Brilliantly executed. It was intriguingly satisfying to read! It took everything I had to not put this book down. I can officially say that I experienced my first book hangover. I couldn't have picked a better book for it.

This historical fiction story is about 19 year old Gwendolyn who is newly married to a tea planter. Hence the title of the book.  She finds herself excited and delighted by the idea of her new marriage and her new life with him. She then finds herself tackling the issues of the 1900's and what it means to actually be married to a tea planter.

At first, I did the whole don't read a book by its cover thing.. I know I know.. what was I thinking?! Not only was the cover beautiful but the story was even more so. It tackles issues from the 1920's like racism, what a wife should appear to others as, and labor workers. Although it's filled with political and social issues that story doesn't steer away from Gwen and her marriage to a  influential tea planter. The author did a incredible job of intertwining important issues with love and the curiosity of Gwen. As much as Gwen wants her marriage to be all she hoped for and more, the author makes us want to root for them too.


*disclaimer: I received this book from the Blogging for Books  program in exchange for this review.

I decided after years of being in a rut creatively I would slowly work my way out of it taking small steps.
After being out of my little rut: I've come up with things I've learned that I now enjoy more partaking in.

1. Reading

whether its a ebook or a hardcover, I found myself gravitating towards reading more. I found my love for books again and forever escape into them when I need to. I've also learned that I gain a lot of inspiration of the characters I read about.

2. Social Media

Who knew? Well considering everyone and their mothers are connected online, I guess it wouldn't come to much of a shock. Its probably the one of the easier things that helped me.

3. Nature

I started going outside more to parks. I've always found that i gained inspiration from nature even before my rut. It become one of those tried and true things that helped because you knew it helped you before.

4. Photography

now this usually goes hand in hand with my nature walks. Something about experiencing something beautiful and getting to capture it for later is brilliant. With nature, you do not really have to set up a photo shoot or arrange things that are aesthetically  pleasing to the eye. It sort of already is.

are you like me and somehow always wait last minutes for stocking stuffers? you already got the main gifts but something about putting in something extra always completes it. well, because there's only  6 days left till Christmas; i summed up 6 last minutes gifts that you can give that are perfect and wont hurt your wallets.

For the Ladies:

its kinda weird to say since for most people started fall in sept. but if you live in California it hasn't felt like fall as of last night due to rain, oh yes, beautiful rain.