Usually, I dive into fantansy books featuring main characters who look like me. But for some reason, this one just isnt grabbing my mind. I've started and stopped this work of words several times since it was added to my shelf

After finishing The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of fascination and frustration. From the very first page, I was drawn into Venus Stoneheart’s world—a place where magic is both a blessing and a curse, and the lines between right and wrong blur in unexpected ways. I’ve always been a sucker for stories that mix fantasy with real-world issues, and Baptiste delivers on that front, exploring themes like racism, classism, and political manipulation. It felt like a gritty, magical version of our own society, which immediately hooked me.

Venus, a young witcher trying to make ends meet by brewing love potions, is a character I could root for, but also one I struggled to fully connect with. Her moral dilemmas are powerful and relatable, especially when her world begins to unravel, but I sometimes found myself wanting more depth in her personal journey. The book has a large cast of characters, and while I understand why that’s important for the story, it made it harder to keep track of who everyone was and what their motivations were at times.

The pacing also threw me off a little. There were moments where the action dragged, and I found myself wishing things would pick up faster. However, the world-building was incredibly well done—Baptiste’s take on magic felt fresh and immersive, and the political aspects of the story kept me intrigued, even when I wasn’t as invested in the characters’ arcs.

One thing that really stood out to me was how the book made me think about the consequences of power and control. The potion recipes at the end were a nice touch, and it added a layer of authenticity to the magic system that I appreciated. Even though the book didn’t hit every mark for me personally, it left me thinking long after I finished reading, which, for me, is the mark of a well-done fantasy novel.

In the end, I’d recommend The Poisons We Drink to anyone who loves complex, morally gray characters, magical systems with depth, and stories that don’t shy away from tackling serious societal issues. While it didn’t completely resonate with me, I can see its appeal to readers who enjoy a more thought-provoking fantasy. It’s a book that lingers, and even if I didn’t always love the pacing, the story stuck with me.

Felt like all the pieces were there for me to love this book, but the pacing kept tripping me up. The unique magic system was amazing and painful, the political aspect, the social oppression, and a badass FMC - all of these should have made this book a no-brainer, but unfortunately the pacing was chunky, making it hard to build momentum. A cool standalone fantasy that should have been amazing but was just okay.

This YA urban fantasy debut by Bethany Baptiste follows Venus Stoneheart, a young Witcher who brews potions for hire. The story delves into several important themes, including racism, classism, mental illness, and political control, all of which are explored thoughtfully throughout the book.

When Venus’s life is upended and she’s forced to fight back, she learns just how far some people are willing to go to achieve their goals.

The magical world, the writing, the characters (especially Leap, the best familiar!), and the world-building were all highlights for me. I’m hoping for a sequel or spin-off because I can’t wait to dive back into this world.

This urban fantasy caught my attention immediately because it had characters who felt authentic rather than traditional fantasy tropes. There is the classic us versus them with the humans versus the magic-enabled Witchers, but there was a lot of crossover with marriages and such. I particularly appreciated the arguments that each group fronted regarding the other, and I felt that this could lend itself to some great discussions around otherness without being politically heavy-handed. Thematic topics of loyalty, family, perseverance, morality, and service abound. I could easily see it as a high school book club.

There are plenty of plot twists that I didn't see coming, so that keeps the forward momentum going. The audio version is extremely well done, so I highly recommend that version. Enjoy, my friends!

Thanks also to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Disappointing Dive into Urban Fantasy

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste presents an intriguing premise: a world where magic and politics collide, and love potions are both a livelihood and a weapon. However, despite its potential, the execution falls short in several areas.

Venus Stoneheart, our protagonist, is thrust into turmoil after her mother's untimely death, taking on the dangerous role of a Brewer in a society that criminalizes her craft. While the setup promises a thrilling journey, the narrative is bogged down by uneven pacing and choppy sentences, leading to a climax that feels both sudden and unsatisfying.

