This one started as a five star read for me, but I have pretty mixed feelings about the ending--there were a few too many twists and turns and I felt dissatisfied with the cliffhanger, and it felt like the references to the author's previous books didn't really make sense with the rest of the world. That said, "A Tempest of Tea" is a fascinating mashup of vampires, heists, Arthurian imagery, and anticolonialism that's nothing quite like I've read before. If you like Six of Crows style fantasy that really ought to be adult instead of YA, this is probably right up your alley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

A Tempest of Tea is a tale of heists, vampires, and secrets that often left me confused and a little dissatisfied. The synopsis mentions that the story is about saving a secret teahouse that offers up consensual ways for vampires to consume blood, but said establishment was rarely present within the book. Strangely enough, I didn't really feel like vampires were that present either. Those fantastical elements instead took a back seat to a heist that lacked the intensity or complexity of Six of Crows, a title this book is marketed as a comparison to.

The characters, while enjoyable on the surface, felt too spread out and numerous to get that depth that makes them feel original and makes me fall in love with them. There were a few emotional beats that didn't land for me because I didn't have enough time to develop a connection to the cast and to care about their individual goals and problems. Lastly, and this could be completely my own fault, but the writing confused the hell out of me. Numerous times I had to reread pages, sometimes chapters, because I couldn't follow how we went from A to B or why C was even happening. There are several events towards the end of the story that had me scratching my head trying to figure out the hows and whys of it all.

All in all, A Tempest of Tea is enjoyable but does little to serve up an experience that steals the spotlight from some of its contemporaries.

Okay, so I know this wasn’t supposed to be a “cozy” book, but it so was?! I LOVE a good found family trope, but the characters! I loved every single one– I seriously can’t pick a favorite. What do you get when you put King Arthur, Peaky Blinders, vampires, heists, a tea shop, and a kitten together?? … A TEMPEST OF TEA.

The prose is simple and easy to get into, but SO beautiful with plenty of quote-worthy sentences and a lot of underlying meaning. Romance is only a subplot, but there are several swoon-worthy moments that had me fanning myself. BRAVO!

“She was, simply put, a tempest in a tiny bottle, tiny and simmering and ready to obliterate.”

Thank you so much for the ARC! Full review will be posted to Goodreads on release!!

Beautiful cover, intriguing premise, disappointing execution.

A Tempest of Tea promises a criminal mastermind, an elaborate tea room, vampires, and a heist. And technically that's all there, but everything seems a bit shallow. The characters need more development, there's more lead up to the heist than the heist itself, and then everything sort of switches tracks after the heist in an unsatisfactory way. The worldbuilding seems interesting, but I wonder if reading Faizal's other duology would help make things clearer. As it was, I felt like I was missing important things rather than just fun Easter eggs.

My biggest issue is that there is far too much telling over showing. Arthie's disdain for colonization is mentioned countless times, and while her actions do back this up, I don't need to be reminded of her motives every other page. And for a young girl described as a criminal mastermind, nothing really seems clever enough. On top of that, I never felt any chemistry in any of the romantic pairings; everyone's falling for each other despite it being a bad idea, but everything plays out in descriptions of hearts and smells and the color of clothes. And there's maybe a love triangle? I'm not exactly sure. There's also a lot (a lot, a lot) of similes, and while I don't mind a bit of purple prose, this is probably a quarter of the book and makes things drag on far longer than necessary.

I also finished the book feeling a bit confused, and not in a "wow, this ended on a cliffhanger and I wasn't expecting that twist" sort of way. More of a "I guessed that twist, but now people are showing their true colors and not they're fighting, now they're running away, and did we ever see that character before?" sort of way. I don't like to end a book feeling confused, but I also don't care enough about this book to go back and try to figure things out.

I do like the brother-sister relationship between Arthie and Jin, and I'm mildly interested to see how that shifts based on the ending of this book. Likewise, the scientific aspects of vampirism seem very interesting, but we only get mentions of this sort of research. It seems like this topic will come up more in book 2, but I won't be reading it to find out.

