Ep. 135: So Vague

[00:00:16] Welcome to Ink Drinkers, a literary tea party podcast where we discuss books and drink tea.

[00:00:30] Hi. Hi. Good morning. Morning. Or good afternoon or good evening depending on when you're listening to this. Correct.

[00:00:39] Um, so last weekend, um, my, we had my brother and my sister-in-law's 40th birthday party. Oh yeah. And, um, some of,

[00:00:53] some of Hillary's friends like read a lot. And so sometimes they'll chat with me about books.

[00:01:00] And, uh, one of them was like, okay, I need your opinion. It ends with us calling Hoover. What did

[00:01:08] you think? I was like, Oh no. She was like, cause her name's Jamie and her friends and her sister's

[00:01:14] name is Jackie. She was like, Jackie and I were talking about it. And I was like, well, I don't

[00:01:18] know which one of you I'm supposed to cater to with this answer, but I'll just be honest.

[00:01:24] I think it's trash. And she's like, okay, good. So do we. I was like, yeah. Okay, good. So bad. Um,

[00:01:30] so, you know, Verity was like super popular and everyone was reading it also. And I would see it

[00:01:36] in the mom groups on Facebook and people were, people would ask for book recommendations and that

[00:01:41] people were like sending that book. And I really did not enjoy that book at all. I, so after I read

[00:01:49] that, I decided I wasn't really into it. So I didn't read. Um, it ends with us. I would say Verity

[00:01:57] is better than it ends with us. It's still weird and like super twisty and disturbing, but it wasn't

[00:02:05] twisty and disturbing in a way that I liked. Like I just, right. No, I get it. I get it. And then

[00:02:10] it ends with us was just, um, disturbing in a different way. Cause cause it like there's abuse

[00:02:18] and it's like, I don't know, like romanticizing abuse basically. Yeah. Very cringy. Yeah. And then

[00:02:26] all this, all the movie stuff that's going on right now, you know, so, yeah, I know we're not

[00:02:35] going to make that our episode. No. Okay. So I was just so nervous when she was like,

[00:02:39] what did you think of it? So they both didn't. Okay. So Jackie read it and said that it was trash

[00:02:45] and she was texting Jamie the whole time going like, I can't, I can't believe what's happening.

[00:02:51] This is what's happening next. And Jamie hasn't read it. She was like, based on that, I'm not

[00:02:54] going to read it. I was like, don't do that to yourself. Just don't. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

[00:02:58] she has a huge following. People obviously love her. She does. People love it. When I tell you

[00:03:01] that the people were like, read Verdi and other people in the mom group, like it's great.

[00:03:05] Definitely read that. I can't read anything about, um, children being abused that well. Like

[00:03:12] it makes me really, really uncomfortable. Yeah. Any like rape, anything like that, anything

[00:03:18] with child, child abuse specifically is really difficult for me to get through as well. Um,

[00:03:24] and I just, if I, if it's not going to be worth it, like if the book isn't any good and I have to

[00:03:31] read that, I'd rather not. Like, I don't want to read that because it's so upsetting. Um, yeah.

[00:03:38] I'm glad we're all in the same place. Yeah. She's not for us. So I read Verdi first and I was like,

[00:03:44] this is messed up, but I read it and I was like, whatever. And then I read it ends with us. And I was

[00:03:51] like, this is even more, I'm done. I'm done with Colleen Hoover, but it's just a personal opinion.

[00:03:58] Um, anyway, I just thought that was a funny conversation. Yeah. Um, but my book today is

[00:04:06] a twisty thriller. Really? Yeah. How rare for us both? What if it's the same? No, there's no way.

[00:04:13] There's no way. Okay. I'll tell you how I, how I found mine. Okay. Sometimes when I don't know

[00:04:20] what to read next, I'll go on Libby and just see like what audio books are available right now.

