♡Audiobook, Release Feb. 20♡
- Thank you Netgalley for the ALC , for my honest opinion .
The narrator did a great job telling the story.
In this story, we have ROMANCE with vampires! I mean, what else do we need?
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 had to come up with a plan. The book does have a SLOW PACE and can feel like it's dragging a little. But once it gets past 60%, it starts to take off, and the action speeds the book up. Would definitely recommend

3.75 stars rounded up to 4!

All in all, I enjoyed this book, but the first 60% of this book suffered from some major issues.

The first half of this book has a ton of similarities to Six of Crows- I was able to match each of the Tempest characters to their SoC counterparts. The author even wrote a line like “Five is the perfect number for a crew,” which felt like her trying to differentiate from SoC.

Additionally, the first 60% of this book suffered from pacing issues. It took me almost a week to read that portion, but I read the last 40% in a day.

I really enjoyed the last 40%, and this could’ve been a 5 star read if the front end had been as good as the back half. However, I will still pick up the sequel!

I thought this narration was nicely done.

Thanks for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 60%


I really wanted to like this book so this actually hurts to write. Nothing about it grasped my attention and maybe I'm in a mood reader kick so it's not connecting to me atm. I've liked the backstop each of the characters have gotten this far but i'm 60% into this and there's no heist happening yet. Just a lot of backstory for the characters and talks about prepping for said heist.

The narrator was phenomenal though, imo.


I'll probably give it another go at a later date. For now, it's a dnf.

I would like to first thank Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal in exchange for a review on #Netgalley and #ATempestofTea.

Hafsah Faizal's action packed storyline weaves in and out of three different character perspectives. One of those characters is Arthie Casimir, a powerful girl boss. Arthie business is quiet interesting by day The Spindrift is known for excellent tea blends, but by night Alife and her crew transform their business to serve blood to Vampires. Everything changes when her business, life and her crews lives are threatened by the newest power in White Roaring, The Ram. Faced to seek out other outcasts and an unlikely foe, she plans to break into the infamous Vampire Group called the Athereum. With her crew, Gin, being her right hand man, and their newest addition the famous forging queen herself, named Flick everything seems to be falling into place perfectly for their heist. Arthie, can never be too careful or too trusting. To find out more about Arthie and her crews heist read A Tempest of Tea today!

Audiobook Review:
First, I want to say that I love the narrator's voice. I do wish that there was a bit more of a difference between the three characters because you have to pay attention. Next, the pacing and the narration of the story was great and animated. I would honestly listen to this book again, with the novel in front of me.

A Tempest of Tea will undoubtedly be in my list of top reads of 2024. I fell in love with it a chapter in. For those who loved Six of Crows, give this a read! It is a fantasy, heist YA book and it delivers on the best tropes of the genre. This book is a great combination of heist planning, vampires, a hint of a love triangle, arthurian legends, tragic backstory, found family, with lots of secrets and twists,

The main character, Arthie, gives King Arthur and Kaz Brekker vibes. The cast of characters will make you fall in love with them. They are quirky and fun. It is multi-POV from Arthie, her "brother" Jin, and his potential love interest/her friend Flick. I enjoyed all the POVs but actually preferred Jins! There is a lot of humor in the book. Arthie is a classic snarky FMC.

This is in the same world as We Hunt the Flame and while it is a separate cast there are some subtle and not so subtle references to characters/events from that duology. I acutally think I enjoyed this more than We Hunt the Flame (a bit like I liked Six better than Shadow and Bone). I think this will be a hit or a miss for readers, based on their preferred fantasy vibe. This is historical, urban, and a little dark (as opposed to more epic or high fantasy).

The audiobook was well done; the narrator did a good job differentiating the characters and bringing them to life. Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners for providing an eARC of this book!

King Arthur meets Peaky Blinders and add vampires?! Yes, please.

This was my first book by this author and I’m already buying one of her other books.

A Tempest of Tea follows the daring exploits of a gang of outcasts led by the formidable Arthie Casimir. In a high-stakes heist to save her tearoom, Arthie and her companions navigate treacherous alliances and confront dangerous adversaries. With elements of fantasy, romance, and adventure, this novel immerses readers in a world where magic, intrigue, and the thirst for power collide.