The world-building, though creative, often overwhelms the reader with its complexity, making it challenging to fully immerse oneself in the story. Additionally, the dialogue is marred by repetitive descriptions and instances of misogynistic language, detracting from the overall reading experience.

While the supporting cast offers some bright spots, with lively and well-developed characters, they aren't enough to offset the novel's structural issues. The themes of family, magic, and societal prejudice are present but lack the depth and cohesion needed to make a lasting impact.

Final Verdict: Despite its promising concept, The Poisons We Drink struggles with execution, resulting in a read that doesn't quite deliver on its potential.

I’d been looking forward to this book from the moment I first heard about it, and I’m so glad I finally was able to read it. This is an excellent story of love in many forms and the ways children pay the cost of their parents’ choices. There are so many fantastic bonds in this story, especially between Venus and her sister, Janice. Family is such a complex weaving of connections, and I love that family isn’t just blood but also the people you choose. The politics of this is also timely and at times rough, but handled so eloquently within the world. I had such a great time with this book and had trouble putting it down.

It’s always disappointing when something sounds sooooo good but it just doesn’t get there. I loved the premise behind this and the magic system was great too. The follow through here didn’t work for me. I struggled through much of it.

"Hustlers don't follow directions. We make our own rules."

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Poisons We Drink takes place in an alternate reality version 0f Washington DC where the worlds of Witchers and humans battle it out everyday. Witchers are persecuted for having access to magic and humans control the government and make all the rules. Within DC lives a young teenager named Venus Stoneheart, who hustles illegal love potions to support her family. Venus' biggest fear? Her own dark magic. After her mother is killed with an iron bullet, the responsibility of keeping her little sister, Janus, safe falls to Venus. An offer to exact revenge on her mother's killer is offered to her, but the cost? Make illegal potions to enslave DC's most influential politicians to keep an anti-witcher act from passing.

Upon reading the summary of this book, I thought it sounded super interesting cause I tend to like the fusion of urban fantasy. However, the modern setting/language involved with this book often took me out of the moment and ruined the scenes for me because some of the characters had aspects of their personality that the urban language did not mesh well with. It just ended up sounding really strange. I really wanted to love the story but for me, it was incredibly hard to follow because the magic system (as well as other aspects of the novel) was not fleshed out very well. I spent half the book just trying to figure out the purpose of Venus' deviation. There were also so many characters within different families that it made it hard to keep track of how everyone connected to each other and made it hard for me to get behind any of the characters. I think the book would've benefited from a family tree at the beginning of the novel. I also think that the story could've come to a resolution way faster because it dragged in a lot of places.

Overall, there really wasn't much for me to like about this novel. 2/5 stars.

Honestly, I struggled with this one. BUT I loved the idea of the magic system and the way it demanded a toll. The pacing for me was a struggle as I couldn't get the momentum, and then some of the choices the author made had me increasingly disliking the main character. I'm probably in the minority on this one but the themes and the plot just didn't work for me.

I really liked the story of this book, but I did find that it was definitely longer than it needed to be. Venus is a great main character, but there was a lot of being told and not shown why she was doing the things she did. It took a long while for the story to get really going, but once it did I was really invested in the tale we were being told!

Unfortunately, I think I needed a peitho potion to fall in love with this book.

The Poisons We Drink follows Venus, a witcher who brews illicit love potions in a country that persecutes witchers for simply existing. Brewing these potions is taxing work, but Venus does so to provide for her family, working alongside her mother, who is the head of the operation. When Venus' mother is murdered, Venus is consumed by the desire for revenge and is given the chance to achieve it. In exchange, she must brew potions for senators to influence them to vote against a discriminatory bill targeting witchers and take a blood oath to the powerful Grand Witcher, essentially allowing herself to become their puppet. This cost may have been even steeper than Venus first realises, as she discovers the extent of the Grand Witcher's misdeeds. All the while, Venus is struggling to subdue a dark magic that exists inside her, which hungers for bloodshed and the chance to wreak chaos.

