Storms in Teacups

by Christine Murray

Trouble is Brewing… Rose thinks her life is pretty sweet. She loves her job teaching in a disadvantaged school, and has just moved in with her gorgeous actor boyfriend, Daniel. The only clouds on her horizon are a headmaster with a passion for new-age team-building and an expensive book-buying habit. Alex has always dreamed about working for a glossy women’s magazine. Instead she’s stuck working for Dublin’s most notorious tabloid newspaper, rewriting press releases and covering for her colleague Jodie – a well-connected neurotic who still hasn’t figured out how to use an apostrophe. Shannon feels like life is passing her by. When she graduated at the top of her class from drama college, everyone thought it would be just a matter of time until she got her big break. But these days the nearest thing she gets to real drama is catfights in the youth project she coordinates while struggling to pay the bills. Is it time she gives up on her dream and get a ‘real’ job? When life spins out of control for the trio, will it be a case of storms in teacups? Or will they end up getting burnt?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary

414 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2011

About the author

I'm a twenty five year old writer from Dublin, Ireland. Despite reading most of the time when I should have been studying, I managed to get into university and studied history at Trinity College Dublin. Afterwards I went on to get a master's in medical history.

On graduation I worked as a freelance journalist and ghost-writer. I wrote about film, fashion, music, personal finance and business. I've since given up freelance journalism and focus all my non-fiction energy on my popular culture blog, Mermaiden.

My debut novel Storms In Teacups was completed in 2011. I sent it out to agents and publishing houses and got a lot of positive feedback, but was told that the economic meltdown meant that they were taking on less authors and that I should wait out the recession and try again.

Patience never being my forte, I made the decision to publish my book independently to coincide with my 25th birthday. The book has sold well, making the bestseller lists in women's fiction, humour and comedy in both the US and the UK.

In 2009 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. While living with it can be challenging, I try not to let it hold me back.

I live with my husband, foster son, and chocolate Labrador in semi-organised chaos. You can find out more about me and my books at www.christine-murray.com

Reviews

[Sherry Sharpnack · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m guessing this was a free Kindle download. Remember that you get exactly what you pay for. It was also one of the oldest unread books on my Kindle. So I thought I’d read it.
This book about a circle of Millennial friends suffering ups and downs in their personal lives and careers was an excruciating read w/ all the typing errata and mis-used homonyms uncaught by Spellcheck. Maybe as a Boomer, their ups and downs just made me roll my eyes and internally holler at them, “Grow up!”
Rounded down to one star; it only earns this b/c some of the characters were engaging sorts and all ended well.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first impressions of the book were the rich descriptions of the characters and their lives, almost a little too much at times, but it was very visual for the reader. These three women have interesting lives and at the same time, are very down to Earth women that the reader can identify with. They deal with problems that almost all women come into contact with - budding romance, difficult careers, betrayal, and love. I admit that it was hard to get into the story at first and it confused me a little bit when the chapters switched to each different woman. I had a little bit of a problem keeping them straight in my mind. It took about a fourth of the book for me to discover some conflict within their lives and it captured me from that point.

Rose and Daniel, Shannon and Ian, Alex and Carl - there is a lot of romance in this book! And it's not all of that "perfect" romantic relationships for these women. There's a lot of romantic drama! It was almost too much for me at times and was a little confusing to remember which woman was with which guy, but it became very clear as the story progressed. There were even a few surprises that had me going "Oh! He didn't!"

The book was very good and captivating. I admit that Rose was my favorite character - an incredibly sweet school teacher working in a secondary school for disadvantaged youth, really made her a character that I enjoyed reading about. Alex's story was a bit harder for me to get into, but Shannon was a delight. Her partner was very funny! There were a few technical errors that made it hard to read; some formatting of the dialogue that didn't line up and two typographical errors on the first page distracted me, but that didn't take away from the quality of the book. I really enjoyed the book and I definitely recommend this book to others!

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. I felt like there could have been two decent books written, but the two stories were crammed together.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

So glad I didn't pay for this book since every page had some sort if grammar error, misspelling or missing or duplicate words. The plot was okay but there's no excuse for bad grammar.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book enjoyable however sadly I have to agree with other reviewers about the mistakes which were in some pages, however the story made the difference for me

[Anna Wadlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay but I found it really hard to get into.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

The mistakes and errors coupled with the storyline that seemed rushed and awkward, made me wish I hadn't taken the time for this book.

[Susan Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

I enjoyed this book as it was a lovely story. Perfect book for lighthearted reading at night in the kindle.