Exclusive! Interview with Natasha Bache, author of The Magical Matcha Teashop

With so many cozy, small-town books on the market, you'd think they're all one and the same. But, if you're lucky enough, like I was, to find Natasha Bache's The Magical Matcha Teashop, you'll see that this genre has so much more to offer!

I got the chance to interview the author behind Lavender Hollow's incredible story, Natasha Bache.

Before we get into the Q&A, have a little look at the plot for The Magical Matcha Teashop!

After breaking off her engagement, Grace moves back to Lavender Hollow with her parents and, despite knowing she did the right thing, feels a little deflated. Desperate for a job and a routine, Grace lands a role at Matcha Made In Heaven, the town's coffee shop. Yuji, the owner, sees something in Grace she doesn't see in herself. She meets the bakery owner, Abigail, who happens to be his sister. Max Owens enters Grace's life and makes her question herself in the best way. Maybe matcha isn't the only thing brewing...

Simple one to start! What was your inspiration for Grace’s story?

The inspiration for Grace’s story began with the question, ‘What if you could influence people’s emotions through a cup of matcha?’ What would that look like, why and how did the matcha become magical, or is it actually the person making it who imbues it with magic?

That’s when the prologue came to me of Yuji’s wife, Mei, desperately preparing her last batch of matcha in order to ease his grief at her imminent passing. 

Could you tell me about Lavender Hollow? Why that name, and why include the shops/locations you did, such as the Psychic’s place?

The name Lavender Hollow came from the want to make the village sound cozy and familiar - Hollow is used for many fictional places that we know and love, like Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, and I thought that Lavender gave the sense of this place being spring-like, whilst also evoking that sense of a beautiful smelling and slightly rugged/rural place.

Funnily enough, the psychic shop that Sybil runs, is heavily based on one of my favourite characters I’ve written from my witchy series called The Arcane Tales of Tamsyn Pride. There is a character called Quincy who is a tarot reader and sort of oracle. I thought it might be a nice easter egg for anyone who goes on to read that series, in that they might be related in some way as they look and behave so similarly…

To you, what makes a great setting for a small-town romance?

For me small town is all about the characters who reside there. My favourite part of the writing process is exploring the cast. I love writing quirky, humorous as well as dark people who feel very real, so whether the small town is quintessentially English, or it’s a rugged coastal town, it’s all about the people within the community that really help to bring it to life.

Do you think Grace was somewhat saved by Max (or vice versa), or did they comply with an opposites attract type of thing, and help each other?

I think Max demonstrates to Grace that he can be strong and protective, even going to the lengths to want to provide for her without the domineering control she was subjected to in her previous relationship. He offers to help her in any way he can, especially with money, but ultimately she rejects that (nicely) by figuring out a way to take on the Teashop by herself. 

If anything, what do you want readers to think/feel while reading this book?

I wanted to evoke the sense of a truly cozy read with an emotional thread running through the heart of it all. Feelings of grief, anger and betrayal, that are healed in a plausible way despite the element of magic. I love creating characters based on very real people I’ve met in my life, as well as situations I’ve found myself in, and enhance the scene though the medium of magic realism… those scenes, for example when Grace’s ex Oliver confronts her in the Teashop and the teapots start clattering on the shelves, feel quite cathartic to write and I hope it has an emotional connection with anyone reading who can perhaps relate to that situation.

What made you think to make the matcha magical? It’s unique in a book like this to include that!

This is actually the first romance I’ve written, but as I have written a small-town magical series before, it felt natural to include a magical element. I love drinking matcha, and there’s such a grounding, comforting and ritualistic feeling when preparing it that it seemed like the perfect fit for the tone of the story I wanted to tell; about healing from the past and finding a brighter future.

Perhaps a cliché question now! What was your process for piecing this amazing book together?

I always have two or three scenes that are in my head before I start writing. With The Magical Matcha Teashop, those scenes were the stormy nights - first when Grace discovers the broken pots of matcha and the mysterious book in the store room, then later when she is standing on a plinth in her wedding dress and Max whisks away to the bookshop through the driving rain, and lastly Yuji seeing his wife through the sunlight and dust-motes.

I’m a very visual person, so I usually have these scenes in my head as if they were in a film or series. I then have to start writing to get to those scenes, and it’s pretty much all discovery writing. I love doing it this way as it feels unpredictable, but it can also be hard at times, because you feel like you can only see two steps ahead. I have tried plotting out my work, but as I’m writing I tend to let the character lead me (that sounds pompous, but I don’t like forcing them as it can feel a little inauthentic.)