[00:04:25] Okay. Well, it wasn't available. So when neither was this one, I had to find it somewhere. Anyway,

[00:04:30] I doubt it's the same book. Okay. Have you heard of freedom McFadden? No. Okay. Then it's not the

[00:04:36] same book. Okay. Well, I had never read anything by her, but every time I would go to Libby to look for

[00:04:43] available audio books, like all of hers popped up for me. And I was like, who is this woman? She's

[00:04:48] obviously very popular. I was like, I need to just go ahead and read one of her books. Well,

[00:04:54] I decided to read the house made, which was not available in Libby. I had to go find it in

[00:04:58] another app. I've seen this. Oh, I'm sure you have. It's the, um, lady looking through the keyhole.

[00:05:05] Yes. Yeah. So I was like, I just need to know is freedom McFadden any good for you? Is she for me?

[00:05:14] Um, so let me, let me tell you, I, I'm willing to read another one of her books, but let me tell you

[00:05:19] about it. So Nina Winchester and Nina and Andrew Winchester, um, are very wealthy. They live in a

[00:05:30] nice big house. Um, they have a daughter named Cece and she's, I don't know, like eight years old or

[00:05:37] something like that. Eight, nine something. And, um, Nina decides that she just can't handle the

[00:05:46] housework on her own. She needs a live in made, a live in, a live in made to help with the house,

[00:05:52] to help with Cece, to help with all of these things. So the book, the, the first part of the

[00:05:58] book is actually from Millie's point of view. So, um, Nina interviews Millie and Millie is pretty

[00:06:05] certain she's not going to get the job. Um, cause she just got out of prison. She had been in prison

[00:06:12] for like eight years and she knows that she doesn't say anything about the fact that she's in prison,

[00:06:17] but she's like, if this lady does the background check, yeah, then obviously she's not going to

[00:06:22] hire me, which, you know, if you have someone coming to live in your home, you'd think you would do a

[00:06:26] background check. Well, apparently Nina doesn't because she calls Millie and says, you've got the job.

[00:06:31] And Millie's like, what is going on? Okay. I'll take it. I need money. Can I ask what she's in jail

[00:06:37] for? You cannot. Okay. You don't find that out to the very end. Okay. Not the very, but you find it

[00:06:44] out later. Okay. So Millie goes to work for the Winchesters and it turns out Nina is pretty crazy.

[00:06:53] Mm-hmm. She like tells Millie things like, um, I, the kitchen is a mess. Like when, when Millie first

[00:07:03] went to the house, the place was spotless. And then when she gets there to like move in, the kitchen is

[00:07:10] just a total mess and the whole, and she's, Millie's like, what did she do in the like three days since I

[00:07:16] last spoke to her? It's just chaos. Millie spends the entire day cleaning. And then like Nina is like,

[00:07:27] well, you threw away my notes for the PTA meeting that I have tonight. And I, you threw them away.

[00:07:33] This is all your fault. And just like goes crazy on her. And she does things like, she'll say,

[00:07:39] you need to pick up Cece from school at this time, but like, doesn't.

[00:07:43] So is she, is she playing? Is she like messing with her? I mean, we don't really know. Okay.

[00:07:48] We don't know if she's. I'm assuming that Nina knows that she was in prison and like, um,

[00:07:53] hired her specifically. For, because of that? I mean, maybe. And then meanwhile, her husband,

[00:08:00] Nina's husband, Andrew is super nice. Okay. Um, when Nina kind of like goes crazy on Millie,

[00:08:09] he's like, Nina, like what is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this? Um, the other thing I

[00:08:15] forgot to mention is that instead of letting the, uh, Millie live in the guest bedroom,

[00:08:21] they put her up in the attic room, which just has like a little cot and like a small bathroom.

[00:08:27] And it's pretty small, but it's bigger than Millie's cell was. So she's good with it. Okay. Um,

[00:08:35] but sometimes the door handle sticks a little bit and it kind of freaks her out. Okay. Yeah. Uh huh.

