighted to feature him for our final October book selection.  We've paired our story  with some delicious blends from Norskk and August Uncommon Teas. Candy's tea from Norskk:  https://norskk.com/nordic-red-tea Shelly's...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend!  Oh, how we love Alice Hoffman-  Today's episode we are talking about her book  Magic Lessons.  We love the whole series, but this is our favorite.  We've paired our book with Courage Tea from Holli P. at the Bohemian Tea Peddler: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BohemianTeaPeddler?ref=search_shop_redirect&section_id=33629392.   Delightful a...

Welcome back to The Perfect Blend! This week we are discussing one of our favorite October authors- Ray Bradbury and his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes.  We've paired our book with teas from August Uncommon Teas and David's Teas. Shelly's Jet Black:  https://august.la/products/jet-black?_pos=1&_sid=6ac8fb06e&_ss=r Candy's Butterscotch Chai:  https://www.davidstea.com/...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend! For our very first book, we have chosen The Witches of New York by Ami McKay (amimckay.com).  This is the book that inspired it all. Join us as we discuss the book and share our takeaways, interesting asides and sip some lovely tea from the shop Tea and Sympathy in New York City.  If you are interested in ordering some lovely tea from them, here is the link...

Welcome to The Perfect Blend!  This is the trailer for our podcast about the perfect blend of books and tea.