Thank you Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Where to begin? A Tempest of Tea has quickly become one of my favorite fantasy novels. It definitely shares elements with Six of Crows, with Arthie reminiscent of a quieter but equally cunning Kaz, full of intelligence, violence, and rage. I seriously love Arthie so much!

Her bond with Jin was my absolute favorite. I love a great brother-sister duo and we hardly see them so front and center in fantasy (usually they’re fighting and not bonded). Each character has a rich backstory, and I loved seeing the world through their eyes. Spindrift, their tearoom, gave off major Ketterdam vibes from Six of Crows. (I think this is a good place to add that SoC is one of my all-time favorite books!).

While the heist itself lacked some of the usual thrills and brilliance found in typical heist novels, Hafsah made up for it by exploring themes of colonialism, magic, vengeance, and vampiric lore. I really liked how she made the vampires so different than usual YA books. I found them so interesting, but the real focus of the book has to do with the trauma our characters are ignoring and have to face by the end of the book.I love character-driven stories!

Still, I did feel that the storytelling could have been improved. At times, the author’s writing seemed to assume prior knowledge without providing backstory or history, leaving certain character intentions and motivations vague (particularly with characters like Laith and Penn). I wish we understood them better so their actions and consequences impacted us more as readers. The author also said this book was inspired by Peaky Blinders, which didn’t stand out to me, but I still enjoyed our outcasts and their tragic backstories. Even with all the critiques, I found this book so engaging and interesting, I could not give it anything less than 4 stars!

The way Hafsah wrote about tea was delightful and I loved how angry she made Arthie in the book. I was able to listen to an exclusive interview with her and her husband, where Hafsah discussed how Arthie's anger evolved organically from her research into the era. It's clear that the passion she poured into these scenes shines through in the story. I highly recommend checking out the interview for further insight into the book's creation!

I do want to warn other readers that A Tempest of Tea is a very intentional read. You will miss so much if you do not pay extra close attention as you read, and even more if you only do the audiobook. I’m an avid reader and do well in both text and audiobook, and I had to re-read and re-wind multiple parts to make sure I was following her writing correctly. Other ARC readers told me the same (both in text and audio form). But we all LOVE this book!

I can’t wait to see Arthie and Jin and book 2 and I NEED more of Mateo please! Super excited to continue this incredible series.

Arthie, Jin, Flick, Matteo, and Laith team up for a heist in this novel. Arthie runs a tea shop by day and blood shop by night. When the patronage changes she is sent on a heist to get a ledger from an impossible place. Jin, Arthie’s brother, helps her run the shop and stay out of trouble. Flick has been caught for forging documents but now is needed for just that skill. Matteo is an old vampire who wants to help. Laith is a member of the guard, and can’t be trusted. This was a great book. I enjoyed the twists, those I saw coming and those that snuck up. This was a great novel and I can’t wait to read the next one and I want to read the other series by this author. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced listening copy.

This is a difficult book to describe because honestly I was confused during the entirety of this book. I was excited because the premise sounds intriguing, but I just didn’t understand the plot and I was confused by the characters. Due to this, I am rating it low, but if you are more of a fantasy reader, you may like it more than me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ALC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for blessing me with an ARC of this AMAZING audiobook. I'm just getting into my audiobook groove, and this one hit every since checklist. The narrator was amazing, and the story was SO engaging. I loved every minute. This was my first book by Hafsah Faizal and I will immediately be pickup up her duology.

I loved the world building and the unique story the author created. A tearoom by day and by night a secret place for vampires to feast. This book had action as well as romance and you became invested in the characters. I do think that I need to go back and read this in book form to really absorb all of the details contained within the story but it kept my attention which doesn't always happen with audiobooks. This will be a good addition to our library. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in an audiobook format in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed this book. I like the setting (I think I need to go read her previous books since they're also set in this world). White Roaring and Spindrift are great locations and the idea of a masked monarch that nobody knows the ide toty of is interesting. Likeable cast of characters. And I just adore Arthie. I love her strength and determination, her snappy suits and cute cap, and her desire to burn colonialism to the ground. This is a fast paced, action packed read filled with twists and turns. Some are predictable, but then others I did not see coming.


I enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. She had a pleasant voice. I also liked the interview with the author and her husband after the book.

A Tempest of Tea, written by Hafsah Faizal was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, and let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. It has vampires and a heist, so obviously I was invested from the very beginning.

Arthie Casimir is an intimidating businesswoman (and criminal) in White Roaring, determined to succeed in business, in life, and on seeking revenge on those responsible for colonizing her home and killing her parents. She runs a prestigious tea room that at night transforms into a secret blood house to serve the city's vampire population. Her businesses, both legal and otherwise, grant Arthie access to some of the darkest secrets in White Roaring, and secrets too can be a lucrative business. When her business is threatened, Arthie hatches a plan along side some of the city's other criminals to infiltrate the vampire society of Athereum to find the one secret that may just save the business she holds so dear.