A Tempest of Tea wants to be Six of Crows but doesn't come close. There's just a lot of things that don't go right for me in this story, and I had to force myself to finish it. This will probably be some readers' cup of tea (pun intended), but it wasn't for me.

While cozy fantasy books about tea are definitely favorite genre, books about vampires, generally are not. So I wasn’t sure what to expect from A Tempest of Tea. This book was a pleasant surprise.

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by night, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

While it is not a good fit for my classroom, I enjoyed this book and will look for more from Hafsah Faizal. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own

Wow! This was the first Harsh Faizal that I read, and she did not disappoint! The insides are just as pretty as the outside with this novel!
There's a heist.
There's vampires.
There's a diverse cast that forms the sweetest found family.
And... there's a cat :')
Faizal's writing is fast paced and engaging. She keeps the action moving in a way that kept me flipping page after page to see what happened next. Not only did she do that, but she still managed to perfectly flesh out the characters, keeping them feeling real and rich, which is something that I typically find lacking in quick-paced young adult fantasy books.
There are sweet relationships, high stakes, and a tea house. It's been more and more difficult for me to find YA books that I can enjoy, but this one is exactly what I hope to pick up every time I reach for a YA book.
Read if you:
- wished Kaz in Six of Crows knew how to make really good tea
- are looking for a vampire book that isn't overwhelmingly romantasy
- great world building in a historic England inspired setting that focuses on POC characters

I’ve been WAITING YEARS for this book and it definitely lived up to my longing expectations! The story follows Arthie Casimir and her crew as they undertake a heist that will take down the head of this Britain-like empire—to save their home, a teahouse called Spindrift; and as revenge for the atrocities this empire has personally committed against them as it colonizes the world.

I’m OBSESSED with these characters. I love the differences between their narration styles and the intricacies of their relationships. Arthie’s and Jin’s chosen-sibling relationship is one of the absolute best things in this book, and I love the symbolism and mirroring that happens as their backstories come full circle. Arthie is so cold and calculating but Jin brings out her tender side. Speaking of Jin, I LITERALLY laughed out loud at his quips. I think he’s my favorite character. He has such range—you go from laughing because he’s hilarious on one page, and then on the next page you descend into these really deep, complex emotions. I loved his relationship with Flick and how she’s like pure sunshine to him. FLICK. HER CHARACTER ARC. So amazing, so satisfying to see her growth as a character and her bonds with the rest of the crew. I love her style and her innocence and how she doesn’t abandon it even in the harsh streets of White Roaring. And as for Matteo and Laith, I’m dying to have POV chapters from them in the second book because they are so interesting and mysterious and I want to know what’s going on in their heads! And speaking of mystery, I loved the way Arthie’s secrets were slowly revealed throughout the book, and how she was keeping them even from the reader. She is such a layered and complicated character and delving into those layers made my brain explode. She is iconic. She is an absolute empress.

I did kind of feel like we were hurtling at light speed at some points of the book. Sooooo much was happening. There was not a single dull moment. I was never bored. But a lot of the time I had to go back and read things again in order to register what was happening because the action was so breakneck. I kind of like that, though. I had a similar experience reading Six of Crows for the first time so I’m thinking that’s something you want in a heist book. I really liked the heist itself and all the clever planning that went into it (even though, again, I felt like I was falling off a cliff and that there was a lot of information going over my head but that’s okay haha).

If you are a fan of fantasy heists, this is a must-read. You will absolutely fall in love with these characters and the setting, which is so vivid and living that it feels like a character, too. Now it’s time for me to wait for book two…

I was SO excited for this book as I loved Faizal’s We Hunt the Flame! This book has it all - heists, vampires, unique world, morally grey characters, friendship, romance and witty banter. I will give warning it did take a little bit to get into for me as the beginning was slower then I expected from how wild the description of the book sounds but once it got going it was fantastic. It really does have some Six of Crows and Peaky Blinders vibes but it is also totally it’s own and I think if people compare it maybe that’s where disappointed would be. I had a great time though and will be purchasing the book and continuing the series! 4/5 only for the slow start.

