The Poisons We Drink introduces a cool urban magical world, gritty and dangerous. Venus comes from a family of Witchers, magic wielding outcasts society is afraid of. Specializing in potions for hire and running covert errands for her mother, Carissa. When Carissa is killed investigating Witcher deaths, Venus is pulled into a political conflict to benefit Witchers. Familial secrets are revealed, which set Venus on a path of revenge.

The world building was woven into the plot without much info-dumping, but I was hoping for more history and background, especially in regard to Venus and It. The pacing overall was choppy and I sometimes struggled to focus on the characters and plot. The abilities of magic wielders and the different types of potions were very neat but at the same time certain aspects left me with more questions than answers. One being the currency and amounts these potions gathered.

As the eldest daughter, Venus had a lot of pressure and expectations from her mother. This didn’t stop after her death. Seemingly leaving Venus to solely care for Janus, her younger sister, even with immediate family present. Unfortunately, Venus’ character development struggled, she was very naive, forced to do someone else’s bidding throughout the book, we never really get to know what her dreams and goals are. The middle of the book was a bore but it picked up once the revenge plot was introduced and secrets revealed.

The big takeaways are the many themes of the book, relating directly to our reality - politics and social justice, racism, oppression, and coming of age; to name a few. I appreciated the writing and the ease of introducing diverse characters, it was very natural and inclusive. The book features both adult language and juvenile behavior, which may attract older teens and young adults.

The narration performance from Lynette R. Freeman was imaginative and entertaining. I enjoyed the delivery and variation in character voices, it made the story easier to follow and the characters to pop. Ultimately, The Poisons We Drink is a good beginner fantasy that’s closer to magical realism with relatable issues and topics, skewing towards familial drama and fight for power.

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for the listening review copy.

3⭐️

another book where main character has some monster/weird presence in her mind sjjsjsjsjjsj

the magic system is very unique and interesting the plot had many twists since the beginning, betrayals on betrayals on betrayals, but the book felt a lil too long and plot was dragging a lil

however the romance was chef's kiss, it was so good, the tension>>>

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 2/25/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

What a wild ride. Bravo Bethany Baptiste for this debut novel. In a country where humans and witchers are at great odds Venus Stoneheart is just trying to make her love potions to support her family. Upon the death of her mother, Venus is thrust into a world full of decisions that will force her to confront not only herself but everything she’s known about her family and the adults surrounding it.
The world created in this book was outstanding. The magical system was different but easy to understand. The relationships between all of the characters were deeply layered and I often didn’t know who could be trusted. I loved Venus as a flawed character who is trying to navigate grief, responsibility, and who she is. If you would have asked me to guess at the start of the novel what the end results would be I would have been completely wrong and that is a testament to the twists and turns in the plot.
The narrator of the audiobook put on a master class. Each character had a very distinctive voice and I never found myself trying to guess who was speaking.

I loved this book and can’t wait to see what Bethany Baptiste comes up with next.

thank you to netgalley & sourcebooks fire for providing me a copy of the arc for the poisons we drink
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3.5 stars

let me start this review by saying i was so happy when netgalley accepted my request for this book. i had been looking forward to reading it because the cover is absolutely beautiful and the description really piqued my interest.

the writing in this book is all over the place and the style was kind of confusing. it made the seem book way longer than it needed to be. the pacing was slowwww and the plot kind of deviated. because of this, the storyline didn’t really come together as flawlessly as i hoped.

the world building is great but i felt that there were way too many characters in play, it was hard to follow them and connect to them because there was little to no descriptions of them.
the magic system and potion levels were a bit confusing and lacked detail in some scenes.

i really enjoyed the venus’ family dynamic, it felt realistic and refreshing. i liked how the author was able to reflect today’s society. the themes of oppression, racism, politics, mental illnesses (and a lot more) was all written so well. the book was full of representation, we love to see it!

as a debut book, this was pretty good. i’d definitely keep an eye out for more books by bethany baptiste in the future !

Good YA book, found it a bit bogged down with itself. I love the narrator she really sold all the characters

this novel is not just a story; it is an experience. It melds the fantastical with the grim realities of survival and consequence!


Will definitely be buying this book upon release

Thanks NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my review

Things that I loved: the political worldbuilding (setting the stage with protests, hate groups, and the history of freedom fighting, as well as the complex ways Witchers and their human allies resist), the ride-or-die family/friend dynamic in our main cast, some very good twists hitting where one least expects.

Things I wanted more of: more magical worldbuilding (we only saw other brewers in one scene and only interacted with one; we have no idea what brewer training is like or what other specialties there are; we don’t know what rules magic follows; the little witcherpedia entries at the beginning of almost every chapter do not stand in for well-woven worldbuilding), more interactions with the adults and the hate groups (the political backdrop is strong but we could have leaned on that more to get other things), more of some of the side characters who play big roles in the various twists (it’s not a good twist if you couldn’t see it coming even if you went back to analyze the text), more about the time BEFORE Venus’s parasite (I don’t think I ever really got a handle on how that happened or what Presley’s role in it was)

I also reached the end of the book with a lot of unanswered questions. Did I enjoy the ride? Generally. Would I recommend it? Yeah, I think so. But I also think it could have done more.