Hafsah Faizal's world-building is captivating. She expertly navigates utilizing lore that readers are familiar while also creating a world that is so new and exciting. The cast of characters is dynamic and so easily pulled me into the story - I too would do just about anything for Jin Casimir, Arthie's adoptive brother. There were so many twists and turns, some I saw coming, and others that let me stunned. Faizal's writing is impeccable, and her use of shortened chapter lengths during the height of action coupled with the multiple perspectives really ramped on the tension and the excitement. I cannot wait for book two!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of A Tempest of Tea.

I adore Hafsah Faizal, and am so glad this lived up to my expectations!

After adoring the Sands of Arawiya duology, I was so incredibly excited to return to this world, especially to explore a whole new part of it! Faizal really showed her range with this book, it reads completely different than her first duology and still completely gripped me. It’s got big Peaky Blinders + vampires vibes, which are two things I generally adore and translated so well to this new part of Faizal’s fantasy world.

Arthie, our main character, is so lovable but also so gritty and mysterious. It’s very clear from the jump that she is not someone to be messed with, even if we don’t know just what her story is right away. The found family here is fun, and all of their shifting loyalties outside of the main group keep the story interesting and unexpected. The last 30% especially had me reeling, there was so much I did not see coming that will have such bit impacts on the story going forward, and then one doozy of a cliffhanger!

My only qualm with the story itself had to do with certain storylines not feeling fleshed out as I wanted them to be. A good example of this was Arthie’s relationship with Penn. come the ending, I didn’t feel as impacted by the events as I wanted to because I never felt like their relationship was explored. I felt this way about Jin & is family, as well as Flick and her mother, which left certain reveals lacking a certain punch I wanted. This second gripe is with the audiobook alone, as I listened so the audio for the first half and then switched to the ebook version and noticed myself feeling much more invested. I think the audiobook narrator was a bit dry for me, and her voice didn’t allow for much differentiation between characters. I’ll definitely be sticking to ebooks and physical books for this series going forward.

Ultimately if you like heists, vampires, gaslamp vibes, found family, diverse fantasy, betrayal, Six of Crows, and gritty female MCs, I think you will adore this story.

I really enjoyed this story, I definitely would like to read more books about tea - I found it so rich and beautiful. The downsides of this story for me is the following.
1. I am an American, and I do sometimes find it hard to listen to British narrators, this is no slight to the narrator or the book itself, I just wish I would have read this in a physical or Ebook format.
2, I am someone who really prefers first person POV stories, and I do think A Tempest of Tea could have been even better written in first person.
An amazing upside however is that I really loved the side characters of this story - they are probably some of the best written side characters I have read in a LONG time!

This was really good. Lot’s of mystery and bond style con artist plans. Keep you on your toes and has you questioning a lot. I so enjoyed the story of these characters in the twist and turns. I look forward to readying the next one. The audio narrator did a fantastic job and bro, all of these characters to life.

This book was a unique fantasy story that left me dying for the other half of this story. Another year seems like a cruel amount of time to wait to find out what happens next. I will say this book started very slowly and it took a while to really grab my interest. Once I got about a third of the way through it I found I couldn’t put it down. I really liked the characters and the world building. Arthie Casimir is a keeper of secrets, she loves gathering them and only reveals them when it is advantageous to her. When a person who should be an enemy approaches her with an opportunity she cannot refuse she gathers a misfit band of fellow criminals but not all of them are truly aligned and working with her. This book holds only a glimmer of magic, but there is a society of vampires within the human society. I generally feel like there isn’t a new way to tell the story of the vampire or a new way to use them but this story proves that wrong. Overall I gave this one 4.5 stars which I rounded up because of the uniqueness to the story. The narrator did a great job bringing the story to life, especially Arthie.

Thanks to Macmillian Audio / Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Books for Young Readers for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

I shall admit early into this review: I have not read We Hunt the Flame before listening to this audiobook. I knew this book takes place within the same world, and yet...I was still a little confused on the world. I am not sure if prior knowledge of We Hunt the Flame is necessary to fully understand this world OR Faizal explained the world poorly. Nonetheless, I liked it. Arthie and Jin had an interesting dynamic as adoptive siblings and curious to see more of their relationship in the sequel. Flick and Jin's romance was...fine. Pretty typical for YA fantasy. I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. Laith confused me to no ends. I truly believe you need to read We Hunt the Flame duology before reading A Tempest of Tea to understand this character. Despite a few explanations, I still don't understand his motivations and *what* he is. Matteo is a solid character. Kinda wanted more from him since he is a vampire.

My biggest gripe, despite my confusion on the world, was the pacing. It was quite uneven in planning the heist and the fallout. Certain events took longer than needed while others were shorter. A couple twists should have happened sooner, but still needs better explanation of the world. Also, there should have been more about the vampires and how they work in this world. Possible exploration in sequel? Overall, I liked it! I will read Blood & Tea #2 and will check out We Hunt the Flame (to check if my hunch is correct).

Content Warnings: colonialism, blood, death of parent, racism, emotional abuse, and xenophobia

Okay I gave this one 20% but unfortunately it’s lost me. I really loved we hunt the star so I was so excited for this one but the first 20% just had me so lost. It’s a new world and new characters are being introduced but there was just too much info dumping and it didn’t leave me wanting to continue.