Heist novels—i.e. Six of Crows and others—aren’t typically the kind of story I gravitate to, but I have liked a couple of them in the past. I was excited to try A Tempest of Tea, because I’ve read novels by Hafsah Faizal before. We Hunt the Flame and We Free the Stars just so happen to be the books that make up one of my favorite young adult fantasy duologies. So, to say I’m disappointed I didn’t like—and ultimately DNFed—A Tempest of Tea would be an understatement. At face value, this book should have everything I’m looking for in a fantasy adventure: a cast of misfits, vampires, and a less than legal establishment that’s facing a sudden threat. The writing was good. However, the substance of the setup/inciting incident—even the beginning, the introduction of the some of the POV characters, and moments that should have been monumental shakeups for the cast—didn’t have the impact with me that I thought it would. Ultimately, I’m just not the right reader for this one. But I encourage others to check out more reviews and make up their own minds about A Tempest of Tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) for this copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy. A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal did not disappoint! Set in the same world as the Sands of Arawiya duology, A Tempest Of Tea builds a solid fantasy world with a memorable cast of characters. Faizal explores themes of colonization and the impact it has had on the characters.
Arthie, an orphaned immigrant turned business woman is the best kind of morally gray character. She runs a tea house with her chosen brother, Jin, that doubles as a vampire blood house by night. Arthie deals in secrets and threats, and when her business is threatened, she assembles a team to pull off a major heist.
With a steady plot, political intrigue, romantic tension, and witty dialogue, Faizal gives us a satisfying opening to this new duology. A great addition to any YA collection. Recommended for fans of vampires, multiple POV's, Peaky Blinders, multicultural characters.

This is my first book by Hafsiah Faizal and I did have a lot of fun. She takes every role in a traditional heist and gives us a complex characters with secrets and loyalties.
It did start slow at the beginning, but the last 1/4 in particular was full of twists and reveals. The world building and heist itself were the highlights for me as well as the platonic, will do anything for each other relationship between Jin and Arthie.
I'm excited to see how the world and society of different tiers of vampires plays out in the second book, especially with the reveals towards the end!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for allowing me to read this early!

This is one of my highly anticipated books of 2024 and it did not disappoint! The pacing not only kept the reader engaged but also create moments of high intensity during certain scenes leaving the reader at the edge of their seat. These characters are well developed and easy to get to know. This is a book I will most definitely be telling everyone I can to read.

"From the New York Times-bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance and revenge, led by an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom.

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by night, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it--she can't do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city's most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever."

THE BOOK I've literally been hearing about everywhere.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC in exchange for a fair review.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I think it's a gorgeously outfitted fantasy world with amazing, complicated characters with the whole spectrum of gray morality. I also think the writing was very frenetic and sometimes difficult to parse.

Overall, I think this is going to be a very well received YA fantasy. It has all the right beats: vampires, heists, professional criminals, tea, and very nice romantic teases. The world-building is solid, though I feel like I would have understood it better with the foundation of reading We Hunt the Flame, which I have yet to do. There was some really masterful foreshadowing of a later twist; while I had sort of predicted the twist early on, I was starting to wonder if I was right until the pieces slowly started to lay themselves out before me and vindicated my gut feeling, which was very well done.

I did struggle sometimes with the writing. I remember re-reading the first paragraph or so three times because I wasn't entirely sure what it was saying, and I'm not sure if that was a me problem of having a bad comprehension day, or if there really was something off. There's a lot of exposition at the beginning of the story that comes off as a bit clunky. The descriptions of the characters seem a bit forced rather than worked into the story, and even at that point I didn't realize that Arthie has mauve hair until about halfway through the book (though that could have been me skipping words. I tend to do that in ebooks.)