This book definitely gave me Six of Crows vibes (a book I also really enjoyed), but add vampires. The book was fast paced, adventurous, and suspenseful.

I listened to the audiobook version and really enjoyed the narrator’s voices for the characters. It helped set the scene and capture each character.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2024 is the year of the vampire and this one makes it fun! The characters are so well thought out. I loved how the characters interacted with each other. The book is full of magic and action. I loved it

I "read" the audiobook for review rather than a printed copy. My interpretation and thoughts are potentially biased because I was not in love with the narrator. (And I'm doing my best with name spellings since I was not able to read them, only listened to their pronunciation.)

A Tempest of Tea is a YA heist novel with vampires with three primary points of view explored as the story unfolds. Arthie and Jin are a found family, brother sister duo who run Spindrift, a tea house by day and a blood house for vampires by night. When Spindrift's future is threatened, they put together a rag tag crew to pull off a heist to save it. Enter Flick - adopted daughter of a shipping company magnate (which felt like it was maybe based of The East India Company?) who is disgruntled when her mother's attention and time is no longer on her and turns to forgery to find a way to occupy herself. The Spindrift crew bring Flick on to help them with the forgeries needed for their heist.

The premise of A Tempest of Tea was really intriguing and I was excited to have the opportunity to review this book. However, the pacing of this book was just too slow for too long. We spent so much of the book getting ready for the heist (and some of it could just have been skipped and it would have been fine) and by the time we actually got to the heist part it was over so quickly. Of course, the Spindrift crew hits a snag in the execution of the plan and needs to pivot and adapt and do a second job to try and salvage their end goal of saving Spindrift.

There were a couple of major plot twists/surprises towards the end that I did not see coming (I'm looking at YOU Arthie). Arthie and Jin's chapters were the better ones of the book. I had trouble with Flick's chapters - she just didn't do it for me.

Now my thoughts on the narration...This book had a lot of high stakes action and big emotion throughout, but the narrator was so stoic in her reading and I just never felt any of the emotion like I think I would have had I been reading the book instead of listening to it. Overall, I think the narration led to this book being a bit of a letdown for me. I will probably want to read the next book, but that is due to the massive cliffhanger ending, but I will definitely read it instead of listening to it if they use the same narrator.

The cover, the description, the themes, the tea, all of it had me sold on this book before I even started the audiobook. Arthie and her found family Jin, own a tea shop/ bloodhouse which is always on the verge of being found out by the local law enforcement since bloodhouses are pretty taboo and not strictly legal. However, when their livelihood comes under the scrutiny and attack of a local "ruler" known as The Ram.

The heist part of this book comes into play when Arthie and Jin draw together a band of misfits to complete their crew to try and get a hold of a ledger which contains secrets they should be able to leverage to save their shop.
Such a fun, intriguing book. Lots of things going on but all of it seems to find it's place within these pages. There's a little romance, a little mystery, and even a bit of backstabbing. I cannot wait to see what the second book in this duology brings to the table.

I think that the book is fast paced and there is always something to focus on, for me there were too many main characters or they seemed to bleed together for me. Overall a very good book and looking forward to the sequel.

Ooo, this is going to be very popular!

What a fun book with a great cast of characters. Heists? Vampires? Arthurian legend? Count me in.

Plenty of twists and lots of action. Also, I sense a love triangle. Definitely perfect for fans of Six of Crows.

The narration was very well done and I can see myself sticking to the audio for part two of the duology.

This was such a great read! I loved this world of vampires in a fantasy England-like setting, with a heist story, it was all so good, and these characters were just fantastic! It was just so smart and amazing to read, I couldn't get enough!

We had a decent amount of characters, and we got viewpoints for most of them, which I really enjoyed seeing things from the different perspectives. From Arthie, whose country was "colonized" and who is smart, resourceful-and angry. Jin, her found family, who has a tragic backstory. Flick, who just wanted her mother's attention. Leith, who was always doing something unexpected, Mateo who was just a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Loved watching the heist lay out, as they gathered all the pieces that they needed to complete it, and then as they were doing it, yeah, it was just thrilling! It was all just so clever, and it was mentioned in the interview at the end of the audiobook how writing the heist was for her, so loved that!

