Ep. 143: We’re Gonna Go with Irish

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

[00:00:30] Top of the mornin' to ya. Hi. My book is not Irish, but it's Irish- Adjacent? Sure. I mean, I'll get into that later. I'll tell you about it in a minute. Okay. But that's why I said top of the mornin' to ya. Oh.

[00:00:57] Anyway, you always tell me, like I say random things and you're like, oh, you sounded Irish just now.

[00:01:03] Yeah, because you sometimes do. I randomly put an inflection, unintentionally, in my words that apparently makes me sound Irish.

[00:01:15] I don't know how or why. I don't know, but I like it.

[00:01:21] Um, when I was Ray Gunn for Halloween, I really just wanted to talk in an Australian accent all day.

[00:01:31] But then I figured people would look at me like I was crazy. So I didn't do it.

[00:01:37] I wish you would have.

[00:01:39] Well, I wanted- my goal was to just the whole day.

[00:01:42] Where did you get that outfit?

[00:01:43] Amazon.

[00:01:45] That was legit.

[00:01:46] That was legit.

[00:01:46] It actually might be a legitimate Olympic outfit.

[00:01:50] That was great. I thought that was hilarious.

[00:01:51] It like was shipped in from China and I'm like, I think- I think whoever made this like made the actual Olympic uniforms because it was very legit.

[00:02:02] But, um, but yeah, my goal, my plan was just to talk to everybody all day in an Australian accent.

[00:02:09] But then I was like, I went into the grocery store and like nobody was-

[00:02:14] Dressed up.

[00:02:15] Yes! I was dressed in that outfit all day.

[00:02:18] And like a couple people were like, oh man, awesome costume.

[00:02:22] But most people just didn't get it.

[00:02:23] Yeah. So I was like, it would be really weird if I just talked to random people in Australian accents.

[00:02:27] So I didn't do it.

[00:02:28] Yeah.

[00:02:29] And then like that night when I got to my family's party, like I did for a minute and then it got old.

[00:02:33] So I just went back to being me.

[00:02:36] That's the way to go.

[00:02:37] Yeah.

[00:02:38] In all things.

[00:02:39] Yeah.

[00:02:39] Yeah.

[00:02:40] Just go back to being you.

[00:02:43] Be you.

[00:02:45] It's the easiest.

[00:02:47] Um, yeah, but it was fun.

[00:02:48] And I was super comfy all day.

[00:02:51] That's great.

[00:02:51] Like I want to just wear that.

[00:02:54] Just wear it every day.

[00:02:55] All the time.

[00:02:55] It was so comfortable.

[00:02:58] Yeah. I mean, I'll probably wear those pants out.

[00:03:03] Not lying.

[00:03:04] They're so comfortable.

[00:03:07] It's really.

[00:03:08] You're just going to randomly see me in Australian Olympic pants.

[00:03:11] I like it. I like it.

[00:03:13] Anyway, what were you for Halloween?

[00:03:17] I was, um, sorry.

[00:03:18] I'm sorry. Can you start that again without your yawn?

[00:03:23] I was Cinderella's very godmother.

[00:03:25] Oh, of course.

[00:03:26] Of course.

[00:03:27] Yeah.

[00:03:28] I loved Lucia's, um, like just her super high bun and just, she just looks so cute.

[00:03:35] Thanks.

[00:03:36] Yeah.

[00:03:36] Yeah.

[00:03:37] It was funny.

[00:03:38] She sang the entire time.

[00:03:40] That was so adorable.

[00:03:41] That video was just a piece.

[00:03:43] She sang the whole hour we trick or treated.

[00:03:46] The entire time.

[00:03:48] It was really funny.

[00:03:49] Um, she's amazing.

[00:03:51] She loved it.

[00:03:52] Loved it.

[00:03:53] She was, she couldn't just her excitement, her childlike wonder was really, um, infectious.

[00:04:00] And it was, you know, drizzling and she was just having the time of her life.

[00:04:05] Uh, he slaps the thing, which is great.

[00:04:08] Of course.

[00:04:09] That reminds me of when we did Bippity Boppity Boutique with Margo and they dressed her up

[00:04:13] like a princess and then she immediately changed out of it into a different princess outfit.

[00:04:20] But anyway.

[00:04:21] Yeah.

[00:04:21] She's rolling to princesses right now.

[00:04:23] Yeah.

[00:04:23] She's in that phase.