Despite that, however, this is a solid fantasy that I think teens are really going to love, and I'm definitely putting the sequel on my TBR.

A Tempest of Tea is a Peaky Blindersesque heist story about a tea shop owner who uses dangerous secrets to her advantage in a country that is perpetually gray and vampires are commonplace in society.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian for the chance to read and review this book. While I was initially excited to read this book based off the premise, I can only give this book 3 stars as it was ultimately disappointing.

This book, while written very descriptively and did a good job with world building, suffers from pacing problems and a lack of quality characters. In fact the only character that I cared about was Jin the right hand man of the female main character, Arthie. This book is about a heist, but at no point were all of the participants of the heist ever really thrown together after the first initial meeting. Not enough time was spent developing several of the characters and the time that was spent developing Arthie felt wasted. I contemplated DNF'ing this book several times and made it to the actual heist around 65-70% of the way through the book, but by that point it was too little too late and I no longer cared what happened. I did finish this book, but would not recommend it to others and wont be recommending it on my social media (TikTok and YouTube) and would not be interested in a sequel.

I must be honest, I DNF’d this at a little past 30%. It’s possible that I will attempt to return to it at a later date, as I do think the book has an interesting premise and a lot of potential. The idea of a tearoom that caters to vampires after hours is a really fun one, but I was disappointed that despite being the thing that the plot revolves around we see extremely little of The Spindrift. I found the prose to be quite lovely at times but then I would get jarred out of the reading experience by the actions of the characters (for instance at one point the protagonist abruptly leaves a conversation almost mid thought, walks up the stairs to grab and hat and then walks back down the stairs to continue the conversation. Arthie and Lin will have private talks with one another, but at a table with three other people present who would undoubtedly still be able to hear every word). I will still order this title for the shop, as I think ultimately it will sell pretty well but sadly it just did not mesh with me personally

I love Hafsah Faizal, but I wasn’t really into this book. There’s a lot of info dumping and when we get to the climax it was really anticlimactic. The concept was unique and the world was nothing like I’ve read before, which is what kept me engaged with the book.

It’s not even out yet, and already I’m craving the sequel the way the vampires within its pages crave blood. Seriously, that ending?!? A delightful heist novel with the very best of vibes and outfits, A Tempest of Tea isn’t just a story, but an immersive sensory experience that will keep you guessing even with its last sentence (so many twists!). A beautifully rendered commentary on who society deems worthy embedded within a pacey, fun, and ultimately heart-healing YA. I adored Arthie, Jin, Flick, and Matteo and the family they created in the hardest of life circumstances. Plus, a little steam never hurt anyone (or did it?).

Now, I normally don't tend to read books that feature vampires, as they're normally not my jam, but when I saw that this book is coming out soon, I thought I'd give it a try. And I've got to say, I really enjoyed it. The vampires are part of the world that this book is set in, but they're not the main focus. Also, I felt like this book was a fast paced read, and I also enjoyed that it was a heist book, which I don't think I've read in a very long time. It was action packed, and there were a couple of surprising twists at the end that were very surprising (in a good way). Overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to purchasing a copy when it comes out next month.

Thanks to Netgalley and MacMillan for the ARC! A Tempest of Tea was fast paced, had interesting twists and turns, and a great setting! It was a great blending of vampires, gangs, and action. I personally did not fall head over heels for all the characters, although I was engaged enough with them to get into the heist plotline. Some characters are broody, some mask their feelings with wit, and my personal favorite was the not-exactly-awkward and very competent forger, Flick. Information was revealed about the main characters throughout the book, and there was some initial development in them over the course of the story. It sets up nicely for the sequel! I will certainly be recommending this to YA fantasy fans, particularly those who enjoyed Six of Crows.