Ep. 136: TeaMind

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

[00:00:29] Hello friend.

[00:00:31] Hello.

[00:00:32] I feel like we should just do an episode of just me coughing the whole time because that's

[00:00:35] my reality right now.

[00:00:36] Yeah, I've been there recently.

[00:00:39] I know.

[00:00:40] The kids are both sick and you know, I'm getting little coughs in my mouth which is

[00:00:45] super lovely.

[00:00:45] Love.

[00:00:46] That's so fun.

[00:00:47] It is.

[00:00:48] My coughs are all coming from me, so that's good at least.

[00:00:51] Yeah.

[00:00:52] Not from other people.

[00:00:55] But yeah, God it's been a while since we've sat down and I recorded an episode because

[00:01:01] of all of the coughing and the illnesses and the whatever.

[00:01:05] And the life.

[00:01:06] And the life.

[00:01:07] Yeah.

[00:01:08] Or we're here.

[00:01:09] Do I remember how to do this?

[00:01:10] I don't know.

[00:01:11] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:01:11] I think we can figure it out though.

[00:01:13] Okay.

[00:01:13] We can do it together.

[00:01:18] When I don't talk, I don't cough as much but then when I start talking it's just like I

[00:01:25] can't stop.

[00:01:27] But I'll do my best to get through this.

[00:01:31] So we actually just got back from the beach.

[00:01:34] Oh yes.

[00:01:35] Which was nice.

[00:01:36] Unfortunately we got there right before you know a hurricane.

[00:01:40] Sure.

[00:01:40] Our first hurricane in a while.

[00:01:42] Where did y'all go?

[00:01:44] We went to Orange Beach.

[00:01:46] Okay.

[00:01:46] Alabama.

[00:01:47] Alabama.

[00:01:49] It was nice.

[00:01:50] We had fun.

[00:01:50] The place we stayed in was super nice so it was okay that you know two of the days

[00:01:56] were pretty much stuck inside and they had a really nice indoor pool.

[00:01:59] Oh well that's cool.

[00:02:01] I love going to the beach when it rains or is too cold to go out or.

[00:02:06] Well when you're maybe by yourself.

[00:02:08] Sure.

[00:02:09] Yeah.

[00:02:09] Not when you have two little kids.

[00:02:11] No two kids and you know a whole family.

[00:02:14] I get it.

[00:02:15] People on top of each other.

[00:02:18] There was enough room thank goodness like the place was large enough that you weren't

[00:02:22] completely on top of each other but.

[00:02:26] Yeah.

[00:02:26] So y'all got rain from Francine did you get.

[00:02:29] Yeah nothing crazy but the first day that we got there it was pretty dreary and windy

[00:02:37] and then the second day it was rain windy and rain and then the third day when we did get

[00:02:44] out when the sun finally did come out the day after there was some sun which was nice

[00:02:49] but it was extremely windy so we went to the beach and it just I mean by the time

[00:02:54] I sat down after getting everything situated and pretty much had to get right back up

[00:02:58] and we were out there for maybe I don't know 45 minutes and then he's screaming

[00:03:04] Lucy doesn't want to be out there anymore.

[00:03:06] She said I'm done.

[00:03:08] I'm done.

[00:03:12] So yeah but I think this is just this is the time of this is life right now like which

[00:03:18] is fine.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:20] You know well my parents lost a tree in their front yard.

[00:03:24] Oh no.

[00:03:24] Yeah we had no issues at home which is great.

[00:03:27] Yeah I didn't have any either but my mom was like texting me and she's like oh well

[00:03:31] giant branch just fell down in our front yard and I was like oh okay like are y'all okay?

[00:03:36] Did this just happen and she's like oh there goes half the tree.

[00:03:39] I was like what?

[00:03:41] Well I heard trader Joe's got some type of damage because they're closed and like with

[00:03:46] no time open time so I don't know I heard mostly it was not a problem here.

[00:03:53] Yeah it wasn't too bad in those places here.

[00:03:56] But yeah I drove to their house last night and there's just a whole big tree gone from

[00:04:01] their front yard.