But oh, that ending? That just went in so many directions! And what a cliff-hanger ending! There's so much that's changed, and so much that is uncertain-and that bit of information at the end, combined with what we were told, well, I have a pretty good idea who hold that one nickname!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel!

*3.5 rounded up*

I was here cause there were vampires, but now I'm even more invested because this is Six of Crows coded and I'll buy into most heist novels.

While this was a fun read I don't think the story is perfect and it doesn't feel entirely fleshed out. As a reader I enjoy not being able to figure out where the story is going to take me but with this, I'm not entirely sure Faizal knows what comes next either. Coming in at just over a 10-hour read on audio, some of the story felt rushed. It flowed just fine and everything made sense but it went by quickly even for a YA novel.

I'm not sure if this will make sense to anyone else but it feels like the length of what would be book 1 in a trilogy but was structured to start a duology and because of that I didn't get as much out of it as I was expecting.

While the narration was great I think this is a book I would have enjoyed more as a physical read and I already plan to reread it physically closer to book 2s release.

Very excited about this series and can't wait to read what comes next.

This book was a rollercoaster that took me days to sort out my feelings on.

I was disappointed in this at first, because I have been highly anticipating it since it was first announced and have had it preordered for literal years, but I had a hard time getting into it. It was interesting but somehow the characters weren't clicking with me. I think maybe it was the love triangle? I despise love triangles in general (unless they all end up together and it's done well) and I think maybe it makes me distance myself from the characters a little bit. Whatever the reason I was sort of tuned out for the first half and even considered setting it aside.

However. Once I got to the second half I suddenly was in love with the characters and the setting and the plot and I'm really not sure what happened? Things definitely picked up - in fact there were so many twists and reveals in the last 10% of the book that my head was spinning by the end - but I'm still not sure what changed for me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it at first.

As soon as I finished that frankly explosive ending I immediately went back and restarted it to figure out where I'd gone wrong the first time around. And I don't know because the second time through that first half was so much more engaging.

I've been pondering this review for days now because I don't know how to rate it since my experience with the first and second halves were so different for no reason that I can figure out. But I think since I came away loving it in the end that I'll go with that?

The audiobook was well done and I liked the different accents the different characters had. The narrator did a good job differentiating the characters and bringing them to life. It was definitely immersive and kept my attention.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Bookishfirst, and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal is a YA fantasy set in the victorianish city of Wind Roaring. The Heroine is Arthie who run a tea house by day and a blood house by night known as the the Spindrift. When her tea house is threatened she and her team plan to break into the Arthereum.

The characters in this are fantastic and I found myself instantly attached to them. Arthie while an angry character loves hard and has a lot of empathy. I can feel how uncomfortable she is with her own feeling especially when either Leith or Mateo. Jin her found brother calls her out on her nonsense a lot of times. His more optimistic flirtatious personality and I enjoyed his relationship developing with Flick.

This has action and and adventures romance and vampires. While I'm not into vampires generally the world building a lore are well set up.I especially liked that this was a heist story.

The audiobook version is really good. The narrator changes up the accents for every character and it almost feels like a dramatic reading.
I received the audiobook from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Thanks to netgalley for

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC copy!

I have been looking forward to this book for so long and was thrilled to get an ARC copy for review.

I enjoyed every moment of this book, the characters were well written and the heist aspect was so well done you can tell there was a lot of thought put into the idea.

In a world where vampires not only exist but are also a known part of society it was not your typical vampire story, the book is not written about vampires, but vampires are just a part of the story and I found that so intriguing. It felt like a grand heist historical fiction with fantasy aspects, but they fantasy was so engrained into the world that it never seemed far fetched or unnatural.

It also shines a light on the danger and repercussions of colonialism and what it was like to live in colonial England at that time for POC's and different social classes.

