Tea and Tales with Cate and Allison discussion

We want to welcome all new members to our book group! Say hi! Introduce yourself, share some facts and get to know each other! We'd love to get to know you. :)

Hi all, my name is Kimberly. I'm excited to be joining this Read Along, I've never done one before. It's actually on my 30 before 30 list to join a book club so this feels like a step in the right direction haha. I'm 28 years old, mother of a rambunctious 14 month old, married to the most amazing man I've ever known, a Christian, once again avid reader (took a long break prior to having my son).

Kimberly, thanks so much for sharing and introducing yourself! Welcome! :)
I'm so glad you decided to join our book group! This is a new endeavor for Allison and I. We've both been part of various bookclubs. But we wanted to start one of our own! I think this will be so much fun and a great place to meet new friends and read amazing books!

Hello, group. I'm Janay. This too, is my first book club, read along. I'm very excited to read with you guys and talk about BOOKS! Im an introvert who appreciates places like Goodreads and Instagram, to allow me to somewhat, be myself. I'm constantly reading and often make my family angry because I bring books with me wherever I go (and read while normal people would be having a conversation).

Welcome Janay! I absolutely love meeting fellow booklovers! This is the perfect spot for you! :) I hope you find our little book nook enjoyable! Plenty of books will be discussed and you can definitely be yourself! :D

I too have a habit of bringing books wherever I go. So many in fact that I have to carry an extra large purse! People call it my Mary Poppins bag!

So excited to discuss Mosquitoland and future reads with you! Xo

Excited to join, since I've never done a read along either! My name is Morgan, and I've only gotten back into reading in the past year. As a kid I always had my nose in a book and won my library's summer reading competition several times, but it all fell by the wayside when I went to college and had to read for classes instead of for fun. Happy to have finally picked reading back up in my 30s. I'm addicted to YA books now, and wish there had been as great of a selection of YA novels back when I was actually a teen!

Morgan, so glad you've gotten back into reading. I think you'll really have fun in this group and we plan to pick some great books to discuss each month, including fabulous YA fiction. I too am so glad YA fiction has picked up, and I also love how it is loved my adults as well as teenagers. Welcome to Tea and Tales! :)

HI! I'm Dory is what I go by and FishThatReads is my bookstagram and tumblr and email and everything on every platform for books :D. I started getting super hyped with reading just over a year ago when I started the Lorien Legacies. YA is what I love to read with a few steps out of the field for books likeAll the Light We Cannot See or A Darker Shade of Magic. And I'm currently dance typing to Jason Mraz :)

Thanks for sharing Dory! I love how energetic your post is! I just recently read All the Light We Cannot See and A Darker Shade of Magic. Both were excellent! We'll definitely be reading books like this for future months. We will also be creating polls so everyone in the group can help pick future reads. So excited to read this month's book with you as well as future reads. Xo

I am about 100 pages into ADSOM.. had to put it down to other book reasons. Its on my June TBR though. All THe Light We Cannot see is one i got my mum to reads and bought it for a friend.. its just so *tilts head into shoulder and grins*.

Thats awesome with the polls :) Looking forward to reading and discussing. Hopefully Ill be more active with this group. Which I will. Because the others are just too big. :D

I got my copy of ADSOM in the first Owlcrate monthly book subscription. I think I read it in a couple of days, I completely got lost in it. I loved the idea of the different London's. I think you'll enjoy it once you get back into it. :)

All the Light We Cannot See was a choice for another book club last month. I think it is definitely a great choice for a book club and would recommend it as such.

Yes! We definitely want this book club to feel inviting and cozy. We look forward to everyone participating in the discussion forums and in the book choices. It's going to be fun!!

Hey, I'm Bekah. I found my way to this group through Allison, whom I follow on Instagram (I'm @daxafina there) I am a mood reader, but have decided to at least casually join in some book clubs and whatnot, because they are a good way to be exposed to authors and books that might not have crossed my radar otherwise. :)

Bekah, so glad you introduced yourself! We plan on discussing and reading a variety of authors, books and genres. So hopefully this group will be right up your alley with your reading style. :) I've loved the books you've posted so far on GR and your reading lists. I've actually already added a few of yours to my own lists. I also hope you'll participate in the polls for future reads and recommend books to our readers. This I believe will expose everyone to great literature!

