The Secret Ingredient

It’s nearing the end of summer before ninth grade and Annie has been busy working as a barista at her grandmother's teashop, Th Steeping Leaf. In between serving up chai lattes and matcha frappes, Annie has gotten involved in a scone bakeoff with one of Louisa's tea suppliers. The winner gets an all-expenses paid trip to London for a tea vacation! Annie The competition is tough and sabatoge is in the air when suddenly Annie's food blog begins attracting mean comments. Then there's the whole matter of a stolen kiss with Zach Anderson in the Steeping Leaf stockroom. Could Annie's former sworn enemy become her current love interest? With the help of her two best friends, Genna and Zoe, can Annie come up with an awesome contest entry and sort out her love life before the end of the summer?

Laura Schaefer is the author of?The Teashop Girls,?The Secret Ingredient, and?Littler Women. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and daughter. When she’s not writing middle grade novels, you might find her scoping out local coffee shops, taking long walks with only partially working headphones, and poking around the library for treasures. Laura’s favorite?Little Women?character is Jo (whose isn’t?), but she confesses to a strong fondness for Amy as well. Visit her online at LauraSchaeferWriter.com or follow her on Twitter at @TeaShopGirl.

Sujean Rim is an illustrator whose work is often seen on DailyCandy. She lives in New York City.