Do you enjoy matcha in real life? What’s your typical order?

Yes, I genuinely love matcha! My favourite is  just making it at home, a regular ceremonial grade matcha, with a little bit of vanilla syrup and coconut milk, either steamed depending on the weather, over ice. I’d love to try out all of the amazing shops in London with the more adventurous flavours though!

Out of all of Abigail’s pastries mentioned in the book, what would you order from her bakery?

When Grace can’t resist taking a hot maple and pecan pastry from the side, that’s totally because it’s my favourite - even though Abigail bakes incredible cakes and makes beautiful intricate pastries, the maple and pecan plait can’t be beaten in my opinion!

What is your favourite part or line from the book?

There are too many to choose from! Three that come to mind are the first time Abigail meets Grace and says, ‘I’m a tired baker, I’ll drink anything as long as it’s a piping hot caffeinated beverage.’ I actually added this line in when an incredible person sadly passed away in December 2025. His name was David Adam Williams, known to many as Adam the Woo, a YouTuber who documented his life and adventures.

I find him so inspiring, he lived his life to the absolute fullest and didn’t take a day for granted. I still watch him everyday, and one of his most common sayings was ‘a piping hot caffeinated beverage.’ The next is when Max says to Grace, ‘I want you to know that I see you, Grace. The real you. Not whatever version of yourself he tried to make you believe in.’ I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this - when someone in your life has perhaps given you a perception of yourself that is not accurate, but you almost start to believe them anyway.

Another line that always makes me laugh is when Grace and Yuji find Maow destroying his teapots and she says, ‘I think he’s trying to tell us something,’ and he replies ‘like what, “I enjoy destruction and your abject misery”?’ The whole scene always cracks me up! 

You can find The Magical Matcha Teashop in supermarkets and bookstores everywhere!

INTERVIEW - Author A. A. Chaudhuri

 I'm so excited to share this with you all! Author of She's Mine and this year's The Loyal Friend, A. A. Chaudhuri, has kindly offered to do a Q&A with me!

I asked her about her newest book, her favourite Italian dish, and what her all-time favourite book is - read the interview below! 😇💕

How does it feel to be releasing another book into the world?

EXCITING! It’s always such an amazing, rewarding feeling releasing a new book. It’s the culmination of months of hard work, including painstaking editing (!) and so to see it out there in the world gives me a great sense of joy and satisfaction.

It’s also a little scary! As an author you try your utmost to make your book as compelling and error-free as possible, but writing is such a subjective industry and there’ll inevitably be critics. But it’s all part and parcel of the job, and I’m pleased to say I’ve been thrilled by the positive response and fabulous reviews I’ve received so far from advance readers.

I recently received my author paperback copies and I have to say holding my book for the first time and seeing my name on the cover, never gets old! I also adore the graphics for The Loyal Friend, Hera and the design team have done the most incredible job and the feedback has been amazing!

What was your inspiration for The Loyal Friend, and how did you come up with the story?

I wanted to base it in a setting I didn’t feel had been done before in the psychological thriller genre, and with the health and fitness industry having become a key part of so many people’s lifestyles - largely owing to the stress we encounter on a daily basis, along with the push given by lockdown to keep ourselves fit and healthy - I also felt the setting would be widely relatable.

Also because I know from my own experiences that unlike the gym, fitness classes attract a huge variety of attendees of varying ages and fitness levels, not to mention different genders.

Having said all that, although the backdrop for the novel is a health club, the story centres on so much more than that, chiefly the interplay between three very different women and past and present events that are prompting them to act and live out their lives in the way they do. Natalie, Grace, and Susan are ostensibly three normal women tackling everyday issues so many women around the world face these days.

Body hang-ups, the advent of menopause, juggling work, family and elderly parents all feature in some way, along with other more delicate issues of child abuse and infidelity, all of which I feel are themes readers are able to empathise with. Female friendships, especially toxic ones, always make for highly addictive reads, and the friendships in my book can definitely be labelled as this, but I also wanted to write a book that shows how taking a wrong path and/or doing something unforgiveable can have a domino effect on the lives of so many people and in the most dreadful way.

Like Grace, I have struggled with my own mental health owing to the stress of caring for my elderly parents, while managing a career and young family, while I have also come across women like Susan who appear to have the perfect life but really are concealing a feeling of disenchantment and emptiness behind the glamourous, happy veneer.

