Venus is a messy and determined character and I ended up loving her. She is dealing with politics and family drama and trauma. It is a lot! The author does an exceptional job making the Witchers fit into modern society. There are multiple parts of the book that are frustrating and scary in a realistic way.
I just can’t express how this book was so much more than I expected it to be.

The best way I can think to describe this book is: interesting plot, subpar execution. Did I hate or even dislike this book? No! But it just didn't live up to the excitement I had for it.

The pros: GORGEOUS COVER! Interesting premise - "witchers" are folks with magic and in the public eye and there are humans who want them eradicated (very reminiscent of today's society); each witcher has different magical abilities.

The average parts: the world building - nothing crazy, since it's based in modern day America, but just with different technology and witches that have magic running around. Exposition was fine and I don't think I was ever too confused. The majority of the characters were fine too.

The things I didn't love: JANICE. This is once again not to say I hate her because she is a young teenage girl, and more times than not, they are not thinking about the needs of others over their own wants. But there were SO many moments where she made me so mad that I wanted to put down the book. It seemed like every life or death issue stemmed from something Janice had decided to do by running off and not telling anybody. The book would have been over in 100 pages if she hadn't been around.

Overall, this book was just very average to me - a very solid 3 stars. Enjoyable, and I think I'll remember certain plot points, but nothing that will stick around in my brain for too long. Give it a go if you're interested!

#ThePoisonsWeDrink #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media, Recorded Books for the early copy of the audiobook version of this book. It took me longer than I anticipated to finish this audiobook. I am not sure if I was on a reading slump or if I am just not vibing with the audiobook.

The narrators were fine. I think the story and themes of the book itself were so heavy for me that I kept on pausing the audiobook. The pacing was fine as well. There were a lot of things that happened, and the author gave enough time for the readers or listeners to relate to the main character. The world, witches, and spells were carefully explained too.

I would recommend this to those who like character-driven fantasy readers. The plot is somewhat predictable, but the characters involved really grew from the first to the last pages of the book. I still enjoyed my time listening to this, and I encourage readers to seek trigger warnings before going in.

This cover does not lie - a beautiful and harsh look at life, inclusion and how to create an even playing field. At times, I got lost between all the characters.
Baptiste does an amazing job illustrating the distortion between us and them, us vs. them. Attempts at working together have stalled - and now the High Witcher is doing what she feels she must. Sacrificing her people for the greater good. Venus isn't up for it - fighting to protect her younger sister and social justice without sacrificing her morals.

The Poisons We Drink is a extraordinary, diverse, YA fantasy. The writing is lush and the world is well thought out. I will definitely be recommending this to my students when it releases. The narrator was a great fit for this story as well.

This book to me to on quite an adventure. I loved the storyline and the characters although a few of them were annoying (but I believe that was the point). The only things I had trouble with at first was Percy and their pronouns. I was so confused as to who they were but I eventually realized it was a pronoun thing and the story’s pacing seemed a tad too slow for my liking. Overall, I would recommend this book. I read along as I listened to the audiobook, both courtesy of NetGalley.

AMAZING! I DONT TYPICALLY READ FANTASY or lots of YA but this was one that would make ME change my mind totally!!!I I loved this book it was something different and interesting! I WAS A STUNNING YA FANTASY. The world building was amazing!

3.5stars rounded up.

Thus book was so good. The beginning and the end were perfection. But (big but!!) The middle was so so so dull and long and drawn out.

Is it worth it? Yes
Did I question my judgement 75% of the chapters?...... also yes!

I do have to start by saying that I think this book is mis-categorised as YA, simply due to the graphic prevalence of swearing, violence, and sex. Once I approached it as an adult/new adult novel I enjoyed it so much more - do with this what you will!

The Poisons We Drink is a raw and visceral tale of grief and the lengths we go to for control and power. Baptiste created an immersive and endlessly creative alternate USA with a truly incredible magic system and a complex and intertwining cast of characters.

The narrator of the audiobook gives a truly heart stopping performance with incredible displays of emotion at every possible opportunity in both dialogue and narrative voice. Their differentiation between characters was effortless and easily parsable, and their voice engaging and easy to listen to, even during very raw acting moments.

The Poisons We Drink is a tale of two halves. I really struggled with the first half, I felt it moved super slow and could tell my mind was wandering at times. All that changed in the second half though. Things really picked up and the ending was fantastic.

I loved that the magic that was being focused on was brewing potions, it was unique and different from a lot of other fantasy books I've read recently and that is always appreciated. I would classify this as urban fantasy as it's our world, and I liked how Baptiste wove new things into our current state.