[00:04:24] I think Margo was just a different princess for every Halloween party that she, cause they

[00:04:29] go to like 10 Halloween parties and they have a different costume for every party.

[00:04:34] Yeah.

[00:04:34] And I think she was just a different princess for everyone.

[00:04:36] Well, she was Belle for one Halloween event and then she was Cinderella.

[00:04:41] Nice.

[00:04:41] She had her Elsa dress, but she was just Elsa around the house.

[00:04:44] And then, um, she was Batman at her daycare.

[00:04:48] Love it.

[00:04:49] Yeah.

[00:04:49] Yeah.

[00:04:49] She's very well rounded.

[00:04:50] Yes.

[00:04:51] I like that.

[00:04:53] Margo was Anna.

[00:04:56] And, um, I, not Moana.

[00:05:00] She has a Moana costume too.

[00:05:01] She wasn't, or maybe she was Moana.

[00:05:03] I think she was Moana for one of them.

[00:05:05] And then she was also, um, the girl from Encanto, I think.

[00:05:10] Um.

[00:05:12] I can't remember her name.

[00:05:14] Marisol?

[00:05:15] Mirabel.

[00:05:16] Mirabel.

[00:05:16] Yeah.

[00:05:17] I think, I don't know.

[00:05:18] They had so many, like I couldn't even keep up.

[00:05:21] And she was supposed to be a minion at some point, but I never saw that one.

[00:05:23] Hmm.

[00:05:24] So.

[00:05:24] Yeah.

[00:05:25] Interesting.

[00:05:25] Anyway.

[00:05:27] Adorable.

[00:05:28] Kids are adorable.

[00:05:29] Oh, and Finn was a pumpkin.

[00:05:30] Aww.

[00:05:32] I was a pumpkin when I was his age.

[00:05:33] Me too.

[00:05:35] Is that like requisite?

[00:05:36] Yeah.

[00:05:37] Well, and you know, it kind of went with the Cinderella theme.

[00:05:40] Yeah.

[00:05:41] That's cute.

[00:05:43] Okay.

[00:05:43] Do you want to hear about my book now?

[00:05:45] I do.

[00:05:45] Please tell me.

[00:05:47] So, I usually try not to do a book by an author that I've done before.

[00:05:54] However, this book was so good.

[00:05:56] I need to tell you about it.

[00:05:57] Tell me.

[00:05:59] It's called What Happened to the McCrays by Tracy Lang.

[00:06:02] Okay.

[00:06:03] I've seen that cover.

[00:06:04] She wrote We Are the Brennans.

[00:06:06] Right.

[00:06:06] And I can't remember what her first one was called.

[00:06:07] And it looks like that.

[00:06:08] And yeah, they look similar.

[00:06:10] And they're all about like Irish families.

[00:06:13] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:13] And this one didn't specifically have, like there was no mention about it being like an

[00:06:18] Irish family or anything like that, but.

[00:06:20] You got that feel.

[00:06:21] Yeah.

[00:06:22] And all of her books have been that.

[00:06:23] So, and it's the McCrays.

[00:06:25] Right.

[00:06:26] Yeah.

[00:06:26] Sure.

[00:06:26] I like it.

[00:06:27] I was like Irish in my mind.

[00:06:29] Yeah.

[00:06:31] Even though that didn't feature prominently into this particular story.

[00:06:34] Um, I had a book hangover after this one.

[00:06:38] So, it was just so good.

[00:06:40] So, we have Kyle McCray and Casey McCray.

[00:06:43] And what we know at the beginning of the story is that Kyle has been away from town,

[00:06:52] which is Potsdam, New York.

[00:06:55] Okay.

[00:06:55] For a couple of years, like two, two and a half years.

[00:06:58] We don't know why he left.

[00:07:00] Um, but he came back because he got a phone call that his father had had a stroke.

[00:07:08] So, he needed to come back to take care of his father.

[00:07:11] Um, and we slowly start to uncover why he left and what exactly happened leading up to

[00:07:20] him leaving.

[00:07:21] Okay.

[00:07:22] So, when he gets back to town, we learn that Casey was his wife.

[00:07:27] They're now divorced.

[00:07:29] Um, and it's pretty obvious that he left town because of something related to that, to the

[00:07:35] divorce, to her, something like that.

[00:07:37] Um, but he just kind of left town without telling anybody.

[00:07:40] He didn't tell his father.

[00:07:42] He didn't tell like all the people that he was close to.

[00:07:45] He just left.