If I'm being entirely honest, I'm not entirely sure what I thought of this book. The potential was there - there were several shocking and engaging events throughout, but in between them, I was quite bored. This meant by the end of the book - which is supposed to be the most entertaining part - I could barely muster the effort to care. In general, I prefer fast-paced, plot-driven stories, and this was not that. Instead, we spend a lot of time with Venus, who has a lot of repetitive conversations with It and is quite stubborn. She also spends a lot of time with equally stubborn people, all of whom seem intent on just creating more problems for themselves. That being said, I did like the way Venus and her family + Presley love and support each other through the messes they create.

As for the magic system, I thought it was an interesting way to discuss discrimination and government control in an urban fantasy context, and I thought it was fun that people have their own "callings". I'm not entirely sure about how "deviations" come about, and sometimes it seemed absurd to me that Venus did not die, despite it being mentioned how deadly brewing could be and the sheer number of risks she took, but overall, I liked the fantasy elements of this story.

Overall, while I did not hate this book, I did not connect with it the way I had hoped to.

I really enjoyed all the nuance this book contained covering topics from magic, potion making, and the pieces that go into it and could effect it to the heavier topics of grief death and more. I think the impact of using potions and magic was incredibly well thought out and delivered. I think sometimes we see books that contain magic and the effects are never included or explained. So I very much like this edition! Honestly go and read this book.

Wooooooo what a ride lol. I love this author on social media and it's cool to see how she writes as I feel like her voice came alive in this story. This was definitely an action packed book and the MC definitely had a personality that was felt throughout. It had a lot of commentary on real life that I appreciated too. A cool read with social commentary told through the lens of a magical world. Definitely recommend.

Oh, I loved reading this book! The synopsis sounded really entertaining, and this book fulfilled that promise, reading this book was just wonderful! This world of love potions and humans and witchers was so entertaining to read more of!

I felt really badly for Venus, she brews these potions, but she has to deal with the side effects. Then her mom is killed, and she's pulled into these politics of taking control of D.C. It was pretty awful, and it sucks that she was put in that position!

How the magic works with the potions and such was really interesting to read about! Venus's type with the potions and the different emotions and bonds it can create, for good and bad, I wanted to learn more, about how it works, how it can be used.

I was thinking that this book would evoke my emotions, and it did! With the situation that she was in, the unfairness of the world with people trying to tighten control of magic users, I just raged against it, and I was hoping by the end that it would be a better world, and yeah, I think it is, even just for Venus to have grown and changed from the events of this book.

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Bethany Baptiste!

TITLE: The Poisons We Drink
AUTHOR: Bethany Baptiste
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Fire
RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
GENRES: YA fantasy, magic, witches, LGBTQ+ BUY LINKS: https://bookshop.org/a/25463/9781728251950 SYNOPSIS:
In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.
Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.
Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.
As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust...
Herself included.
#turnthepagetours # ##thepoisonwedrink #bethanybaptiste #sourcebooksfire #ttpt
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Another great debut! It’s a fantasy that is steeped in all the Practical Magic goodness within a society of witches and humans in a contemporary setting. It’s about Venus Stoneheart who is a brewer of love potions and this brings in most of her family's income but after some tragic events, she finds herself falling into the dark underbelly of her society. Come to find out there’s a lot of friction between witches and humans and Venus has to make some difficult decisions. I feel like witchy reads are the one type of book you can read all year around so put this on your tbr.

This a really good book about grief and teenage angst. Venus having to navigate the pain of losing her mother and having to take care of her bratty little sister. Being given the opportunity by someone she trusts to get that revenge should make Venus feel powerful, instead, she is lost her way. Venus has to decide what is more important, power and revenge or peace. This book is very good for students who are interested in fantasy and seeing a POC as the main character.

An interesting alternate universe take on a Washington D.C. awash with magic and potions in addition to political intrigue. Terribly sorry that the author has had such a rough time of it recently.

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste didn't disappoint. I loved everything about it. Thank to you NetGalley for the ARC!