[00:08:40] Yeah. Mm hmm. So I won't say too much more, but I will say some of it was pretty predictable. Like

[00:08:49] I kind of, there's gotta be something that she did that is related. The reason why she was in prison

[00:08:55] is somewhat related, although that doesn't really make sense, but okay. And then there's gotta be

[00:09:01] something with the husband and her obviously no comment, but when you're reading it, you can kind

[00:09:07] of figure out where it's going. And so when it all started playing out the way I expected it to,

[00:09:13] I was like, okay, three stars. This was kind of a bummer, but it went in kind of an unexpected

[00:09:19] direction. Okay. It wasn't, um, like a new twist. It was just like, I didn't expect,

[00:09:30] things to go there. Okay. And, and it was a positive spin. Okay. So I, it wasn't like,

[00:09:38] oh, that was a brilliant twist that I didn't see coming. It was just like, okay, well I,

[00:09:42] I can get behind this. And Teddy also felt like he could get behind it. And so it ended up at four

[00:09:50] stars. Great. Well, that's nice to have a little, you know, something you didn't expect. Yeah.

[00:09:56] Okay. Okay. So my book is also a thriller and, um, I loved it. It's a five star. Ooh. And my aunt

[00:10:06] is, uh, the reason that I read it. She sent it to me and she said, fantastic book. Sometimes she'll

[00:10:10] send me books and we, I'll send her books. And, um, if they're really good, like you should read this

[00:10:16] kind of thing. So I figure if she says it's really good cause she reads more than I do,

[00:10:21] I assume it is. Um, it's called things don't break on their own by Sarah Easter Collins.

[00:10:27] It came out in July, mid July. I've never heard of this author before.

[00:10:33] It has 4.6 stars. Whoa. Um, that's good. It was real good. So let me set the scene.

[00:10:44] Um, so there, there's, uh, a couple and they live in this gorgeous home and they have two

[00:10:52] daughters and the focus is on the daughters. Okay. So Willa at the beginning of the book,

[00:10:57] I think she's eight and, um, Laika, sorry, I couldn't remember her name for a second. Laika

[00:11:04] is six. Well, I can understand why you wouldn't remember the name Laika. Yeah. Laika is six.

[00:11:09] Um, sorry, I'm trying to figure out how to tell you about this book. So I think in the beginning

[00:11:15] too, like we get flashbacks a lot. And when we get the first flashback, that's their ages. And

[00:11:21] there's some stuff that happened at that time that we learn about, um, to kind of set the tone of what's

[00:11:27] going on in their family home, which is not great. Um, but we also see Willa as an adult in the present

[00:11:36] day and she's a pretty broken adult. So her life, um, has been very difficult. Um, she's currently

[00:11:45] in a relationship that doesn't seem great. Um, and we really start to hear her story. It's from

[00:11:52] her point of view. Um, I don't know that we actually know about the relationship not being

[00:11:57] great yet. It's a little bit later, but it doesn't really matter. I mean, it's not, um,

[00:12:01] giving anything away. Okay. So she is, um, there's so many flashbacks, but when she's about

[00:12:12] 16, she goes to school. It's the very beginning of the school year. She's leaving for school and

[00:12:18] she doesn't want to wait on Laika because she's not ready and they walk to school. So she leaves.

[00:12:25] Laika never makes it. And Willa is now in her mid thirties, um, mid to late thirties and, um,

[00:12:36] Still no idea what happened to Laika. No idea what happened to Laika.

[00:12:40] Oh, that's rough. Yeah. Um, I'm not going to go into what's going on in the home because I want

[00:12:45] y'all to, I want the, if you're going to read it, I want people to come to that on their own. I mean,

[00:12:50] it happens right away. You understand what's going on, but I just don't want to give anything away there.