[00:07:47] Um, and we don't exactly know why.

[00:07:50] Okay.

[00:07:51] But all of that is slowly revealed, um, as Kyle begins to go about his life in the town

[00:08:00] again.

[00:08:02] So, he used to be a hockey player.

[00:08:05] He is recruited to coach the eighth grade boys team to fill in for somebody, um, at the

[00:08:13] school where his ex-wife is a teacher.

[00:08:17] Um, and the two of them obviously like they, they see each other frequently, um, and they

[00:08:23] interact with each other and it's not great, but you can tell that like there's still love

[00:08:28] there and that it was a diff, it was difficult for both of them to let go of that.

[00:08:33] So, we also, while we're in the present day, we go back to the past to when Kyle and Casey

[00:08:40] first met and we start to see their, um, relationship and how it formed.

[00:08:47] And we go all the way up to when Kyle left town.

[00:08:53] Mm.

[00:08:53] So, it's like this slow burn mystery of like learning all of the details.

[00:08:58] Interesting.

[00:08:59] That led up to his leaving.

[00:09:01] This was not an easy book.

[00:09:04] Like it was heavy.

[00:09:06] Um, but because there's that mystery element, you want to keep reading it like you can't

[00:09:11] stop.

[00:09:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:12] And it was just so like, oh, it was mind blowing.

[00:09:16] It was so well done.

[00:09:17] And the tension was very real, but like the characters were well developed and like you

[00:09:28] could feel, you could understand why they felt the way they felt and why they did the

[00:09:33] things they did.

[00:09:34] And I don't know.

[00:09:36] I just, I'm constantly amazed at how good of an author Tracy Lang is.

[00:09:43] Like she does such a good job with her books and I don't think I am doing this book justice

[00:09:47] at all by my description.

[00:09:49] Um, but if you liked her other two books, like I think this is her best one so far.

[00:09:54] Okay.

[00:09:55] Yeah.

[00:09:55] That's pretty big praise.

[00:09:57] Yeah.

[00:09:58] That's great.

[00:09:58] Yes.

[00:09:59] Okay.

[00:09:59] Cool.

[00:10:00] Just trust me, even though it doesn't sound good for my description, just trust me that

[00:10:03] it's amazing.

[00:10:04] And it, in case that wasn't clear, it has 4.6 stars on Goodreads.

[00:10:11] 4.6.

[00:10:13] Yep.

[00:10:14] So it's, uh, definitely should be added to your TBR list.

[00:10:17] It should.

[00:10:18] I do have to warn you though, it doesn't come out until January.

[00:10:22] Okay.

[00:10:22] Sorry.

[00:10:23] But, um, I did get an advanced copy of this through the Macmillan audio program.

[00:10:27] So we will be tagging them.

[00:10:29] Got it.

[00:10:30] All right.

[00:10:31] Um, I was still in a witchy mood when I read this.

[00:10:35] Um, and it's called The Wedding Witch.

[00:10:38] Oh, well, all right then.

[00:10:40] Wedding Merrin.

[00:10:41] Wedding Sterling.

[00:10:42] This is, uh, book three in her series.

[00:10:45] Oh, like X-Hex.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:46] Gotcha.

[00:10:48] Um, I liked this one a lot.

[00:10:50] I think I read the X-Hex and I like this one more.

[00:10:52] I'm pretty sure.

[00:10:52] I didn't read The Kiss Curse, which is the second one.

[00:10:55] Okay.

[00:10:55] But, um.

[00:10:56] How you can just like pick and choose what books you read out of a series is beyond me.

[00:11:03] I don't know.

[00:11:03] I do it all the time.

[00:11:03] I'm just gonna skip this one.

[00:11:05] I'll just read book number 17.

[00:11:08] Well, it was really good.

[00:11:09] And I usually only do it if there's like a three.

[00:11:11] I don't, I'm not a big multi-series.

[00:11:14] Yeah.

[00:11:14] Like how you can get into it.

[00:11:16] Yeah.

[00:11:16] I get a little, I'm over it.

[00:11:19] So I'm not doing it.

[00:11:20] I mean, that's fine.

[00:11:20] So anyways, this one was really good.

[00:11:22] Um, it was really cute.

[00:11:24] So basically, um, Bowen Pinhalo is a witch.

[00:11:28] He's been a loner his whole life.

[00:11:30] He has a bunch of brothers.

[00:11:31] He has a dad who's, he is, he's estranged from, who's a total jerk.

