Bethany Baptiste conjures up a world as gritty as it is magical, where the price of power is high, and danger lurks around every corner. Venus is a fierce, complicated heroine torn between family loyalty, self-preservation, and the terrifying, mysterious magic that lives inside her. This story dives deep into themes of sisterhood, justice, and self-love—turning love potions into weapons in a twist you won’t see coming.

If you love fierce female leads, morally complex magic, and a plot full of tension and intrigue, The Poisons We Drink is an absolute must-read. Be prepared for a wild ride you won’t be able to put it down!

**Review of *The Poison We Drink* by Bethany Baptiste**
⭐⭐⭐

*The Poison We Drink* by Bethany Baptiste tackles the complexities of race, identity, and trauma through the lens of a gripping narrative. The story follows its protagonist, a young Black woman named Brianna, who grapples with her family's tumultuous history and the weight of societal expectations that shape her identity. As Brianna navigates her personal struggles and the legacy of generational trauma, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to confront painful truths about her past and the community she belongs to.

While the themes of identity and belonging are poignant and resonate throughout the book, the novel feels excessively lengthy, which detracts from the pacing and impact of Brianna's journey. Baptiste’s writing is insightful and thought-provoking, but the narrative sometimes meanders, making it challenging to maintain engagement. Ultimately, *The Poison We Drink* offers important reflections on social issues but could benefit from a tighter structure to enhance its emotional punch. Despite its flaws, the novel’s exploration of Brianna’s inner conflict and growth makes it a worthwhile read for those interested in stories about resilience and the complexities of identity.

Really enjoyed the book and the audiobook, the narration was great and the recording quality was well done. the narrators made the story easy to follow and made the experience overall a very enjoyable one.

2.25

The Poisons We Drink is a YA urban fantasy set an alternate United States where humans treat witchers as second class citizens. It's in this world, where Venus Stoneheart is struggling to support her family by making illegal love potions when she gets caught up in a dangerous game of politics and secrets.

I think the second half of this book is much stronger than the first. I struggled in the beginning to understand the set up of this world and then found the pacing to be incredibly uneven throughout. It did start to pull together for me in the back half but by then it was an uphill climb to get me to enjoy the story. Honestly if I hadn't had the audiobook, I probably would have given up. Though Lynnette R. Freeman's narration was excellent.

I appreciate the queernormative world and love the thematic explorations of racism and classism, grief and mental illness, power and morality, and more, and I think a lot of my issues with the pacing can be fixed with more experience and better editing.

Overall, while I really struggled through this I think the ideas were solid and would be interested in seeing something else from Bethany Baptiste.

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptist has a lot of potential with its creative world-building and unique magic system. Set in a country divided between humans and witchers, the story follows Venus Stoneheart, who brews illegal love potions to support her family. After her mother is killed, Venus is drawn into a dangerous world of revenge and corruption.

While the book showcases the author’s creativity, it suffers from having too many characters and subplots, making the story feel long and unfocused. There’s also a fair bit of violence and swearing, so keep that in mind. Despite these flaws, for a debut novel, it’s a solid effort, and I’m curious to see what the author writes next.

The audiobook version was great for bringing out the characters' personalities. It was easy to tell the characters apart, and the narration added an extra layer of energy to the story.

This book offers a dark and intriguing exploration of betrayal, secrets, and the toxic relationships that bind the characters together. The author tells a compelling story with a strong world building, but it sometimes drags with pacing, making it hard to stay fully engaged. While the characters are well-drawn, their development feels uneven at times and it felt like there were way too many characters, leaving some arcs unresolved or less impactful than expected. It was hard to keep straight who was who. Overall, this was a decent read with lots of potential the cover is stunning and the narrator did a great job, but it may not fully satisfy those looking for a more cohesive and gripping plot.

This was such a fun read. It touched on so many topics that are going to be great for teens to read. If you like a novel magic trope and politics, then this book is for you. The story moves you along with every page and you really see the impact that choices have. The world building alone allows for you to be immersed in the story and follow along.

Thank you to RB Media for the ALC.

I really enjoyed the audio for this book, Lynette really brought all of the characters to life. I loved the book, and how Lynette played with the voices for each of the characters.

Venus just wants to be the witcher that she is, but she is in the center of the human versus witcher battle. And this battle sounds awfully familiar, yes there is a magical element, but the fight that Bethany Baptiste writes about is splashed across the headlines of 2024.
This is a relatively fast paced story and the audio is binge worthy.

Highly recommend.

Giving this five stars for the dedication alone.

In all seriousness, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest, I almost dnf’d at the 75% mark. The concept was great and I was really excited about this book. The voices for the sister just didn’t work for me and took me out of the story. Some of it was also a bit confusing. It had so much potential and just didn’t hit it for me.