[00:12:55] Things are not good. Okay. Just to be okay. Um, Willa is more considered the golden child,

[00:13:04] mainly because she listens and keeps her mouth shut where Laika does not. She's very rebellious

[00:13:11] and she says what she wants to say and she knows things are not okay and she does not just go with

[00:13:17] it. So it's possible. I mean, my first thought is that Laika disappears on the way to school,

[00:13:22] but it's possible that something happened at home that she maybe went a little too far and

[00:13:28] not gonna, I know you're not. I'm just speculating. Um, okay. So nothing about this book. I'm speculating.

[00:13:36] So we, we kind of get pushed into everything that goes on after she disappears, uh, in regard to

[00:13:44] Willa school and just journalists and news crews, just bombarding them to where they ask the parents,

[00:13:53] you know, maybe there's a better school for her and she can't really stay here. She's asked to leave.

[00:13:57] So they put her in boarding school because, you know, there's really nowhere else for her to go.

[00:14:02] Uh, and they're very wealthy. So she attends boarding school. She, um, meets her roommate

[00:14:09] and they click automatically. Very different personalities come from very different home lives.

[00:14:15] They end up having a sexual relationship as they're teenagers. Um, she and Robin are like

[00:14:23] really close. She doesn't want anyone to know that they have this relationship.

[00:14:28] She even goes to Robin's house during the break and stays with her family, loves her family. They're

[00:14:34] just like the most wonderfully warm people. She has a brother, Michael. Um, they're just wonderful.

[00:14:41] Um, some stuff happened. They did not continue to stay, um, around each other. Like they didn't,

[00:14:49] they weren't friends because of what happened in high school towards the end of high school.

[00:14:53] Uh, and then they end up seeing each other again as adults and becoming friends again.

[00:14:59] Okay.

[00:15:00] Robin helps her. She's, Willa started a website that's called like findlaika.com and they have

[00:15:06] tips that come in and they actually both go around the world and like go try to see if these tips are

[00:15:12] any, are actual real that they could try to find like a. So they're doing like their own armchair true crime.

[00:15:18] But it's, it's very sporadic. Yeah. Okay. It's not all the time. Sure. And Robin has like,

[00:15:24] she's, she has a job and she has a wife and she now has kids in present day. She has three kids.

[00:15:31] Is Willa in a relationship with a man or a woman? A man. Not that it matters. I just,

[00:15:35] she's in a relationship with a man currently. So, um, we're, we're in present day. It is the night

[00:15:42] where Willa and Jamie are going to a dinner party held by Robin and, um, her wife, Kat. And Michael is

[00:15:52] going to be there. That is Robin's brother with his new girlfriend. And, um, Kat's brother,

[00:16:01] Nate, is going to be there with his girlfriend as well. And he's been living in Paris. And so they

[00:16:08] have never met either of these girlfriends. Okay. Okay. Either of their brother's girlfriends. And

[00:16:13] they're all coming to this dinner party, the couple's dinner party. So they get to the dinner

[00:16:19] party and in walks Michael and his girlfriend, I don't remember her name, Olivia, I think live.

[00:16:28] And, um, they're talking and they get a text from Nate saying, we're sorry, we're going to be a little

[00:16:32] late. And they're like, okay, we'll just wait for them to eat. And they're chit chatting. And she's

[00:16:36] always looking at people saying like, could this be like, and in her mind, she just does not believe

[00:16:42] that like is dead. So she's talking to Michael's girlfriend. She even makes a comment. Like you

[00:16:49] kind of look like her, like she had dark hair and she makes a comment like that. That's really

[00:16:53] uncomfortable and says, I mean, I don't know. As far as I know, you could be her. And the girl's like,

[00:16:58] well, okay. So then Nate and Claudette, his French girlfriend show up. And there's a joke that Kat

[00:17:07] told them before they walked fully in that they told Robin that she doesn't, that Claudette doesn't

[00:17:14] speak any English and that she was going to have to take out her rusty French to try to talk to her

[00:17:18] when really she can't speak English. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, so they're at this dinner party.

[00:17:23] They've all been acquainted with each other. And there's a shift in the room. Some stuff occurs.