Hello Everyone! :)

I'm Casey from Alberta, Canada. I was invited to join this group by Allison, who I follow on Instagram and became friends with on Goodreads. I will definitely take any opportunity to connect with other fellow readers and book lovers! I love sharing my thoughts and discovering another aspect of literature through the perspective of others. My favourite genres to read are historical fiction and the nine year old Nancy Drew lover inside of me will always love a good mystery! Although I have been trying to read a lot more Classic and Canadian literature. My boyfriend likes to tease me because when I'm not reading or at the used bookstore in our town or the library, I'm perusing Instagram looking at pictures of books or on Goodreads reading about books. Other hobbies include knitting, bird watching, baseball, and curling and skating in the winter.

Happy Reading!

Hello new friends! I'm Tori and I'm so excited to join this book club which I also found through IG. I have always loved reading, but during college I stopped reading for pleasure. Over the past year I have started reading obsessively again and it has been lovely :] I love all different types of books, but recently I have been loving kids lit! I don't generally pick up too many YA books, but when I do it is always a great read so I'm VERY excited to jump into Mosquitoland!

ps. Jayna and Caite I also always carry a book with me wherever I go because you never know when a spare moment might appear and you can read a few extra pages :]

Casey, so glad you joined on both IG and GR. From what you wrote in your introduction I think you'll be a perfect fit for our discussions. I look forward to your insight and thoughts as we discuss! Historical Fiction is probably my favorite genre as well! And I do love a good mystery or thriller. I've actually been in the process of reading an Agatha Christie novel a month. On her official site they highlight one of her books each month, and I've been trying to keep up!. I absolutely love your hobbies! Thank you again for sharing! :)

Welcome Tori! College can do that! I too struggled to read for pleasure amongst all my required reads and paper writing. So glad we're both back in the reading world! :) There are so many great YA books to choose from recently, I too find a natural draw towards this genre.

I love that you also carry around a book - it really is funny how often you can sit and read for a moment while you're out and about. I am always so grateful for those packed books! Xo

Hi everyone! I'm grace. I'm excited to join in on a read along - this is my first! I briefly joined a local book club but it wasn't a good fit for me, so I'm excited to give this a try. I can't say that I have one specific genre of choice as I get really interested in one topic and read all about it until I get tired of it, and then I find something else to read. I generally am reading 3-5 books which are a mix of fiction and non-fiction. After college, I took a break from reading for fun as well, but now I read constantly, and always have my Kindle on me, if not a physical book. I'm excited to "meet" and discuss Mosquitoland with all of you!

Grace, we're so glad you joined our group! We'll make sure to include a variety of reads so every genre and reading style is addressed. I find myself wandering all over genres as well. I think I just have a thirst for knowledge and reading! I normally am a "hard copy of a book" person but the last year I've really gotten into eBooks on my iPad, especially while traveling. I always struggled to figure out how many books I should pack (so I don't run out of reading material) and how many books I could actually carry in my suitcase without going over weight limits. :) Even though I still prefer real books I do enjoy the versatility of electronic copies.

I hope you enjoy discussing and getting to know people in this group. We really want this to be an enjoyable experience and hopefully find some great reads you can discuss here as well as outside the book club.

Welcome!

Hi ladies (and guys)! My name is Sarah, I am 23 (five days shy of 24), a graphic designer and writer, and a Memphis native. I love so many kinds of books that it's hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to say that Edgar Allan Poe is my favorite author. I haven't read anything of Poe's I haven't enjoyed, but "Annabel Lee" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" are my favorite of his short stories. Looking forward to getting to know you all and reading along with you!

Sarah, thanks so much for introducing yourself! Poe is a favorite of mine as well! I'm so glad you've joined our group. I look forward to your comments and participation in the discussions. :)

Hi everyone! I am Lisa and this is my first readalong too, and I also found the group through insta. So excited to get started with you ladies!

Lisa, welcome to our group discussion! I hope you'll enjoy Mosquitoland! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book! :)

Hey hey everyone! This is your other moderator, Allison, and I may be a little late to the intro party, but I am so happy to finally be here with all of you! This started out as a little dream Cate and I were talking about one day on Instagram, and it's since grown to all of this. We couldn't be more thrilled, and we're thankful for all of you who've joined us!

