Ep. 149: Christmas Potpourri

[00:00:16] Welcome to Ink Drinkers, a literary tea party podcast where we discuss books and drink tea. Hello, Marissa and Finn. No childcare today. My mother-in-law is in Rome. I mean, how could she? How rude. My mom is going to New Orleans today, so she wasn't able to watch him. And my aunt was like,

[00:00:45] I would have watched it, but I have my friend's funeral. And I was like, oh, please, sorry. Please go to the funeral. So anyways, and Michael's at work. So we have Finn today and you will hear little sounds. Would you like some more? He's eating and making little piggy noises. Mm-hmm. So you may hear him grunting in the background. But yes, I'm still, I'm dedicated. I am here. Clearly.

[00:01:15] But this may be a quicker than usual episode because of the child and because I have a bazillion things to do. Yeah. For the bookstore. But I'm here to talk about a really great book that I absolutely love. Oh, awesome. Okay. Tell me about it. This was on my tin before the end, which I did not get to. I didn't quite make it. But I'm, yes, yes, it was. But I'm close. I'm close. Sorry. Okay.

[00:01:44] So this was Better Left Unsent by Leah Lewis. It's a British rom-com. Rom-com as more romance women's fiction. Okay. I would say. Better Left Unsent? Unsent. Okay. And I will tell you why. Okay. I think I vaguely remember this. So Millie, yeah, Millie is an assistant at a, some type of firm. I don't exactly understand what they do, to be honest. It's in Britain. They have jobs we don't understand. In Britain.

[00:02:14] In England. Whatever. So two years ago, she was in a relationship with one of like the head guys at the, wherever they work. Mm-hmm. And he was having to go on location. He was going to be gone. I don't know if it was indefinitely or for a certain amount of time, like a year or more. And he was going to India for a project. And she decided she was going to uproot her life and she was going to surprise him and

[00:02:42] she was going to go with him. No. No. And she tells him right before his going away dinner outside the restaurant and he basically is like, I don't want that. And, um. Well, at least she like told him and didn't just show up. Yeah, that's true. Um, so he, he leaves, he ends up forming another relationship with a girl that they work with who goes with him. Mm. Yeah. And it's two years later, they're engaged.

[00:03:12] And when he had gotten back from India, he had like said some nonsense to Millie about how, you know, he still thinks about her and all this, whatever. Kind of stringing her along and not great. Um, she, and then the day after she hear, or like the day or two after she hears that they're engaged and she's like super confused. So she sends this, what she does is throughout this time period of two years of being broken up with him, it kind of, you know, rocked herself and she feels like not her and her confidence

[00:03:41] is low and she thought that they were going to end up together and all this stuff. Uh, she decides to therapeutically type out emails on her work laptop and save them in her drafts. Right. Um, that would be, you know, not great on its own, but then she puts in their actual email address like she's going to send it to them. Um, but there, so she has. Rookie, rookie, rookie. Yeah. Two years of saved messages. And this is to anyone, not just work related people.

[00:04:10] This is to her family members, her friends, um, to people at work that she, you know, had a small encounter with if she's like, you're very rude and like, you know, just whatever she had to say. Um, but all very truthful and not really mean spirited. Just, you know. Just, she's trying to get it off her chest. Yes. Yeah. So one night at work, there is a, um, a technical glitch and all of her emails get sent and they don't just get sent to the person.

[00:04:40] They get sent to all in the company. So everyone in the company gets all of her emails and it's like 117 emails and a bunch of them are to people in the office. So everyone gets to read them. Um, she said one of them was to Owen about what he said to her that, you know, he still missed her and all this stuff, even though he was getting married to Chloe. Um, so every, Chloe works with them. Yeah.

[00:05:05] Oh, so, um, there was also one that she does not think got sent because she got a reply back of saying that the email is no longer working. And it was to, uh, Jack who also works with them, who she had a small little, uh, at the Christmas party after she and, um, Owen broke up. They had a moment where nothing happened, but it seemed flirtatious at the Christmas party. And she just always kind of really likes him. His name is Jack Sherlock. Oh.