[00:11:36] Um, and he studies dark and ancient magic and he has, he tries to acquire, um, artifacts.

[00:11:46] And the way that he acquires these artifacts, um, is through this woman who he has been in

[00:11:55] like the dark webs of the internet.

[00:11:57] He found this girl, um, and her name is Tamsin.

[00:12:03] Okay.

[00:12:03] Tamsin Bly, Bly, I think.

[00:12:06] Um, Tamsin is not magical.

[00:12:07] She's not a witch.

[00:12:08] Um, in this particular universe, um, humans and witches know about each other and like

[00:12:14] co-mingle, marry each other, no problem, whatever.

[00:12:19] Um, obviously if you marry a, um, mortal, then your bloodline could be less magical.

[00:12:26] Yeah.

[00:12:27] But you could also have two witches that marry each other that don't have magical children.

[00:12:31] Oh, so it's really just a toss up.

[00:12:33] Correct.

[00:12:34] Um, so anyways, Bowen is obviously very good looking, but he is, um, kind of detached from

[00:12:42] reality.

[00:12:43] He lives off the grid.

[00:12:45] Um, he doesn't have any close friends or relationships.

[00:12:47] And over this period of a year that he meet, meets through the internet and phone calls with Tamsin, um, he starts to kind of form a bond with her.

[00:12:59] They end up meeting the, before they start working together, they meet up in person and, um, at this bar or whatever.

[00:13:07] And she's American.

[00:13:09] I'll say that he is, I guess he's Irish.

[00:13:13] Okay.

[00:13:13] He's either Irish or Scottish.

[00:13:15] I'm not sure.

[00:13:15] Okay.

[00:13:16] Um, we're going to go with Irish for the purposes of this episode.

[00:13:21] And, um, um, so when she gets to the, you know, they're talking back and forth and then when they go to leave, she, she says, you know, we're going to work together now.

[00:13:30] And he puts out his hand and he's like, deal, you know, and they had done their negotiating and what he was going to pay her and all that kind of stuff.

[00:13:37] And before she shakes his hand, she grabs him and kisses him.

[00:13:41] And it's like the best kiss ever.

[00:13:43] And she was like, okay, now I can shake on it because I don't mix business with pleasure.

[00:13:48] It's like, but I needed to get that out.

[00:13:50] Okay.

[00:13:50] So he's just like, what?

[00:13:52] You know, um, he's enamored by her.

[00:13:55] He's trying to pretend like he's not, she really likes him.

[00:13:58] She also has like a background where she's kind of a loner and she's never been super close to their family.

[00:14:03] No one really knows what she does for a living.

[00:14:05] So she basically disguises herself and goes into, um, you know, wealthy people's homes at parties or whatever.

[00:14:12] And she's, she finds the, uncovers these, um, artifacts and then gives them to dealers.

[00:14:17] Like she's, she basically, she's a, she's a thief.

[00:14:20] Yeah.

[00:14:22] Um.

[00:14:22] For good.

[00:14:23] Right.

[00:14:23] So something has happened about 10 years ago that we slowly start to uncover, um, in regard to Bowen's best friend.

[00:14:31] Um, we don't understand if he's actually dead or not.

[00:14:36] There's a weird situation there.

[00:14:38] He was also a witch.

[00:14:39] Something happened.

[00:14:41] We find out about it through the course of the novel.

[00:14:43] Um, but what does happen is that Tamsin in their agreement has agreed to no longer work with any, anyone else.

[00:14:53] She's only working with Bowen.

[00:14:55] Hmm.

[00:14:55] Okay.

[00:14:56] Um, but she just happens, it's Christmas time.

[00:15:00] She happens to be looking at like her old posts online where she would find some of her jobs and she sees a job posted and the reward is a million dollars.

[00:15:08] If you uncover this hard fact.

[00:15:09] Hmm.

[00:15:10] And she was like, I mean, I'm just not going to tell him.

[00:15:12] Yeah.

[00:15:13] That's too hard to pass up.

[00:15:14] Um, that's the most she's ever seen a job go for.

[00:15:18] She's like, I'm just not going to tell him.

[00:15:19] I'm going to show up.

[00:15:21] No big deal.

[00:15:21] So she dons this whole, you know, dress.

[00:15:25] She gets to this fancy house somewhere, I think in Scotland or wherever they are in Ireland.

[00:15:31] I don't really remember.

[00:15:32] Um, it's, it's a weekend of, it's a wedding that she's going to.