I've been a book lover for as long as I can remember. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on as a kid (except Nancy Drew - I could never understand the appeal), and I even wrote a few "books" of my own. Needless to say, it was a no-brainer to study English when I got to college (you can major in books?? what??), and when that wasn't enough, I went on to got my MA in English and Comparative Literature. PHEW!

After all of that, I needed a break from my intensive academic book reading, which usually kept me pretty firmly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. And this is when I rediscovered pleasure reading. All of a sudden, I could choose what I wanted to read, and I wanted to read everything! Historical fiction, nonfiction, YA, dystopian YA, Pulitzer Prize winners, and so much more. Since then, I haven't stopped, and if you're ever wondering what I'm up to, it's probably reading. Or writing. I'm currently trying to finish up my first "real" book (!!!).

Like many of you, I cannot leave the house without a book. In fact, my one requirement of any handbag or tote is that it is big enough to hold my wallet, my chapstick, my journal, and a book. If it can hold other stuff, that's great. But if it can't hold a book, no dice. I can't not have at least one book on me!

I've been a part of a few other book clubs, including one I started in the last city I lived in (leaving that group was so hard!). I recently joined a new book club in my area, and so far, I'm loving it. I've never been in on online book club/read along, so I'm excited to take this journey with all of you and see where it takes us!

As always, HAPPY READING!!!

I'm Allie, I'm 27 and am currently living in Virginia (though I'm really from Texas). I met Allison when we were both blogging for Weddingbee! I love reading most anything (except horror and fantasy, most of the time), and I'm in several book clubs, both IRL and online. I try to limit myself to reading only two books at any given time, but I fail often at this.

I can't guarantee I'll read along every month, but I love discussing books and discovering new ones!

Allie, thank you so much for sharing! Welcome to our group. I too try to limit myself to two books at a time (a daytime book and a night-time book) but it seems I'm always adding something else to my reading list! Feel free to join in on any of the discussions. We will be introducing a polling system for future reads. You may even find you have a book that is being read in more than one of your book clubs. I wish you a very warm welcome! :)

Hi everyone! Sorry for my late post! My name is Loryn and I'm the Teen Services Librarian for the San Leandro Public Library. We just kicked off our Summer Reading Program today, so to say it's been busy around my library is an understatement!!

This is my first online book group like this. I actually used to work with Allison at SLPL when she was living here in San Leandro, I'm so glad to see all that she's been up to! I'm excited for this challenge and can't wait to discuss the book with everyone!

Hi everyone! I'm Anne, and I'm from the Philippines. This is the first time I'm joining a readalong in Goodreads, and I'm pretty excited!

I'm friends with Allison and Cate over in IG (They're my Bookstagram favorites!) and I love reading and discussing books!

I read almost anything but mostly horror and fantasy, and also contemporary, YA, dystopian YA, Newbery and Pulitzer Prize winners, and so much more.

Loryn, thank you so much for sharing! We are glad you've joined our group. :) I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts on the books we read.

Best of luck with your Summer reading program!

Anne, I'm so glad you joined here on Goodreads as well as IG. I have loved getting to know you in the bookstagram community.

So excited to see what you think of Mosquitoland! I understand you've already finished.

We'll make sure to get all the great genres you've listed included in our monthly read alongs. Xo

Hi I'm Shari or @myneuroticbookaffair on instagram. I have always loved to read and have luckily passed that love on to my two teenage daughters and they passed on a love for YA books to me. I carry a book with me everywhere and if I'm not reading I'm probably wishing that I was. So happy to be joining you all this month!

Shari, welcome to our book club! I'm so excited for you to join and to enjoy the books we choose each month. I look forward to getting to know you better. And, I love that you carry around a book wherever you go too!