[00:17:31] Some comments were made. And this, what happens at this dinner party changes everything.

[00:17:42] Okay.

[00:17:43] I really can't give you anything.

[00:17:46] I still know nothing about what this book is about.

[00:17:50] Basically, Willa has been searching for her sister.

[00:17:53] Yeah.

[00:17:54] We know that possibly something happened within the family. Something could have happened with one of

[00:18:01] the workers working on the house at the time because they were going through a renovation.

[00:18:05] Okay.

[00:18:08] Or she was abducted just walking to school.

[00:18:11] Sure.

[00:18:13] There really isn't a lot that I can tell you other than that, other than to say without,

[00:18:18] I'm not explaining this well, but it was so fantastically written. It was so incredibly

[00:18:23] interesting. The effects that Lyca's disappearance had on her sister and her family was devastating.

[00:18:31] And it has really affected not only Willa's life, but also Robin's life because Willa came into Robin's life

[00:18:41] because of her sister's disappearance.

[00:18:43] Right.

[00:18:44] And that also affects Kat's life. And I mean, it's such an inner web and you end up seeing how all these

[00:18:52] characters connect.

[00:18:53] So did you, I mean, if you rated it five stars, I'm guessing like you didn't see what was coming

[00:18:59] or does that, is that even not a factor in the book? Is it more just about the relationships than

[00:19:05] getting to the reveal?

[00:19:08] I mean, I think that, I think that you can kind of figure out that something, kind of figure it out,

[00:19:14] but I didn't fully, I wasn't expecting it exactly the way that it turned out. And I was like, oh,

[00:19:23] like whenever, when I, when you know, when it becomes apparent of what's going on, um,

[00:19:30] cause even in the moment that it's happening, you're with Willa and Willa's point of view,

[00:19:35] and you're thinking, wait, is this really happening? Cause she says, wait, maybe I'm losing my mind.

[00:19:40] Is this really happening? And then, um, we get the, okay, yes, this is, this is happening, the reveal.

[00:19:48] Um, and you could, you could kind of go there, but it was confusing. Like it wasn't an automatic yes.

[00:19:55] Right. Um.

[00:19:56] So the author did a good enough job of like kind of misdirecting you.

[00:19:59] And then to, to, when we get the flashback of what happened to her, I don't, I did not expect that.

[00:20:06] Okay. Okay. I didn't expect fully what was going on at the dinner party, but I could have figured it out.

[00:20:14] What happened to her? I, it was too involved.

[00:20:18] Right.

[00:20:18] That I wouldn't have thought that. And then whenever you figure out the bigger piece of it, um, of the disappearance,

[00:20:25] I didn't, I wouldn't have known that that was going to happen at all.

[00:20:28] Okay. I mean, not really. No, I know I'm being so vague. It was so good. It was so good. And I'm not explaining it.

[00:20:36] No, I, I believe you. I get that. It's hard to explain what was going on without giving anything away.

[00:20:42] Yeah. Um, and I'm intrigued.

[00:20:45] Yeah.

[00:20:46] If you, if somebody gives a thriller, mystery thriller, five stars, then I'm like immediately intrigued by it.

[00:20:57] Yes.

[00:20:58] Some, somebody that I trust, I should say.

[00:21:00] I think that you'll really like it.

[00:21:02] Okay.

[00:21:02] Um, it was just really, it was, it was, I was so interested. I was re listening to it late at night,

[00:21:09] you know, um, feeding fan. I was even listening to it during, which I listen often, but sometimes,

[00:21:16] you know, I'll just scroll my phone and maybe we'll listen and I'm tired or whatever.

[00:21:20] But you were like excited to go back to it.

[00:21:22] Yes.

[00:21:22] Okay.

[00:21:23] Yes.

[00:21:23] Okay. Well, that is high praise.

[00:21:25] Yeah.

[00:21:27] Check it out.

[00:21:28] All right.

[00:21:29] Um, all right. Let's talk about the tea.