[00:05:35] Yeah. And he's quite, um, fit if you know what I mean. Um, so basically her life implodes because. I mean, I guess. So. Um, and HR calls her in, they don't fire her or anything. Um, she starts getting, you know, calls from family members and friends. And some are just like, don't ever talk to me again. Um, uh, she did get a few things out of it cause she had messaged like a few people,

[00:06:05] uh, a few companies and I don't know, she had gone something like a product or something and she had messaged the company and their customer service line. Like two years later they sent her like another badge and like, we're really sorry. You know, thank you for your email and your feedback. Um, so stuff like that. So anyways, the story is just, the book is just cheeky and she's just really great and you really love her and you're reading for her and it's so uncomfortably cringy. I mean.

[00:06:31] And you hear a lot of the emails and then she like walked past the guy's desk and he's just like daggers at her, you know, or people stop talking when she enters like the, the room at the office. You know, I mean I'd have to leave. Like I would have to leave. Of course. Totally. Totally. So, um, she ends up through this process, uh, Chloe and Owen break up and he tries to act like he's still possibly interested in all this stuff but then Jack is kind of in the wings and, um.

[00:07:01] Oh, you like that Finn. Yeah. And it was just really cute and feel good and I loved all the characters like her and Jack and, um, her friends are really great, like her close friends and there's some drama going on in her family which she didn't expect because she always thought her parents were really rock solid and she found out information about them and their past that she didn't know and some things that are happening in the present.

[00:07:26] Um, and it kind of changed her view of you really never know anyone and fully and like what people have going on and, um, she, it's kind of a, a way of getting back to herself from her relationship with Owen that didn't work out and trying to figure out what she really wants in life now that she has perspective. Um, and the worst thing that could have happened happened kind of situation. Yeah.

[00:07:54] Um, but you just, I don't know. It was just really good. It was really well written. It was very British. So it, I just loved it. I loved everything about it. Um, I want to say, I can't remember what her other book or books were, but I feel like I've read and enjoyed Leah Lewis before. Yeah. So I'm not surprised. Right. Yeah. So definitely, definitely a five for me. Awesome. Awesome. Okay. Glad to hear that. I'm always down for anything British. Uh, but my book was not British.

[00:08:25] Um, it is the first in a series and I don't think it's out yet. I think, yeah, it comes out January 28th. So something to look forward to. It's called head cases by John McMahon. And it's very much a dad book, but you know, I love a dad book. Sure. So, so it follows this like sort of misfit group of FBI agents and they're part of the, the

[00:08:54] PAR unit, which stands for patterns and recognition. And basically they're all there because they screwed up somehow. Like they pissed off their superior or they like made some big mistake or whatever. And they got like sent to the PAR unit. Oh, okay. But they end up being a really great team of people who are, I don't know, they're in their head a lot. Their head cases. That's what everybody calls them. Like, oh, the head cases.

[00:09:22] And they're all really smart and really good at their job. And what happens is the one, not the head of the unit, but kind of like the, kind of like the deputy, I guess, of the unit. His name is Gardner Camden. And he kind of stumbles upon a serial serial killer of serial killers. Okay.

[00:09:52] And he's involved in so far as this serial killer is like stringing him along specifically and like calling him and telling him, I know where your family is. Like all this kind of stuff and like really involving him. And Gardner is put in charge, even though he's not the head of the unit, he's put in charge of this particular case.

[00:10:15] And so he and his team are working to solve it and find the serial killer. Right. And the guy like calls and he's like, no, I'm not the bad guy. I'm killing the bad guys. And he's like, you're, you're still murdering people. And that's still not okay. Like. But why did he try to, so he, so he's trying to claim that he's like a Dexter situation. Yeah, sort of. But then he also like threatened him and his family. Yeah.

[00:10:45] So in his, in his mind, he's like this good person who's ridding the world of bad people. But he's a sociopath. He's a sociopath. He's a sociopath. Got it, got it, got it, got it. Yeah. So anyway, the team was just really fun and like just a group of very interesting people. And I really loved Gardner. I love that it's the first in a series. And there were some interesting ties actually to like places that we know.

[00:11:11] So the case takes him all over the country and he goes from like California to Alabama to just all these different places, Arizona. And so I was literally like driving down the interstate to Orange Beach. Well, pretty low key, but basically the same thing as they're talking about Gardner and some of his team members like driving down the That's cool. Yes.

[00:11:36] And so they also mentioned like they flew out of Baton Rouge Airport. Gardner got his master's at LSU. They talked about Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, like all these places that we're super familiar with. So it was just, it was really interesting from that perspective. Yeah. I always like a good book when it has ties that you feel connected to. Yeah. It just makes it a little more fun. Exactly. Exactly. So it was a really good book.