Welcome! Xo Catie

Hello there, my name is is Kelly Stevens and I live in Maine. My best friend and I joined because her and I share the love of books and like reading the same book at the same time lol .. Sort of like a minibook club . I'm looking forward to making new book obsessed friendships .. Thanks for the opportunity
Kelly

Hello there, my name is is Kelly Stevens and I live in Maine. My best friend and I joined because her and I share the love of books and like reading the same book at the same time lol .. Sort of like a minibook club . I'm looking forward to making new book obsessed friendships .. Thanks for the opportunity
Kelly

Hi everyone! My name is Sandra, I live in South Texas. I am new to GR but I have been following through Instagram thanks to my friend Karina. I'm so happy to have other fellow book lovers to discuss books with. I cannot tell you how excited and happy I am to reignite my love for books! I'm ready for this month's novel. Happy ready, everyone!

Hi! My name is Tara and I'm a Canadian soapmaker whose favourite part of the day is my morning coffee and book. I joined Goodreads in January and found this group through two members that I follow on Instagram. Now I'm anxiously waiting to receive this month's book from the library. Looking forward to it!

Kelly,
Welcome to the book club! I'm so glad you and your friend joined! I hope you'll enjoy the books we read and have as much fun chatting and getting to know everyone as I have! Xo Catie

Sandra, welcome welcome! So glad you found us and have gotten back into reading again! I hope we can keep that love of reading alive. I also hope you'll enjoy participating and even helping us to pick future reads. We want to make sure every genre and interest is an option. So glad you're part of this book club! :)

Hi Tara! So glad you found our book club and thank you for introducing yourself! I hope you'll enjoy discussing the books we choose. How To Build A Girl should be an interesting read and discussion. Can't wait for you to start reading. Make sure to let us know if you have books that you'd like us to put on the list. We plan on making the book choices each month ones that everyone will enjoy and be excited to read. Welcome! Xo Catie

Welcome, welcome to all of our new members! It is so nice to e-meet you, and I can't wait to get to know you all better in the coming months!

Hello, everyone. It's nice to meet all of you. The read along has been fun! Mosquitoland, was fun and a goodread. For those who may have joined late, my name is...Lets just go with, Ja' for those who're not affiliated with the group and TROLL people's profiles for weird reasons (My apologies. My two girls are obsessed w/Minecraft). Hence, the troll comment.

I look forward to the next read along.

Ja'

Goodreads: paperback (I forget if I put any numbers at the end of that.

Instagram; Freckledbibliophile

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Hi everyone! I'm excited to join this group. I'm so happy to have found Cate and Allison and this group through Instagram. My name is Katie and I am a work from home mom to two daughters. I run my own screen printing business on Etsy, but I really wish someone would pay me to read all day. :) I was part of a book club years ago, but all my book club people moved away and I miss it sooo much! Nice to meet you all!

(On Instagram: @thornfieldhall)

Katie, I have absolutely loved getting to know you on IG and can't wait to get to know you better here on Goodreads, our book group and while discussing books. I'm so glad you're joining us! Xo

Hey everyone,
This would be my first book group, and I am excited to be a part of it. I'm a step parent to three girls and somehow manage to find time to myself to read every now and again. I'm excited to see what suggestions and discussions come from this and look forward to getting to know all of you!

Hi Stephanii :) glad you joined

Hello everyone! I found Allison today by browsing around Instagram and started stalking her feed and found this group. Can't wait to see what you guys are reading in September, as I just finished a book today and will be ready for another. :)

My Instagram (and most everywhere else as well) name is girlvsplanet.

Sheryl,
So glad you found Allison and joined our group! We'll be posting September's read tomorrow. Don't forget to vote on the poll. We have some great choices! Excited to get to know you better. :)

Hey all! I think I may be the oldest here (I'm in my 40s), but I assure you that I'm young at heart. ;) I mostly enjoy classics and mysteries, but I'm also a HUGE Harry Potter fan and am slowly getting in to Percy Jackson series as my son enters his teen years. (Yikes!) I also love collecting children's books (classic literature as well as picture books), and have been doing that since before my kiddo was born. I found this group through the Instagram community, where I go by "PagesAndCup."

Hi!

I'm a friend of Sheryl's, she joined recently as well. I'm a 27 year old stay at home mama who reads to stay sane ;-) ! Looking forward to reading with everyone. My handle is indiana_mama on instagram/twitter.

Welcome welcome to all of you newbies who've found your way here! We're so delighted to have you and can't wait to get to know you better! Don't forget to vote in the September book poll. We're going to announce the book tomorrow!