Story for the Week
No matter what kind of a job you have (even if that job is student), you have a schedule, a routine. You get up at a certain time. You eat breakfast and probably lunch around the same time. You probably even go to bed around the same time. Well, at least that’s what the experts tell you to do. 😁
I went back to work on February 1 after a four-month leave of absence. While I was on leave, I didn’t have any kind of routine at all. I woke up in the morning to make sure Corinne was up for school and then usually went back to bed for however long my mind and body wanted to be in bed. Sometimes that was 10, and sometimes it was 1. I didn’t have a set time I went to bed either. More than once, I was still awake at 2 or 3 in the morning. When I got up for the day, I would start to do things around the house and ended up binge watching Netflix or Amazon Prime. I watched every episode of Broadchurch, Virgin River, The Queen’s Gambit, Schitt’s Creek, and Bridgerton. I watched so many holiday movies that I lost count.
Through it all, I finished only three books, which is at least 10 books fewer than I would have normally read in four months. The last book alone took me two months to finish. Reading is typically part of my normal routine. It’s an everyday thing for me. But in those four months, it wasn’t my default. It wasn’t the way I found peace.
That’s grief.
I was ready to go back to work. I was ready to be (virtually) embraced by my work family. I’m lucky to have real friends at work, people who truly care about one another. One of my co-workers literally started to cry when she saw me on a video call because she missed me so much.
That’s love. It’s unusual in the workplace, but I work for an unusually great firm.
Knowing I had that is what made it easy for me to stay home for four months because I needed to. I’m still grieving. Part of me may always be grieving. But knowing I had the support I needed to make the transition made it easy to go back to work. And yes, I know how lucky I am to have that.
I spent the first week back going through my email inbox, seeing what I missed from a firm news perspective, catching up on training that I had to complete. The past two weeks, calls started being added back to my calendar—standing project calls that take place every week at the same time with the same group in order to move things forward. Getting up at the same time every day, getting on the same calls every week, that’s the routine I was lacking. That’s the routine I was ready to get back.
I needed the time I took off. And I needed to go back to work.
I have a good routine now, and I work with awesome people who make the days fun even when they’re challenging. I’m reading every day again. I could probably improve in terms of getting to bed at the same time every night, but that’s been an issue a lot longer than the last four months. There’s a saying about having a terrible sleep disorder…called reading. That’s always been me. 😜
Imagine, however, if your work routine included a threatening phone call once a week. Teresa Driscoll was a repeat author for me (and she has a new book coming out this year 👏). Her last book centers around a journalist who receives a threatening phone call every Wednesday like clockwork. Happy Hump Day? Not really.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for I Will Make You Pay by Teresa Driscoll
317 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: October 10, 2019
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.
Publisher’s Description
Every Wednesday, like clockwork, the terror returns.
It seems like an ordinary Wednesday, until the phone rings. A mysterious caller with a chilling threat. Journalist Alice Henderson hangs up, ready to dismiss it as a hoax against the newspaper. But the next Wednesday, the stalker makes another move—and it becomes clear that this is all about Alice.
Someone wants her to suffer, but for what? Her articles have made her a popular local champion—could it be her past rather than her work that’s put her life in danger? Alice is determined not to give in to fear, but with the police investigation at a dead end, her boyfriend insists on hiring private investigator Matthew Hill.
With every Wednesday the warnings escalate, until it’s not only Alice but also her family in the stalker’s sights. As her tormentor closes in, can Alice uncover what she’s being punished for before the terrifying threats become an unthinkable reality?
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I requested this title because I enjoyed the last book I read by Teresa Driscoll, and I Will Make You Pay did not disappoint! I thought I had figured it out. I was mad that I figured it out so soon. I should have figured it out sooner, but I hadn’t figured it out at all!
This is a page-turner that you will not want to put down. An incredibly fast read, this book will keep you guessing. Alice is a journalist in her late 20s who is being tormented by someone. She is incredibly trusting and naïve but also very likable. Her boyfriend Tom will do everything in his power (and within his bank account) to protect her, and her colleague Jack seems to have a little bit of a crush on her and wants to look out for her. I was also surprised to see Matthew and Sally (the private investigator and his wife), who met in Driscoll’s The Promise. I liked them in that book, so I was glad to see the characters carry over and have their happily ever after.
I don’t want to give anything away to spoil this for anyone else. Pick this one up. You’ll be very glad that you did!
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