3.5 Stars

Let me start with… I did not like the audiobook narrator. Her voice is too fluid and low, without enough inflection or stress on the consonants. There are names and nouns that I’m unsure of until I can see them in print. She doesn’t attempt any change in voice, except with a single character, and with a large(ish) cast I could barely tell who was talking when the group was together and conversing. Consequently, I listened at such a low speed, trying to catch anything and everything (which still doesn’t work), that it felt wrong, slow and boring… which I don’t think the story is at all. I can’t recommend the audio.

I did my best to separate the audio experience from the actual story. I wasn’t able to get a physical early copy and I was worried that if I stopped and waited til publication, I wouldn’t ever get back to the book and would abandon it. And I wanted to finish it!

I loved the idea, the influences are plain to see but the reimagining is fantastic. The beginning was solidly built. I really enjoyed collecting the crew and building their backstories. It’s entirely atmospheric, the settings and emotions, a little dark and dingy but also lush and fragrant. It has a great foundation.

I thought the heist aspect of the plot was flawed from nearly the get-go though. It’s less carefully crafted heist and much more heavy-handed smash and grab. So many enemies and untrustworthy witnesses. I also wasn’t entirely sure how it was supposed to play out if/when executed perfectly. For all the beautiful imagery in other areas, I think the hierarchy/government needed more attention paid to it and reiteration of who’s who and how and why.

It was also a little too insta-love/lust for my tastes but that really is a personal preference. The friendships, families, and camaraderies were fun to experience though and Arthie and Jin was the pair I was most invested in. I wanted to see their friendship on the page more than any other interaction.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of it, especially the criminal vibes, but I also needed more clarification and intricacy. Good but not great.

3/5
First let me say that this is by no means a terrible book. The premise promises something truly enchanting and memorable, but at the end of the day it falls flat. The plot summary promises a prestigious tearoom that transforms into an illegal bloodhouse at night; however, we really don’t spend a significant amount of time here and the description within the novel doesn’t make the tearoom seem particularly special. It primarily serves as a stepping stone to get the plot moving forward, but otherwise its absence wouldn’t change the narrative of the book. Overall, this book attempts to be a heist story but lacks the intrigue and mystery with most of the characters falling flat. I would not continue in this series as it offers nothing new to the genre.

This was everything I didn't know I was wanting in a Vampire book. There was a heist, love, betrayal, tea, and too many shocking twists to count! I have several friends that I will be recommending this one too. I was worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype and expectations I had already been hearing, but it was fantastic.

I listened to this as an audiobook, but will definitely be buying a copy. I know I will need to do a reread before the next book comes out!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just okay, considering the interesting premise. A Peaky Blinders setting where a found family (which wasn't delved into enough in my opinion) runs a teahouse for vampires, and ends up being hired for a heist to save their business and home, all topped with the discussion of the impact of colonialism - it sounded really good. And it had its moments, with engaging prose and consistent style. I can't say that this story wasn't engaging for the first 50~60%.

Unfortunately, this book was too full of blatant tropes, and bad and unwitty flirting that felt like a literal record scratch while reading. Any time the characters of opposite sex that didn't consider each other family were on the page together, they were being ridiculously flirty and moony eyed over quite literally nothing. It would draw everything to a halt as if the author was making sure the reader knew who they were supposed to ship together, because they otherwise did not know how to develop the relationships naturally. And the attempt to set up a possibility of Arthie having to choose between two men didn't work, because any avid reader and enjoyer of mysteries would know that one of those options was set up to be a traitor.

On that note, the reveals and twists were obvious, the red herrings were bland, so I found the key revealing moments underwhelming.

The book is split between three POVs, and unfortunately Flick's suffered the most from telling and not showing, so she was the least interesting to follow. And I wanted to like Arthie, but at times I felt her most interesting aspects were glanced over too soon.

The narrator did a fine job, if perhaps not a bit monotone at times.

Perhaps my expectations were too high for this one. But I would definitely recommend this to a Six of Crows fan.

It's pretty clear that A Tempest of Tea was heavily inspired by Six of Crows. While it's an objectively good book, it falls short of SoC.

A good 50% of the book was spent planning and recruiting people for a heist that ended up falling flat. I wasn't excited by it, I wasn't tense because the characters were in danger (I didn't really care much for the characters period), and I really didn't care what the outcome would be.

In my opinion, the characters weren't written in a way that made me care for them. I wanted to, but just couldn't. I'm addition to that, the romances felt forced and weren't really necessary for the story. They didn't add anything. It felt like they were simply inserted for fan-service purposes.

The world building also unfortunately fell short. There was a vague sense of the world outside of the city where the characters resided, but it wasn't well-developed. We understand that there's been colonization and oppression of certain people, but Faizal seems to rely on our knowledge of real-world colonization instead of making the effort to make it unique to the world she created.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It has important themes and does its job of entertaining.

INCREDIBLE. AMAZING. If you mixed Six of Crows with Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights duology, this is what you'd get...but there's also VAMPIRES. OBSESSED.

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