[00:12:06] And then it was also fun to be able to like know some of the places that they were talking about. And I'm just really excited that it's the first in a series because I want more. This is not a debut, right? Um, good question. Let me look up this author. No, he's written, he's written stuff before. It looks like he has one other series. It's the detective P.T. Marsh series. And he's written three books in that.

[00:12:35] And then this is his first in the new par unit series. Cool. I know you love a good series. Yes. I love it. And a good detective series. A detective series, a dad book, a series in general. Yeah. It just hit all of the, all of the boxes for me. Perfect. So five star? Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Okay. I'm like still thinking back to it. Like I want more. Well, you'll get more. I know. I know. But it'll be a while. Um, okay.

[00:13:04] So while Finn is enjoying his puffs. Yes. Let's talk about the tea. Okay. From red stick spice. It is the Holly Jolly tea. And it's a medley of sweet citrus, bright hibiscus and warm spices. And it says you'll enjoy this lovely tea all winter long. And when we first smelled it, it was very overwhelming. Yeah. It felt like being in a holiday store when I was a child and just straight up Christmas

[00:13:34] potpourri. Yeah. Yeah. Marissa said, this smells like Christmas potpourri. And I said, well, we're about to put it in our mouths. Um, but it does not taste as strong as it smells. Thank goodness. It's good. It's not my favorite, but I do like the spiciness of it. Um, I think at Christmas time, specifically drinking this at night when you're baking cookies or something, I think would get you into the holiday vibes.

[00:14:02] Obviously we're drinking it after the fact because Jamie got these for Christmas. Um, but I, I, I like it. Yeah. I, I like it. It's a nice blend of citrus and spice. And I taste all the notes. Yes. Which I like. Yeah. I think it works well. I agree. I'm not like, I don't want to be drinking it right now, but, um, definitely during Christmas time it would be perfect. I think it's something to keep in the cupboard and take out when we're in the holiday vibes,

[00:14:31] which, you know, I know we just ended, but we'll be here before we know it. Cause the years are going by so fast. Yeah. I know. Every year I'm like, I'm going to slow down, take it in. And then like I wake up this morning and it's just nonstop. Can't slow down. But I guess maybe that should be my new year's resolution is to stop and kind of just take in the moments rather than just going through them.

[00:15:01] Yeah. But also to give yourself grace that sometimes that's just what it is. Fair enough. Do you have any new year's resolutions? I didn't really think about it this year. I'm not a huge new year's resolution fan, um, for me personally, just because I feel like it's a good way to say you're going to do something and then not. Yeah. So I don't like to put that stress on myself. Fair enough. But I have been working on, um, a health journey since really September.

[00:15:29] Um, just being aware of what I'm eating and how it's affecting me and trying to feel better overall mentally and physically. Um, so I, during the holidays had a little hiatus from that and, um, I was not feeling well, which is good to see the difference and to feel the difference. So I, as of yesterday, am back on my routine, um, which was harder to get going on, but I

[00:15:58] feel I'm trying to just stay in the headspace of it, which is basically for anyone interested. I'm just doing intermittent fasting. Yeah. Um, and low carb, low sugar. Yeah. And kind of staying within a calorie deficit. So it sounds like both of us are in the space of awareness. You're trying to be aware of what you're eating. Yes. I'm trying to be aware of what I'm doing. Yes. And we'll see how that goes. Yeah.

[00:16:25] I think awareness in all things, all facets of life, um, especially when you have been so, things have been chaotic for so long and you haven't been able to cause sometimes we're in survival mode. Yes. But when we get into the, um, idea of awareness and I think we can, uh, grow. So, and I think that's, that's a good move into the new year for sure. Agreed. Well, Finn, thank you so much for being here with us today.

[00:16:54] Buddy, you did really well. We appreciate your contributions. Hope you enjoyed your meal. And for all those hearing a little pig noises in the background, that was just Finn enjoying his food. He really does sound like a little pig foraging for food. He does. For truffles. Truffle pig. Okay. Well, Finn, on that note. Cheers. Cheers. I would love it if you would just like crunch into the mic at that point.

[00:17:25] Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out the show notes for the full list of books we discussed today. You can find that in your podcast app or on our website, inkdrinkerspodcast.com. And please support us by subscribing anywhere you listen to podcasts and leaving a review. You can find us on Instagram and on Twitter at inkdrinkerspod. Cheers.