My name is Everly Swan, and I just moved home to Charm, North Carolina, a picturesque little seaside town in the outer banks. A lot of people know the islands as prime vacation destinations. To me, the area has always been home, and I’m thrilled to be back. I took an extended leave from island life when culinary school called, and to be honest there was a cowboy involved, but I don’t like to talk about that, and none of it worked out anyway, so here I am. Everly Swan: Proud owner of Sun, Sand and Tea, my very own seaside café and iced tea shop.
I was lucky enough to find my dream home for sale, at a price I could afford, at the exact moment I was looking to buy, and I jumped on it. How’s that for fate? My great aunts, Clara and Fran, would say things turned out this way because I’m cosmically destined to stay in Charm, thanks to a family curse, but I try not to put stock in legends and lore. Mostly because I don’t want to be cursed. Don’t get me started on the other things they believe about Swan women. . .
I live on the second floor of my massive Victorian home, and my café covers most of the first floor. I serve recipes from my family’s ancient cookbooks, with a little personal flair, and keep twenty flavors of iced tea on tap. I think folks are going to love it once they give it a try, and the best part of all is I get to spend my days doing what I love in cut off shorts and flip flops with an island breeze in my hair. Not too bad for a culinary school drop out!
I like to start my days with the sun. I pour a cup of coffee and take it onto the deck where I can watch the sun rise over the Atlantic in my jammies and chat with Lou. Lou’s a big gray and white seagull that came with the house. I’m honestly not sure if he ever really leaves or just flies back and forth between my roof and deck. Either way, I have a feeling he sees everything and knows more than he lets on. Lou’s not much of a conversationalist, but he’s an excellent listener, so we get along just fine. After the coffee, I don my running shoes and head for the boardwalk that runs between the beach and downtown Charm. I walk because I love the outdoors, but also to pacify a bossy little bracelet I like to wear. It beeps and blinks at me and makes ridiculous demands of my time like BE MORE ACTIVE. Sometimes I make faces at it, but the truth is I left for college in a size six, and returned in a twelve, so the bracelet has a point.
I end my walks in town with a trip to Blessed Bee, my great aunts’ honey bee shop where they sell products made with honey drawn from their personal hives and dried herbs and flowers from their extensive gardens. Clara and Fran are the latest two in a long line of Swan woman to do exactly that. My aunts love knowing that they’re carrying on a Swan tradition and playing their part in our history. In fact, my aunts consider themselves historians and love retelling “unwritten history” most. Those are the stories that rely on word of mouth to live on. I think it all equates to very old gossip, but they don’t like it when I say so. They also think my house is haunted, that the women in our family are cursed to stay on the island and that the men who love us will die sudden, untimely deaths, so. . . I guess I’m glad no one ever wrote that stuff down.
From there, I head home to shower and open Sun, Sand and Tea for lunch. Mine is a peaceful and fulfilling existence, or it was, until a man who liked to argue with me publicly every day wound up dead with my tea in his system. Now, I have to figure out what really happened before the entire island thinks I’m a killer and everyone boycotts my café. If Sun, Sand and Tea isn’t making money, I can’t pay my mortgage, and I refuse to watch my dreams go out with the tide. I just have to convince Grady Hays, Charm’s handsome new homicide detective, recent widow and single father, that I’m not a murderess and that he should let me help with the investigation. It won’t be easy. There’s a vein near his temple that seems to spasm when I’m around, and I caught him buying antacids two mornings in a row this week. Maybe I’ll be better off looking into this one on my own. . .
Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a signed paperback of Live and Let Chai. U.S. entries only, please. The giveaway ends September 25, 2018. Good luck everyone! Bonus Question: What is your favorite tea?
You can read more about Everly in Live and Let Chai, the first book in the NEW “Seaside Café” mystery series, published July 2018.
Trouble is brewing in Everly’s new café. Can she bag the culprit before it’s too late?
