Rising Tide

Title: Rising Tide

Author: Lynn Steigleder

Publisher: Soul Fire Press, 2015

Pages: 224

Genre: fantasy, dystopia

Obtained: from the author in exchange for an honest review






Summary: Ben finds himself alone at sea and in life threatening danger. Strange things start to happen as supernatural forces begin to guide Ben toward his destiny.

Thoughts: This book started out really good.  After reading the first couple of chapters I thought the story was unique and it really held my interest.  After that my interest started to fade.  Although the book was easy to follow, I could not picture what was going on.  I understood, but could not see it in my mind's eye.  The characters seemed dry and I didn't care what happened to them.  By the third quarter of the book I felt like the characters were just going from place to place eating, drinking, and bathing.  I made myself read the book to the end and it was a good ending.  It seemed like this author had a beginning and ending but didn't know how to get from the start to the finish.  For me, reading is all about the journey and this voyage was dull.



                                                                 

Company: Whistling Kettle

Tea: Mokalbari East Assam

Obtained: purchased








I purchased the Breakfast Tea Sampler from the Whistling Kettle.  It came in a colorful, pleasing box with six resealable bags enclosed. Thus far I have found this company has given me an all around wonderful experience.  Their website was easy to negotiate.  I received my order quickly.  It was packaged with care.  The packaging and tea were high quality.  There was plenty of information about the tea on the packaging.

Today I tried their Mokalbari East Assam tea.  The whole dark brown leaves were long, thin, and twisted.  They had a sweet, somewhat woodsy aroma.  I put two teaspoons of leaves in my tea kettle and poured twelve ounces of water over the leaves.  I let this steep for five minutes.  The liquid was a dark reddish brown and had a fruity, honey scent.  The taste was strong and flavorful, but not sweet at all.  It was rich, bright, and had malty notes, with a slight astringency.  The website stated that there is a medium caffeine content to this superb tea.  It would be great for breakfast!

After drinking about half the cup, I decided to try it with a little honey and milk.  It really did not need it because it was so flavorful, but I was craving something sweet after enjoying the honey aroma of the liquid.  It was just as good with these additives and they somehow brought out a more fruity flavor.