The pressures on women to perform and ‘have it all’ can be intense these days, and that’s something I also hope comes through in the book and resonates with people, especially female readers. Before Covid, I used to work out with a lovely group of girls at a local gym and this experience helped to inspire me and create authenticity around the novel, in terms of the set-up of group classes and diverse groups of characters who inhabit them.

I am pleased to say, however, that nothing so scandalous happened at my fitness classes, and none of the women featured bear any resemblance to them.

Is there anything you can tell us about the book, without giving anything away?

Like She’s Mine, The Loyal Friend is a dark, twisty, perhaps somewhat twisted (!) read, in which I take my readers on a complex journey through the minds of my key characters where not everything is as straightforward as it perhaps at first seems.

My book centres on the disappearance of young, beautiful, vivacious fitness instructor, Jade Pascal, who goes missing in mysterious circumstances and the ensuing police investigation to find out what happened to her.

It’s told mainly through the perspectives of three very different women – Natalie, Susan and Grace - who attend her classes, all with dark, complicated pasts and secrets they’ll do anything to keep buried, and all of whom could have reason to wish Jade ill.

How did you decide on the type of women Susan, Grace and Natalie would be?

Life is full of diverse characters and a writer is never off duty observing the people in their own lives or those they might see on television/the press, or even in the street! Be warned, ha-ha!

So, inevitably I will be influenced by these factors, but when deciding on the type of women Susan, Grace and Natalie would be, I wanted to make them as distinct as possible from each other, each having their own unique idiosyncrasies, but all having dark secrets in common that consume them.

I’d like to think that they also exemplify the different types of women we all might come across in our everyday lives. This is so important in the psychological thriller genre – making characters and the situations they face relatable to the reader – thereby enabling readers to connect with them and be drawn into their narratives.

Grace, for example, is a working mum struggling to cope with managing her job on top of a young family and caring for sick, elderly parents - a stressful situation so many women around the world, including myself, may find themselves in.

Natalie, on the other hand, is a young, single woman who’s had a horrendous childhood; she suffers from OCD and a lack of confidence, and therefore finds it hard enough managing her own life, let alone caring for others.

Susan, in contrast, is rich, confident and highly materialistic; someone who always puts herself first, but deep down suffers an emptiness she’s desperate to conceal.

Through each of my characters, important and universal issues like child abuse/neglect, family dysfunction, grief, infidelity and feeling unfulfilled in mid-life are explored, thereby differentiating them from one another but also showing how three very different women could be brought together by an exercise class designed to offer an outlet from their everyday hang-ups and sufferings.

Since you’re a lover of all things Italian, what’s your favourite meal from Italy?

That’s a hard one! I love all the delicious fish dishes they do so brilliantly in the south of Italy, including grilled calamari which is one of my all-time favourites.

But you can’t beat a plate of Spaghetti Vongole following a starter of Buffalo mozzarella and rounded off with some amazing Italian gelato which I rate as second to none!

What made you retire from working in law and become an author?

Although I enjoyed some aspects of being a lawyer, made some wonderful friends (including my husband!) and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to write my legal thrillers authentically without the experience I gained from law, it was never the perfect fit for me, not the way being an author is.

I found the work too dull and lacking in creativity. I am happiest writing, letting my imagination run wild with no boundaries or rules curtailing me, meaning it never feels like a chore, which sadly law, which as I said, can be rather dry and formulaic, often did!

Law requires a thick skin and certain ruthlessness to survive, and it got to the point where I wasn’t enjoying it. The City is an especially tough place to work, and I came across quite a few hard-nosed characters who made my life miserable and who I didn’t much want to be around.

It wasn’t for me as I said, but I’m grateful for the inspiration it gave me to write my books as well as teaching me attention to detail and the importance of disciplined meticulous planning, both of which are essential in thriller writing.

It also made me a stronger person – able to withstand the writing rejections over the years although I won’t lie, there have been tears (!) - and I’m happy to say that career-wise, it’s the best move I could have made. There’s nothing better than getting lost in my characters and the worlds they inhabit.

Finally, what is your all-time favourite book?

That’s an impossible question!! Simply because I love so many books of different genres, thriller, romantic, historical and so on! So I am going to have to cheat and say my all-time favourite thriller would have to be A Time to Kill.

It’s a powerful, moving story, flawlessly plotted with diverse, compelling, believable characters, and a plot that moves along at breakneck speed, but which also addresses some poignant issues that touch the heart in a way that will stay with you forever. It’s Grisham’s best, in my opinion.

The Loyal Friend releases tomorrow (June 23rd, 2022)!