[00:04:02] I was like oh well things look a little different.

[00:04:05] Yikes.

[00:04:05] Yeah kind of crazy.

[00:04:07] I always get scared because I have the power line in my backyard so I'm like if something

[00:04:12] falls in my backyard it's like.

[00:04:14] Yeah how are they going to get to it?

[00:04:15] I'm gone.

[00:04:16] Yeah we also had to get a new HVAC system at the same time thank goodness they

[00:04:22] came the day before at the store and did it.

[00:04:25] Crazy.

[00:04:26] Yeah so it's just you know one thing sometimes after another but it's okay because we're

[00:04:32] here to talk about books.

[00:04:33] Yeah oh gosh let's get off of this silly little storm.

[00:04:38] Okay do you want me to tell you about my book?

[00:04:41] Yeah gosh you sound so thrilled to tell me about this.

[00:04:45] So it wasn't terrible by any means it just wasn't my favorite.

[00:04:50] I listened to all of it though and there was some good part.

[00:04:52] Okay well I mean.

[00:04:54] It was just you know it was okay.

[00:04:56] What's the name of it?

[00:04:57] It's called Do Your Worst by Rosie Danon.

[00:05:01] It is a I don't know how you describe it.

[00:05:06] It's definitely an enemies to lovers type tale so Clark is an archaeologist he works

[00:05:16] in a family type business his dad is very very well known.

[00:05:19] I'm sorry I just think people need to know because I'm going to cut this part out

[00:05:22] but I think people need to know that the way that you got to the word archaeologist was

[00:05:25] um you know the Indiana Jones thing.

[00:05:32] Anyway I found that amusing.

[00:05:34] Oh would you rather me say like Ross Geller?

[00:05:37] Well which he's a pain he's a paleontologist but anyways he could be with me.

[00:05:44] So his dad is extremely well known he is British yeah from Britain and his dad

[00:05:52] has just recently they call his I said that too because they call his dad kind of like

[00:05:57] real life Indiana Jones and they just made a movie about his dad's life.

[00:06:04] Oh okay okay and um.

[00:06:06] Does he hate snakes?

[00:06:08] I don't know they don't talk about that there's not really much emphasis on the

[00:06:11] Indiana Jones aspect of it.

[00:06:13] But I'm putting all the emphasis on it.

[00:06:16] So he there was a scandal within his family and I'm not going to tell you what happened

[00:06:23] but he's kind of on the outs and it kind of ruined his reputation.

[00:06:30] Okay so his dad basically is giving him the worst of the worst jobs to do because he's

[00:06:39] trying to just he doesn't want to deal with him and he's like no one's gonna take you

[00:06:44] like you're not credible right now so um I can't put you on like big jobs.

[00:06:50] So where does he end up?

[00:06:52] He's in Ireland.

[00:06:53] I mean this little town.

[00:06:55] This does not sound terrible at all.

[00:06:57] There is a old kind of like a castle I guess is the way they describe it and

[00:07:03] they're trying to sell off the property but there are some artifacts that are there

[00:07:08] and they need someone to come in and make sure there's nothing of significance or

[00:07:12] importance there but at the same time the owners hired a cursebreaker to come in

[00:07:20] because they said the reason why it's not selling is because there's a curse.

[00:07:23] Of course.

[00:07:25] And he is like this is the only logical conclusion.

[00:07:29] Right so in comes Riley um Riley Rhodes yep well Riley Rhodes she's bartender.

[00:07:38] Okay um she has a family lineage of cursebreakers her grandmother

[00:07:42] was a cursebreaker and like Appalachia or whatever app however you say Appalachia.

[00:07:48] Appalachia I don't know.

[00:07:48] Yeah so she's American yes but she's living in Ireland no she goes to Ireland for the job.