[00:15:38] Gotcha.

[00:15:38] And it's like this ugly brooch that she's supposed to find.

[00:15:43] Okay.

[00:15:44] She gets there, she gets introduced and then who walks in?

[00:15:48] Well, of course Bowen.

[00:15:49] Right.

[00:15:50] Um, so I'm not going to go into much more detail other than to say that they go back in time.

[00:15:57] They're time travelers.

[00:15:58] So that can be discussed.

[00:16:00] Okay.

[00:16:00] And, um, it's, I mean, a slow burn to their relationship, but they're flirty the whole time.

[00:16:08] You really like feel a soft spot for him.

[00:16:12] She's, they're just kind of these lonely people that found, you know, something special in each other, but are trying to keep their professional and private lives separate.

[00:16:25] Um, it's a little steamy in there.

[00:16:29] The witch aspect was really cool.

[00:16:31] It's just a really good for you.

[00:16:32] It was fun.

[00:16:33] It was cute and felt.

[00:16:35] Yeah.

[00:16:35] I loved it.

[00:16:36] I, I don't think I ever finished the X-Hex.

[00:16:40] It wasn't my jam, but this one sounds cute.

[00:16:43] I liked this one a lot.

[00:16:44] Yeah.

[00:16:45] Um, can I do the tea?

[00:16:47] Yeah, you do the tea.

[00:16:48] This is another, um, new tea from chapters tea and coffee.

[00:16:53] This one is called chai cafe vanilla.

[00:16:57] I would really like it.

[00:16:58] I like it.

[00:17:00] Yeah, I do too.

[00:17:01] And I'm not usually a chai person, but I think it's really good.

[00:17:04] It's not, um, overly bold.

[00:17:07] It's very subtle.

[00:17:08] Even though whenever I was putting the tea into the tea bags, it was so strong, spicy that it made me sneeze.

[00:17:15] Yeah.

[00:17:15] I don't get that from them.

[00:17:17] It doesn't taste strong.

[00:17:19] So the back says our artists drawing of a cozy cafe is a place made to unwind and take in the story of your life and those around you.

[00:17:27] Taste a delightful flavor profile of spices, vanilla, and a lively ginger finish accentuated by candy cardamom that tastes great, hot or iced.

[00:17:38] And again, 5% of all their profit is donated to mental health awareness, which is great.

[00:17:43] Um, the ingredients are black tea, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, white pepper, clove.

[00:17:49] That's what made me sneeze.

[00:17:50] Nutmeg, calendula petals.

[00:17:52] Am I saying that right?

[00:17:53] Sounds right.

[00:17:54] And of course our favorite.

[00:17:56] Natural flavors.

[00:17:56] Natural flavors.

[00:17:58] Yes, yes, yes.

[00:17:58] Did you say that it's the chai cafe vanilla?

[00:18:02] Did you say that?

[00:18:02] Yeah.

[00:18:02] Okay.

[00:18:03] Sorry.

[00:18:03] Cafe vanilla.

[00:18:04] Sometimes I like zone out a little bit.

[00:18:06] Yeah.

[00:18:07] Chai tea with vanilla notes.

[00:18:09] It's really good.

[00:18:10] It's not overwhelming.

[00:18:11] It's a really good chai.

[00:18:13] If you don't love chai, like this would be the one.

[00:18:16] This is the one to drink because it's really smooth.

[00:18:19] Yeah.

[00:18:19] It's not too strong, not too spicy.

[00:18:22] And I think the vanilla in it kind of tones down the spices.

[00:18:26] It does.

[00:18:27] It's very good.

[00:18:28] Delicious.

[00:18:29] I really like it.

[00:18:31] I'm a fan.

[00:18:32] I would drink this again.

[00:18:33] It's great.

[00:18:34] What more could you ask for?

[00:18:36] Um, okay.

[00:18:37] Well, thank you for chatting books with me.

[00:18:39] Yeah.

[00:18:39] Hot note.

[00:18:41] Cheers.

[00:18:41] Cheers.

[00:18:42] Thanks for listening.

[00:18:43] Be sure to check out the show notes for the full list of books we discussed today.

[00:18:47] You can find that in your podcast app or on our website, inkdrinkerspodcast.com.

[00:18:52] And please support us by subscribing anywhere you listen to podcasts and leaving a review.

[00:18:58] You can find us on Instagram and on Twitter at inkdrinkerspod.

[00:19:01] Cheers.

[00:19:04] Bye.