[00:21:31] Okay.

[00:21:33] Um, my first thoughts is that I kind of love it.

[00:21:36] So this is a plum deluxe blend and I don't like, remember how I bought like eight different flavors from plum deluxe.

[00:21:44] I don't know how this wasn't one of them.

[00:21:46] Cause it's called, it's called reading nook blend.

[00:21:48] Like how did I not buy that?

[00:21:50] I don't know.

[00:21:51] Um, do you like it?

[00:21:53] I do.

[00:21:53] Okay.

[00:21:54] I do like it.

[00:21:55] It's, um, black tea with rose petals, lavender, chamomile, and vanilla essence.

[00:22:02] I really, to me, like this is a really good cup of tea.

[00:22:05] Like I could drink this regularly for myself.

[00:22:08] Um, I do think we left the tea bags in and so it's gotten a little bitter, but the first

[00:22:12] couple sips I was like, Oh, this is really soothing.

[00:22:14] And I like the flavor profiles and I thought it all came together really well.

[00:22:18] You missed it.

[00:22:19] Whenever you were explaining your book, I like took a sip in the middle of that and I don't,

[00:22:24] you were like looking down or something.

[00:22:25] I mean, oh my God, what did I just taste?

[00:22:28] Did you taste it before?

[00:22:29] Yeah.

[00:22:30] Okay.

[00:22:30] But it had gotten bitter at that point and it was not great.

[00:22:34] Um, but I did, I liked it before.

[00:22:36] I don't think I like it as much as you do, but you are welcome to bring this home with you

[00:22:40] since you left it.

[00:22:42] Okay.

[00:22:43] Um, but you know, again, another, another good blend from Plum Deluxe.

[00:22:47] Yes, for sure.

[00:22:48] And I was excited to see that they had a few Plum Deluxe teas at Fresh Market.

[00:22:53] I know.

[00:22:53] So I was sending Jamie last week pictures of a few on the shelf and they're

[00:22:58] Harney and Sons when I was sending her and I totally missed, I was so tired.

[00:23:02] I totally missed the Plum Deluxe right underneath.

[00:23:05] And when I sent her the photos, I didn't see her text, but she was like, what about the Plum

[00:23:09] Deluxe?

[00:23:09] It says reading nook.

[00:23:11] Right below you.

[00:23:11] Sounds perfect.

[00:23:12] And then when I got there, I was like, I didn't even see that.

[00:23:14] I'm glad I took a photo of it.

[00:23:16] Well, the funny thing is when I went there today to get it, I knew exactly what I was

[00:23:21] going there for and I did not see it.

[00:23:22] And I was like, is it gone?

[00:23:25] Are they completely out of the Plum Deluxe?

[00:23:27] I was like, it's right by the Harney and Sons.

[00:23:28] I'm looking at the Harney and Sons.

[00:23:30] Where is it?

[00:23:31] And it just, I don't know.

[00:23:32] Did they move it or it was right below it?

[00:23:34] Well, I can't remember now exactly where it was, but I remember having to search for it

[00:23:38] and I was like, what is going on with this?

[00:23:40] It's the elusive reading nook blend.

[00:23:42] I don't know.

[00:23:43] You can't see it on their website either.

[00:23:45] That's why I didn't buy it before.

[00:23:47] What is what?

[00:23:48] This is so fascinating.

[00:23:51] Let's write a mystery book about Plum Deluxe reading nook blend tea.

[00:23:56] Okay.

[00:23:58] Well, on that note.

[00:24:00] Cheers.

[00:24:01] Thanks for listening.

[00:24:02] Be sure to check out the show notes for the full list of books we discussed today.

[00:24:06] You can find that in your podcast app or on our website, inkdrinkerspodcast.com.

[00:24:12] And please support us by subscribing anywhere you listen to podcasts and leaving a review.

[00:24:16] You can find us on Instagram and on Twitter at inkdrinkerspod.

[00:24:21] Cheers.