A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair

I bought this in the wake of Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes. It is definitely higher stakes than that one, but still relatively cosy as fantasy novels go. It is the first of a series. I will probably wind up reading more. An audiobook of this one is due out in December.

There is found family and figuring yourself out and a lot of stuff about tea, business, etiquette and local politics. Also, systemic oppression, classism, racism, refugees and disaster areas.

There is a lot to like about this, altho there is also a certain amount of excessively tight timelines, and the wrap up involves a whole lot of And Then The Heroine Gets This Prize and That Prize and All the Prizes. But that is fine. I am here for it. If this sounds like your, er, cup of tea, well, it is pretty easy to recommend. If it annoys you, I am sorry.

Efteling!

We got out the door around 9:45. I was aiming for 9:30 but missed slightly. We got all the dishes cleaned and put away and stripped the beds and took out the trash. We dropped off the keys. Go us!

I drove to Kaatsheuvel. We stopped once at a travel plaza to use the bathrooms and to get snacks out of the trunk. Upon arrival at Efteling, a little after 12:30 pm, we got paper printouts of the qr code for entry to the park and sent T. on his way. The rest of us puzzled out how to set up our Efteling accounts (I already had mine, obviously) and connect them as travel companions so everyone could access the room key, caro tickets, entry tickets. I had totally forgotten that I bought caro tickets, but that is Wednesday so no worries.

The three of us had sandwiches for lunch at the Eethuis. The beer was good and coffee was nice. We headed into the park. We went on Fata Morgana. The women are now wearing more clothes, and the tiger has been toned WAY down. Good for them!

Bobsled is gone, and has been replaced by a dual roller coaster, Max and Moritz. It has the swing-y character of the Mine Train ride, so it does not beat one up at all. Delightful! I love it! New favorite, especially with a short line.

We went on Symbolica, and did Music. I understand so much more of the Dutch, German and French that the fusty character is reciting rules in. Wow! Love this ride, so, so much. Got texts from S. about paying the babysitter. I venmo’d her money for the 2 weeks that the kids are not at School’s Out. I tried to get that figured before I left, but really there is only so much you can do.

We stopped for pastries before Symbolica. The appelflap is vegan!!! And fantastic!!! The double chocolate muffin is not vegan and is tasty but apparently not as tasty as the appelflap. R. got a fristi and A. liked it too. On the walk back, I placed a pizza, ribs and chicken nuggets order for 6 pm delivery. We got the car, found the cottage, unpacked and R. returned the car. Dinner arrived and we ate it. Half the pizza is left for R., and half the ribs for me. We went to the little shop and bought apple juice, fristi, spiced bread with nuts, more beer, some chocolate and crackers that A. found. Since they had no other bread, I ordered pastries for delivery in the morning, altho I am not sure when they will arrive, but no earlier than 8:15. Park opens at 10 for everyone, and at 9:30 for hotel guests. I will get up probably at 8 am.

T. did all but 3 rides and plans to get those tomorrow. This includes all the little rides on Anton Pieck Plein. !!! They would not let him do the pedal train by himself; you have to have a little kid with you to do that one. Ha!

There is a photopass, and I probably should have gotten it for T., but I was tired already and it would have involved arguing with him about setting up the Efteling app and he didn’t want to do that and honestly I just could not be bothered.