The Poisons We Drink does have a fair amount of political intrigue going on, so keep that in mind going into. Non-binary rep that I felt was very well done.

While I liked the concept which I thought was very good and original, I didn’t care as much about the characters. I liked Venus, I sympathized with her and her struggle but I didn’t click with her either. I had moments but in the end, I kind of didn’t care about her. I thought she would go down the path of rage and she didn’t which I’m a little disappointed about. The other characters were pretty much the same in the way I felt towards them, especially the sister whom I thought to be a little immature and reckless but she’s a teenager so I’ll let it pass. What stood out to me was the world and how the author is really trying to say something with it which I think is what fantasy ought to do. The witchers were a super cool take on your typical witch and the overall machinery of the world was very fun. 3 stars

I love this Bethany Baptiste. I cannot believe this was a debut. It is so good! I was listening to this all day while I did my chores and went to the gym. I was hooked.
I don't want to reveal much but I loved that Presley. They are so cool. The narration was absolutely perfect too!

5 stars. Five fantastic, heart breaking, incredible stars.

We’ve got Black girl magic, potions, angry girls, morally grey characters, difficult family mechanics and grief. Y’all, this book was such a good experience.

Bethany Baptiste is now up there for me with N.K. Jemison and Liselle Sambury as a powerhouse of an author that I will always buy from.

The Poisons We Drink follows Venus Stoneheart, a love potion brewer. A witcher, living in DC. Witchers are treated horribly. Due to a law, there can’t be more than 12 witchers in a given area together. They are heavily policed, heavily scrutinized, hated for their mere existence.

Sound familiar?

The book is full of amazing, living, breathing Black characters. And not only that but we get some queer rep to in the form of Presley who uses they/them pronouns and it’s just accepted. No one, not even the villain, has anything homophobic, queer phobic, transphobic, to say. Which was a relief. It was hella Black which also put a smile on my face.

I heard my people in this book. That’s a gift I can’t ever take for granted.

I don’t even know how to review this because I want to talk about everything all at once.

Venus and her younger sister Janice have a strained relationship with their mother. Especially Venus. It almost seems as if her mother hates her.

Love is what this book is about. In every way. How people use it to manipulate others, how some withhold it because they think it’s the right thing to do. The only way to keep people safe. How some love to hate what’s different.

This book had me in tears. There were just so many parts that made me tense, hold my breath, and cry. Bethany Baptiste is a master of emotion. I couldn’t get enough. Even when I wanted to stop so I could do other things with my day, I couldn’t do it. I had to keep listening. Had to finish the chapter.

Now, this is where the trigger warnings come in. First, this audiobook listed them and I was so grateful! It’s not a spoiler so miss me with that.

There is police violence, brutality and the spilling of blood in rituals. And yes, the violence is detailed. But if you can sit through that, you’ll be in for a treat.

Each character, for the most part, had such fantastic growth. Janice, girl I don’t like you but you got a little growth in you so I’ll give you a pass. To see these characters, side characters, have their own goals, their own mysteries, and be fully fleshed out was fantastic. They brought a roundness to the story that many lack due to the shallowness of the side characters.

The worldbuilding was A+. I never felt like I was being bored by the information being given. There weren’t paragraphs and paragraphs of explanation, it was natural the way things were explained. And when I say I loved the magic system, I mean it. Brewing potions has a very harsh rebound. It’s something you don’t generally see in many fantasy books. Magic having a real cost. A cost that lasts. A cost that can kill.

Y’all, please buy this book. Get it into your eyes, your ears, however you can.

Oh and this narrator? Ma’am ate down!

Normally I don’t care about the narrator too much but Lynette R. Freeman gave a whole cinematic performance for the ages! 10 out of 10!

This is a 5 star book. I think everyone should read it. Do yourselves a favor and pick it up as soon as you can. Please!

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this audiobook. It was a delightful experience!

The Poisons We Drink was a strong debut from Bethany Baptiste. The book absolutely had me in a glued to the audiobook (the narrator was world class!) and I found it hard to put down. Event when I wanted to due to some of the heavy themes in the book. There are some really fun scenes and interactions between characters featured around all of the heaviness, and it was what kept bringing me back to this audiobook. The author also did an incredible job of world building and character development in this book. It was easy to imagine the scenes in the narration and to also imagine how the characters interacted with each other. The details were so vivid that it felt like I knew the characters and I tried to predict what they were going to do next.

Overall a strong start by Bethany Baptiste and I look forward to seeing what she creates next.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.

I loved the premise of this book with Witchers (witches) and potion making of love spells with a twist (love of an idea etc). The familial connection of the sister’s & extended family was very interesting to me and I loved their personalities.

