The Lying Game

Title: The Lying Game

Author: Ruth Ware

Narrator: Imogen Church

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2017

Format: 11 compact discs, 13 hours and 39 minutes

Genre: mystery, thriller

Obtained: library



Summary: Isa, Kate, Fatima, and Thea, close friends from boarding school, have a secret.  The four have not been together for many years, but when Kate sends a text to her three friends saying "I need you", they drop everything and go to her.  What will happen when the secret and lies from the past make their way into the present?

Thoughts: My favorite aspect of this author's writing is the atmosphere she creates with her setting and characters.  She makes you feel not only through the complex characters, but through the settings.  She was able to change a beautiful and relaxing setting into a scary, menacing one depending on what was happening in the story.  The author brought the characters to life.   It felt like they were real people. Isa, the character that relates the story was so much more believable to me than Lo, in The Woman in Cabin 10 , also written by this author.

The story itself was a good one, but the author's way of telling it made it even better.  She has a way of giving the reader snippets of information and clues a little at a time adding to the suspense and mystery, and she doesn't stop until the end.  She also writes with detail, but not enough to weigh the story down- just enough so that the reader can easily picture it in his or her head.  The book switches back and forth from present to past, but it is easy to follow and not confusing in the least.

The narrator did a fantastic job portraying the characters, and their emotions with her voice.  She used clear, precise speech which was very easy to follow.  I did hate that this audio book had such long tracks, though.  This was a story I couldn't wait to listen to, even if I only had a couple of minutes.  Many time I'd have to move a disc to another device and would end up having to listen to half a track I had already listened to when I really wanted to hear what was going to happen next.

If you like books with interesting characters, secrets, mystery, suspense, mood and atmosphere you can feel, intriguing settings, and a book with some depth that is hard to put down- look no further.....


                                                                

Company: The Whistling Kettle

Tea: East Frisian Blend

Obtained: purchased







I purchased the Breakfast Tea Sampler from The Whistling Kettle.  The samples were in a good quality, colorful box.  Each was in a small resealable bag as pictured above.  Information about the teas was attached to the box and the bags which included brewing suggestions. Today I tried the East Frisian Blend, which is a blend of black teas from Assam, Java, and Sumatra.  The short, black and brown, crinkly leaves had a sweet, earthy scent.  I put 2 teaspoons of leaves into my tea pot and poured 12 ounces of water that had been boiled over the leaves.  I let this steep for 4 minutes.  The deep reddish brown liquid had a sweet, earthy scent like the leaves, but the taste was not sweet at all.  This tea had a strong, full, round, malty flavor.  It would make a great breakfast tea.  I made a piece of toast to go with mine, but I wished I had a scone to go with it.  If you like strong teas, this is one to try.  It only has a medium caffeine content.  It is not a wake-me- up type of tea.  It is more of a soothing tea even though it is strong.