[00:07:54] Oh I see I see um so the first night that she's in town she goes to the local pub

[00:08:03] and in walks this really handsome guy and she asks the local bartender who is that and you know

[00:08:12] she's trying to explain but Riley's just not really listening and um they start to

[00:08:20] have a conversation he's a little broody obviously and seems not super friendly at first

[00:08:27] and then slowly they kind of hit it off they end up sharing um a kiss until it becomes known that she

[00:08:37] is the cursebreaker right has been hired um but this isn't found out until after this happened so

[00:08:44] when she goes to work for the first day on site she overhears him talking to the owners and

[00:08:49] he's basically saying you have to get her out of here and he finds out after the kiss

[00:08:54] like after he got back to his place um she's a little shocked because she thought that they

[00:09:01] headed off and so her feelings and her pride is hurt and she he's basically calling her like a

[00:09:06] charlatan right right so she's because the idea of a real cursebreaker is just ridiculous right

[00:09:15] um so anyways uh then it kind of things start to go awry and um he has been unable to find anything

[00:09:24] of significance at all and then when she shows up she starts uncovering things um artifacts and so

[00:09:31] he's just a little ticked that he hasn't found it himself and then she's finding it in weird

[00:09:36] ways that don't make sense and so he is um also upset and then she has this in her mind that

[00:09:45] they're part of the curse that like it's kind of this continual thing and that they are enemies

[00:09:51] but they have all this chemistry anyways it was okay there's a lot of steamy parts that I thought

[00:09:59] were weren't for me yeah um it was a little much and I don't know I just didn't care for it um

[00:10:07] I thought some of the aspects were cool I really liked the Irish like them being in Ireland and

[00:10:12] talking about the castle and talking about the curse and how like where it dated back from

[00:10:16] and the archaeology part of it where they found really cool artifacts was neat and how that

[00:10:20] tied into the story was kind of cool um I just didn't overall love it and I thought

[00:10:26] their relationship I didn't get like I didn't get how they went from not liking each other

[00:10:33] to like really just you know it just was a little disjointed yeah okay makes sense

[00:10:39] but still if you're looking for a lighter read set in Ireland yes with somewhat magical yeah

[00:10:47] it wasn't it wasn't it was you know I would say maybe three and a three okay three okay 3.2 all right

[00:11:03] um okay well my book was a five star and it was unexpected because it was a thriller sort of

[00:11:14] thriller mystery sort of okay it's also a debut and it was written by an author who was at the

[00:11:23] winter institute back in February okay and so when she was describing her book because they did

[00:11:28] at one of the lunches they did this thing where these like indie debut authors came up and like

[00:11:33] described their book and read a passage okay and when she came up I was like man that sounds really

[00:11:37] interesting it could be good and then it kind of blew up um and so I got a copy while I was there

[00:11:43] and I'm just now finally read it a week or so ago cool and I was really impressed so it's

[00:11:49] called that's not my name by Megan Lally and let me set the scene for you this girl wakes up on the

[00:11:59] side of the road she's like kind of beaten up she has no idea how she got there what her name is

[00:12:08] who she is where she came from she remembers nothing okay a police officer finds her

[00:12:16] brings her back to his little small town police department is trying to find out who she is

[00:12:23] he's looking at you know missing persons databases and all this kind of stuff asking

[00:12:29] her questions she's like I don't I have no information for you and this man walks into the

[00:12:35] police station and goes Mary there you are Mary oh my gosh I've been looking for you

[00:12:40] in the police officer is like okay I don't know about this like you could be anyone but he pulls up a

[00:12:46] birth certificate he pulls up photos of the two of them together like on his phone like this is

[00:12:52] clearly Mary okay so he claimed to be her husband he claims to be her father sorry okay yeah she's

[00:12:59] like 17 oh okay yeah sorry should have led with that but um yeah so he's her father Mary

[00:13:05] sweetheart I've been looking everywhere for you turns out they were leaving their house to go to

[00:13:11] their cabin and they were driving separately because they were bringing a bunch of stuff there and um

[00:13:19] something happened her car and she ended up ejected from the car and that's how the police

[00:13:24] officer found her so was her car at the scene no don't don't know where the car is okay anyway

[00:13:30] because he's able to provide so much proof yeah like he's able to take her back to the cabin okay