A Tempest of Tea drew me in with the promise a gothic story of vampires and tea. The first book of a duology about a Arthie Casimir who owns the Spindrift, a tearoom by day and a bloodhouse for vampires by night which caters to the vampires feared by society. But when Spindrift is threatened she bands together with an unlikely group of misfits to steal a ledger that might possibly take down the monarchy. But the more she uncovers, the more she finds herself in a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.
I found this YA book to be a fun enjoyable read full of mystery and betrayals, though I had hoped it would have gone more into the vampire story. Sometimes the pacing was a bit slow, but all in all worth the read, I can't wait for book 2.
I was able to listen to this as an audiobook narrated by Maya Soroya. She did a beautiful job bringing the characters to life, I highly recommend it.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

<i>Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!</i>

Honestly, Hafsah Faizal could write an instruction manual and I would probably still enjoy it, so read this review with that in mind. Sands of Arawiya is one of my favourite YA fantasy series of all time, and a lot of that has to do with Faizal's writing. There's something about it that just works for me - it's lyrical, descriptive, and full of tension, and while there are many writers who could be described in the same way, there's just that something extra special about her writing that just makes me feel things.

A Tempest of Tea takes place in the same world as Arawiya, though in a different country that is reminiscent of early-to-mid 1900s England. If you enjoy period dramas, you'd absolutely love the vibes in this book. Our main character, Arthie, runs a teahouse by day and illegal bloodhouse by night, serving the vampire population of the city of White Roaring. One of the book's greatest strengths is its setting, and the way Faizal is able to bring the city to life. It's so immersive and the vibes are truly just so immaculate. I can see some people finding the writing to be overly descriptive though, so your mileage may vary here.

My main criticism of the book is that I feel like the found family vibes were just not quite there for me. I loved the found family in We Hunt the Flame, and I just think that this one wasn't quite as good. Most of the characters have pre-existing relationships with each other, and I'm just not sure those relationships were fleshed out enough. I also think that Arthie's POV was, by far, my favourite, and I really loved her interactions with all the other characters. Jin and Flick's POVs on the other hand, were not my favourite. I don't know if we needed both of their POVs if I'm totally honest - their storylines were very intertwined, and I think we could have benefitted from dropping one of the two and having Mateo or Laith's POV instead.

That all being said, I think this is an excellent start to a series, and I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is interested in period crime dramas, vampires, and heist stories. I have been waiting for this book since I finished We Free the Stars in 2021, and I'm so glad that it absolutely was worth the wait.

EXACTLY what I was hoping for but so much better than I imagined! Thank you NetGalley for providing me the audiobook ALC!

A Tempest of Tea was gritty, packed with intrigue, adventure, action and I don’t know how else to describe it BUT it had that feeling of watching shows like Peaky Blinders/Sherlock Holmes/Gangs of New York-those who get it, get it.

The world building/vampire lore was done so well and I loved every character in their little heist gang…it’s hard to pick a fave but Arthie is my girl!

I’ll just be anxiously waiting for book 2 because that cliffhanger was SHOCKING!

Well done Hafsah Faizal!

4.5⭐️

Once I got invested into the story, this book had my captured. It took a bit to get into this story as the first 30% is bit slower paced but it was really worth it.

I really enjoyed the overall character development and atmosphere of this story. The vampire part of this story is well done. The heist aspect is fantastic. This book did a great job setting up the found family aspect and how each character fit in.

This book really leant itself to a mix media approach. There are times this book gets a little confusing with the number of characters and point of views. This caused the audiobook version of this to grasp the first part of the story and who was who. I ended up restarting the book after 25% thru. I read the first part physically before switching back to the audio. In order to really understand who each character is and how they fit in this story.

I really enjoyed the narrators overall voice for these characters. My only issue was some of the characters were very similar to eachother and with the sheer number I would sometimes get lost on who's POV I was on or who was speaking. I would listen to other Books though by this narrator,

I am really looking forward to see how this story progresses in the next books. I really enjoyed the writing and thought it was beautiful. I'm interested to check out other books from this author.

I would recommend this book to readers who love heist and found family style books. The fantasy is light and I think it's accessible to most readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan audio for this advanced listener copy. My review is voluntarily my own.