However, the decisions of our MC following the big loss, felt too reckless and naive. She obviously made THE WORST choices & was being manipulated without stopping and thinking anything through. This was super hard to sympathize with and gave the feel of younger YA that doesn’t work for me.

I also felt some of the story telling came across as disjointed and a little hard to follow from scene to scene. At times I forgot why we were at a location or when we had left for another.

My main reason for DNFing was the set up for the main conflict didn’t appeal to me along with the little forethought of our main character.

Fantastic narrator, the story was brought to life!

The pacing was done so well, and each character had a distinct voice, which was a nice touch.

I enjoyed the story and believe it is a strong debut. The world-building and magical system is confusing but highly intriguing.

Thank you, NetGalley and RBMedia, for the ALC. I will post a full review on my Instagram page before pub day.

3.5 stars

Thank you to RB Media, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I was super drawn into the premise of this book several months ago, and I was so excited to get the audiobook ARC!

What I enjoyed about the book: There was action constantly the entire book. I enjoyed the 1st 35% of the book and the last 15% of the book. There is something so intriguing about witchers with different magical abilities. I loved how everyone had their specific lines of magic that they focused on. I loved Venus as the main character. She is passionate about what she wants, and she will do anything and everything to protect her family and found family. I loved her relationship to Presley and how they continued to protect each other in whatever ways they thought best. When Presley sets this strong boundary with Venus to basically say that they’re going to be there for each other no matter what, and they have to stop pushing the other away when things get scary. Venus and J’s sister relationship was so good!! It felt so real and relatable. And wow, I honestly loved all the plot twists. The big reveals at the end were so good, and I am definitely interested in reading more of Baptiste’s work.

What I didn’t enjoy about the book: The pacing felt off to me. I think the book needed to be condense, because it was difficult to follow after about 35% of the book. The middle needed less and more focus on certain key points. It felt a bit confusing and hard to keep up with.

I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what I expected when I read the description for this book. And maybe that's because love potions were involved and I just didn't take it to be anything but a light read. Well, I was wrong.

The Poisons We Drink was a heavy hitting novel. The themes of discrimination, segregation, and the full-on oppression of a group of people are tackled in such a unique way with humans vs witchers. I was invested from the beginning all the way through the end.

There was some really cool magic in this book. On that note alone I would highly recommend this book. But everything about this book pulled me in. Were there things I wish I knew more about? Oh definitely. But it never once took away from the overall feel of the plot or the characters. I almost wish there was more to this just because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this world. My only issue I had with this book was with one character, but other than that I loved it.

The audiobook itself was well done. The narrator really brings these characters to life in a way that I feel like if I had physically read this instead of listening then I would've missed out on that additional bit to feel truly immersed in this book.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

3.5⭐️

I had really high hopes for this one which I probably should have tempered going into it, because it may have affected how I perceived the book overall. I was really drawn in at the start and it felt really promising, but I felt like there were too many characters and plot points going on towards the middle and end of the book which really impacted the author‘s ability to explore them all adequately.

The MC and the ensemble characters all showed great potential but I feel like we only got to know them on a surface level. Same with the world-building and magic system - it was interesting, with a lot of potential but the depth just wasn’t there.

I loved seeing a non-binary romantic interest, that’s something I’d love to see more representation for in YA fiction and just fiction in general!

I read this book on audio and would highly recommend doing that if you’re wanting to check this one out - the narration was great! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for books read by Lynnette R. Freeman in the future because her voice is gorgeous.

Overall this was a pretty solid YA fantasy, again I think if I hadn’t set my expectations so high I would have enjoyed it much more. This is definitely one I’ll recommend to anyone looking for a witchy YA read!

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for my ARC copy! This review contains my personal thoughts and opinions.

I was very intrigued by the synopsis of "The Poisons We Drink" by Bethany Baptiste. The concept held immense promise, but for me, the execution fell short for several reasons.

One of the most glaring issues is the lack of smooth transitions between scenes. This resulted in a disjointed narrative that was challenging to follow, especially in audiobook format. The pacing, particularly in the beginning, felt slow, making it challenging to engage with the story entirely. Additionally, there was not enough world-building, which left much to be desired. I could not connect with the book as I hoped without a solid foundation.

A solid explanation of the magic system is the most crucial aspect of any fantasy novel. In this book, that explanation was lacking. This lack of clarity added to the confusion and detracted from the reading experience. There were a lot of characters that were hard to keep track of. However, the narrator deserves commendation for her fantastic portrayal of the characters, using distinct voices that help differentiate them—a saving grace in an otherwise convoluted narrative.

Overall, this book had a lot of potential but was not for me in the end.

Rating: 2.5/5