Life hasn’t been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now she’s back in her seaside hometown and the proud owner of a little iced tea shop and café right on the beach. Things are finally starting to look up – until a curmudgeonly customer turns up dead on the boardwalk. With one of her hallmark iced tea jars lying right next to him and an autopsy that reports poison in his system, it doesn’t look good for Everly or her brand-new business.
As the townspeople of Charm turn their backs on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could’ve had it in for the former town councilman. With a maddeningly handsome detective discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her business, it will take everything she’s got to keep this mystery from boiling over.
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Meet the author
Bree Baker is a Midwestern writer, obsessed with small town high jinks, sweet tea and the sea. She’s been telling stories to her family, friends and strangers for as long as she can remember, and more often than not, those stories feature a warm ocean breeze and recipe she’s sure to ruin. Now, she’s working on those fancy cooking skills and dreaming up adventures for the Seaside Café mysteries. Her debut title, Live & Let Chai releases from Sourcebooks in July 2018. Bree is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers and the Romance Writers of America. She is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
All comments are welcomed.
Sounds like an interesting premise for a series. I like the Outer Banks setting. Favorite tea is probably Darjeeling or Earl Gray.
I have read a libraray copy of this, but I would love to have my own! This is going to be a great series! I would love to live in this town and visit this adorable shop! I think my favourite iced tea would be peach. It says summer is here!
Thanks for the review & giveaway. I am looking for this book sounds funny & interesting. My go to is of course, being from Texas is sweet tea, but I really enjoy trying different kinds of tea.
A new series!!!!
Thank you for the giveaway!!!
I love Lapsang Souchong tea. It is a special treat. I hope there are tea recipes in the book.
I’m love sweet tea but in a quest to trim my weight, I drink a diet citrus green tea. Thanks for the chance.
Coincidentally, I adore chai. Lately, however, I’ve been drinking Lemon Ginger with probiotics 🙂
Sounds like a great cozy, thank you for the chance to win a copy.
wfnren at aol dot com
Peach is my favorite iced tea. (It pairs well with fun new books.)
Sounds like a great new series. Thanks for the giveaway.
This sounds great. My favorite tea is something that is called Christmas tea–it has cinnamon and cloves in it and is just right at the holidays.
I like the characters and the premise! I make ice tea with whatever we have an abundance of. Last time it was Constant Comment.
Charm sounds like a charming place, and LIVE AND LET CHAI sounds like a great cozy. Thanks for featuring A Day in the life of Everly Swan on your blog, Dru Ann ~
What a creative title. The cover is so enticing. Thank you for including this book on your blog. My fingers are crossed my name is chosen.
It sounds like great new (to me) series.
I like a Green Tea and one with a French Vanilla flavor.
Another new author and series to me. Would really like to read.
Sounds like a good read.
My very favorite tea is peppermint, especially on chilly mornings. I love the idea of different flavored ice teas! Thanks for the giveaway!
Sounds delightful.
What a delightful sounding book! Charm sounds like a place I’d love to visit. Who knew sea gulls were named things like Lou?!😊
Thanks for the chance to win a copy because I have to read this book one way or another!
Black tea (specifically PG Tips) is my favorite tea. I like vanilla chai, too.
This is a new author to me and I’m always happy to start a great new series from Book 1. The story sounds very interesting to me and I’d definitely like to read it. Thank you for the possibility of winning a copy. Congratulations to Bree on her new release and best of luck with everything.
I’d love to read this–ty for the giveaway! legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com
I love cozies and this one sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway.
This sounds like a great read! Thanks for the chance!!
I’m not a huge tea drinker but I do enjoy a cup of green tea with honey when I’m feeling under the weather.
Love the cover of this book! Thanks for the chance to win it!
This sounds absolutely amazing..I love books set in the Carolinas. Living in SC, my favorite is sweet iced tea!
I’ll ✔check this out it looks good 👍
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**** WINNER ****
Live and Let Chai is Toni Sprouse
Congratulations!