Part 2 Review of The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer

I just finished the book called The Teashop Girls, by Laura Schaefer. The beginning of the book was very interesting and really intrigued me. Annie, one of the main characters, seemed like a strong character who was going to make a difference in her community. Her grandmother's teashop, the Steeping Leaf, was in danger of being shut down because of high rent and not enough business. Annie and her two best friends Zoe and Genna decided to work together to find ways to save the shop from closing its doors forever. I imagined that they would come up with a creative and intelligent way to save the Steeping Leaf. I kept waiting page after page for some scheme but nothing really ever happened. The story never developed fully and kept bouncing back and forth between many different themes. While it was fun to read about Annie's secret crush on the other barista at the Steeping Leaf, it did not really fit with the rest of the book. It was distracting at times to read about the crush on Jonathan because I wanted to know what was going to happen with the teashop. It turned out that Annie was not the strongest character. Her relationship with her grandmother grew a tiny bit stronger after she made the effort to try and save the teashop. The author never developed the friendship among the three girls in a satisfying way. I have to admit that I was disappointed with the end of this book. It was hard at times to keep going because of the lack of focus and the bland bits of the book. One thing I really enjoyed were the quotes of famous people at the beginning of each chapter. I cannot recommend this book even though at times I enjoyed it. I think this book would be good for a reader who does not need just one theme that is developed during the course of the book. I decided to pick up the second book in this series called The Secret Ingredient and will read it. I am curious about it. Overall this book was an ok read, but it was definitely not one of my favorites.