The Tea Drinker’s Guide to Adventure

Three friends in their 60s embark on a fulfilling adventure in Jannette’s cute but meandering debut. Guidance counselor Cathy Rosen and her friends Betsy, Linda, and Alice, met six months ago at a West Chester, Pa., book club and bonded over their shared love of literature. When Alice dies from cancer, the remaining friends set out to fulfill her last wish by renting an RV and driving to New Mexico to scatter her ashes at Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch. Upon arriving in the state, they find an injured, abandoned dog, and handsome police chief Peter Jones directs them to a vet residing at an RV campground nearby. Then a storm blows through the area, damaging their motor home and delaying the women’s travel plans. They settle in with the colorful, tight-knit community as they recover. Meanwhile, feelings unexpectedly grow between Cathy and Peter, but she’s reluctant to allow herself to fall for him, afraid of the inevitable heartbreak when she leaves town. There’s an episodic feel to the plot—which also sees theft, floods, and blackmail at the RV park—that occasionally saps the book’s momentum, but the refreshing older heroines and their strong friendship carry the day. This cozy tale offers much to enjoy. (Self-published)