[00:13:38] it's kitten back no no no Mary it's her name's not Mary either is it meanwhile Mary is is learning

[00:13:46] things about herself from her father okay father from her father put it in quotes or not whatever

[00:13:53] you want to do okay this is making me tell me you're sorry I don't like it then we have

[00:14:03] another point of view from Drew Drew's girlfriend who is drew well I'm about to tell you oh okay

[00:14:12] Drew's girlfriend disappeared um I think like a couple weeks or a month or so ago

[00:14:19] and the police think it was him they've they've decided that he killed her and got rid of her body

[00:14:26] and he's not under arrest or anything but he's their only suspect at this point and so he's

[00:14:32] doing everything he can to find his girlfriend he's putting up flyers everywhere he can think

[00:14:38] of he's put out like a reward and a tip line and all this kind of stuff because he knows

[00:14:42] he didn't kill his girlfriend someone else did and the police are not looking for this person

[00:14:48] so it's up to him to find the killer or the kidnapper or whatever okay I'm with you so the two

[00:14:59] stories are intertwined they go back and forth Mary's learning things Drew's learning things

[00:15:07] and you may think you know where this is going but I don't and you don't and you didn't get it

[00:15:15] I had inklings okay but you were shocked I wasn't shocked but I was just kind of like okay that was

[00:15:22] really cleverly done okay okay yeah yeah I mean I'm obviously intrigued I'm asking you questions

[00:15:28] I'm really engaged I want to know I obviously know it's not her dad it was very good very very good

[00:15:35] okay I was impressed I can't wait for more from this author gonna debut at that I know

[00:15:43] all right well I think we should discuss the tea um you mean the wedding cake that we're drinking

[00:15:50] delicious it's delicious I mean I think anything that I mean it's called vanilla almond and it's

[00:16:00] just anything that has vanilla and almond in it I mean really can you go wrong it's like

[00:16:06] when you sniff it though like it's straight up wedding cake it is

[00:16:12] it's a little strong in flavors for me but it's still really delicious delicious

[00:16:20] it's very good I just have to take like small sips because it's so much flavor all at once

[00:16:24] I could see that I could see that can I read the back yes let's see so it's vanilla almond

[00:16:32] tea by the Republic of Tea yes sorry it's by the Republic of Tea I didn't say that

[00:16:35] the natural flavors of rich smooth vanilla and nutty almond are infused into premium black tea

[00:16:43] the result is a cup that soars into the realm of dessert try steeping a strong cup and topping

[00:16:50] with steamed milk for a creamy tea latte ingredients black tea and natural flavors yes

[00:16:57] just how we like it our favorite I love it yeah there there is a quote on here I don't know if you

[00:17:04] want me to read that or not well now that you've mentioned it I feel that you should the whole

[00:17:09] problem with western civilization is that ever since the Greeks we've been trying to squeeze

[00:17:13] the mind into the brain and it won't fit the great gift of the leaf is that it relaxes

[00:17:19] the brain freeing it to float to its true home in the boundless and inexhaustible the sublime state

[00:17:27] we call tea mind that was unexpected also oh tea mind tea mind I wasn't expecting yes yes I

[00:17:37] referenced it frequently yes the sublime state of tea mind um the sub the little thing it says

[00:17:45] vanilla almond but under that it says sweeten the mind tea tea so this gets this sweetened the mind

[00:17:52] tea gets you into tea mind I didn't know it had name and now it does I do think there was a missed

[00:17:59] marketing opportunity here they could be selling this vanilla almond tea in like small little

[00:18:06] canisters as like wedding favors yeah because this is what an odd quote that was a very strange

[00:18:16] well let's just goes with goes with our current predicament it's all the situations um yeah I

[00:18:22] say on that note let's end on the tea mind tea mind cheers thanks for listening be sure to check

[00:18:30] out the show notes for the full list of books we discussed today you can find that in your podcast

[00:18:34] app or on our website ink drinkers podcast dot com and please support us by subscribing anywhere

[00:18:41] you listen to podcasts and leaving a review you can find us on instagram and on twitter at ink drinkers

[00:18:47] pod cheers