I… wanted to like this one so badly but I unfortunately didn’t enjoy most of it. I could’ve even dnfed and not really thought twice about it. A lot was smushed into this one book and it’s not getting a sequel. I don’t know if the author was told and decided to push everything in because she wasn’t getting a sequel or if she pushed everything in thinking that she’d get to clear things up in the sequel.

Either way, it didn’t work for me. I had the audio and I disliked the narrator, which definitely added to my ‘reasons’. Some voices were fine but for most of them I wasn’t much of a fan. Venus’s voice (the main character) was mostly okay but I really didn’t like Janus – her voice and her character. Janus’s (and maybe Venus? I don’t remember) voice was a bit scratchy and it made it difficult to hear when she (the narrator) shouted in dialogue because it was all high-pitched.

I think if Venus were either an only child or just had a different sibling I might have liked her better but because she was so much with her sister, it was difficult. I sort of liked her but not really enough to have me fully invested in the story. I kept waiting for Janus to become more likeable, to do something where I could cheer for her but it never came. In fact I didn’t like most of the side characters. I didn’t remember much of the uncle or the cousin but I also didn’t remember much of them. I liked Presley the best of the side characters (actually of all the characters). They were the best written and I wasn’t too bothered by the voice.

The plot was decent enough but because it was so jam-packed it was difficult to keep everything straight. I think only at the end I was starting to put two and two together. And because I wasn’t so interested it was hard to actually want to put the pieces together.

Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to listen to the audiobook before it got archived!
I will make sure to get a copy or the audio version, myself to give a review on my socials.

This review really pains me to write because I was so looking forward to this release and this just didn't work for me.

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was so well done. The narrator did a wonderful job of emoting and really allowing the reader to feel the emotions the characters were feeling as well as using different voices that really helped separate the characters.

The questionable morality of the characters made it exciting. You never really knew what Venus was going to do and if you were going to root for her in that moment. It was so nice to see a character like that in this novel.

I also can appreciate how this is on the upper end of YA. It does have a darker feel to it that is a little bit more mature. It's something that I think the older YA readers could enjoy.

Unfortunately, the pacing wasn't consistent. The middle dragged and in that I really ended up losing my interest. I kept trying to pick it up and listen for a chapter or so at a time and hope that it would pick back up and I could enjoy it, or even find the interest I found in it at the beginning, but that never happened.

As a debut, I do think this was pretty good. I liked the concept of this enough that I would like to see what else this author writes, but this one just didn't work for me unfortunately. The reviews for this are still positive, so if it sounds good, give it a try!

Such an amazing audio and debut! This was an anticipated release for 2024 and I am so happy with everything this story had to give. The plot, the characters, the magic, all of it was so thoroughly researched and the emotion created from this story was top tier.

I had really high hopes for this book. It started off strong. The story was interesting, and I was fully engaged. The narrator was lively and entertaining, although the way she voiced the sister grated on my nerves.

I'm not sure what happened, but at about 40% my interest started to dissipate. By 60%, I found I just didn't care anymore. I trudged through the remainder of the book, but it never truly pulled me back in.

Final rating, 2.5 stars. I'm rounding up to 3 stars because it's likely that the problem was with me, not the book.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me early access to the ARC audiobook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF at 44%.

I really tried to like this one. I thought the premise was super interesting and I was very excited to start reading. I got an ALC from NetGalley and Recorded Books (thank you!) but unfortunately I didn't really like the narrator of the audiobook (personal opinion, many people do like the audio). She did a good job in giving every character a distinct voice and she was certainly not talking blandly. However, what bothered me a lot was how sassy she made everyone, especially Venus's sister. The sassiness was way too exaggerated and was often weird/inappropriate in the situations the characters were in. Luckily I had bought a physical copy by then so I switched to reading physically.

My thoughts:

What I didn't like:
- The whole book radiated with anger. The story was told in a way that showed a lot of hatred. There weren't real nuanced emotions.
- The excessive use of modern slang. I'm okay with some slang in an urban fantasy, but it was way too much in this book. Also the F-word was used 131 times(!) which often felt inappropriate and out of place.
- The story jumps around a lot, with different storylines going on. I think this gave the book a chaotic undertone, like it didn't really know which story it wanted to tell. I think it would have been better if there was more focus on one storyline.

What I did like:
- The premise. I think it was very promising.
- I liked the magic system. It was pretty unique and I like magical potions.

My general opinion is that this story is held back by the tremendous amount of hatred in this book. There are almost no happy feelings portrayed whatsoever. Maybe when I'm more in the mood for that, I'll pick this one up again. But for now I will have to DNF.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. this was such a fun urban fantasy read heavily focusing on political intrigue and family. this book started out slow for me but once it picked up i loved all the characters and how messy and real Venus was as a character

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

This was so good. The narrator was great too. I stayed engaged the whole time! I also loved the cover! I just hate what the publisher put the author through. Bethany Baptiste does not deserve this.