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Today I’m launching something new! I was contacted by the lovely people at Adagio Teas and they proposed a rather fab idea; that I pair some of the books I read with their teas! Who doesn’t love a good cuppa when they curl up with a book so of course I jumped at the chance and my new feature ‘A Cup of Tea With…’ is born!

I must admit, to this point I’ve not been very adventurous when it comes to tea – its usually a good strong cup of the Yorkshire variety and the occasional foray into green or herbal teas so when I opened the box of samples that Adagio sent me, it was like stepping into a whole new world and I’m loving it and so are my tastebuds!

The Tea: Earl Grey Moonlight 

For this review I’ve paired Ashley Poston’s Geekerella with Adagio’s Earl Grey Moonlight.  This tea smells and looks amazing and I’m pleased to say it tastes just as good! It’s got a wonderfully creamy vanilla scent and was lovely to drink – I truly am converted! I chose to pair it with Geekerella partly because of the name – Moonlight fits perfectly both with the Cinderella and sci-fi fandom theme of the book and also  because this is such a clever surprising story and I felt the same about this tea

The Book: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Geekerella is one of my favourite books of the year so far. It’s quirky, funny, romantic and original and I fell in love with the two lead characters. This is a very clever retelling of the fairytale Cinderella – it stays true to the original story but is different enough to keep the reader guessing and I loved that it had a story within a story with the world of Starfleet and the story of Prince Carmindor.

Ashley Posten has created a new sci-fi fandom for this book; the Starfleet fans are as passionate, committed and loyal as any other fandoms and Starfleet with it’s ‘Look to the Stars. Aim. Ignite’ call to action sits believably amongst the scifi series’ like Starwars and Startrek that we know so well already. Ashley has crafted a fabulous and uplifting love letter to fans everywhere and I was enchanted by the story.

Seventeen year old Elle grew up on Starfleet. Her parents were superfans – her Dad even started his own Con dedicated to his passion. Having sadly lost both parents too young, we meet Elle as she is living with her stepmom and twin stepsisters in a miserable existence (you know the story).  Elle has a secret passion and is one of the leading Starfleet bloggers with her blog Rebelgunner read by thousands. When a big screen reboot of the series is commissioned and teen heart throb Darien Freeman is chosen to play the male lead Prince Carmindor Elle writes a scathing blog post in reaction sharing many fans’ thoughts that the producers have gone for heartthrob over a true believer.

Darien has his own set of problems. He’s recently found fame in TV series Sunset Cove but wants to break onto the big screen and Starfleet is the perfect way for him to do that but can he live up to the fans and his own expectations? Darien also has a secret; he’s a massive Starfleet fan; this is the role of his dreams but will his controlling father and the fickle movie industry let him be who he wants to be?

Narrated in turn by Elle and Darien, the story had me gripped and I so wanted them to both find their happy ever after! As the Cosplay contest approaches both will get a lot more than they bargained for! There are a lot of wonderful heartfelt truths in this book and it’s also a brilliantly diverse read with more than a few surprises up its sleeve as Elle enlists her Magic Pumpkin co worker (the brilliantly named Sage) to help her.

If you’re looking for a book that is sweet, geeky, romantic and clever, this is the one that you should be reading this summer!

5/5

Geekerella is out now in paperback and ebook formats from Quirk books.

Find out more about Ashley and her writing at: http://www.ashposton.com/

I’d like to thank Jamie for sending me a copy of this book to review.

I’d also like to thank Danielle at Adagio Teas for providing the tea that accompanied this review! Do check out the ‘Fandoms’ section of the Adagio website for some brilliantly fandom inspired teas: http://www.adagiotea.co.uk/signature_blend/fandoms.html