Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. First of all, Hafsah— I’m sorry. I truly am… But it is very obvious that A Steeping of Blood was difficult to write. A Tempest of Tea was one of my favorite books of the year last year. I literally have THREE copies of it. Between the characters, the twists, and the over-arching theme, I was really looking forward to seeing what would come next with a second book.

The writing style, while beautiful and witty, was way too juvenile for the subject matter. I mean, we’re talking about colonialism, racism, death, etc… I get this is technically YA, but this book could benefit from the author using a more sensitive tone. A personal issue I had was the dialogue between characters... The one-liners and pet names were unbearably cheesy.

Overall, this book was dull but somehow still so incredibly heavy-handed. The unnecessary descriptions and random side thoughts during the multiple POVs will probably have most people skimming the pages.

A Tempest of Tea was slower on the pace side, and while this one is much faster paced, it feels like we spend chapter upon chapter reading about a single scene that could’ve been easily put into half a page and still packed the same punch.

I love how we saw more of Flick and Jin but at the cost of the other characters… Which was fine, but the ending of the first book left us with SO many questions that didn’t really get answered.

My main issue was the end… I’m not the type of person that always has to have a HEA, but the twist at the end felt inorganic and added purely for shock value and nothing else. Maybe to create buzz online when people talk about their experience while reading it? I don’t know, but wow… I felt very thrown off by everything that happens in the last 100 pages.

I’m sad to be making such a review.

A truly phenomenal sequel. I loved the continuation of Archie and Jin’s story. I really enjoyed the 3 POVs with Flick. Each character went through great character growth.

The story may start off going where you think it will but immediately adds more plot twists than I was expecting. I was in tears through some of the plot twists but I loved this journey.

I had 30-40 pages left and was wondering how is the author going to wrap everything up in that time. In a way I was definitely not expecting! It has an incredible balance between action scenes and emotional/plot drive scenes. The only thing I wanted was an overall HEA, this one was bittersweet for me.

I didn't especially like the first one: the writing style was juvenile despite the subject matter being rather dark, there was no sense of urgency, extremely heavy-handed with its themes: beating you over the head with them with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the book was full of quippy Marvel-esque one liner dialogues, and the characters talk about doing things more often than they actually accomplish anything.

In a word, it was dull.

The conclusion didn't do a whole lot to mitigate my dislikes: it's still got the same unlikeable cast of characters as the first and an unclear purpose. This one has MORE action than the first, but that's not really saying much since about 60% of the first book was them planning to do things. I'd HOPE that they actually do things now.

Some YA is written with teens in mind but is still enjoyable to adults like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Howl's Moving Castle, and even the one this series is so heavily inspired by: Six of Crows.

The two Blood and Tea books are hard to read as an adult and I think even in my teens, I would've been disinterested. There are better vampire books, better heist books, and better books about anti-colonialism written with a more deft hand.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this early copy in exchange for my honest review

So often in duologies, one book shines brighter than the other, either the first starts with such a bang that it is hard to live up to or the ending mutates the story. With Blood and Tea, there was a perfect balance between A Tempest of Tea and A Steeping of Blood. Readers who were captured by the first book have more heists, more light romance, more parental drama, and more vampires to look forward to. The writing is easy to read and the twists are fun to follow. There are a few redemption arcs and a few heartbreaks on the way to the very fitting ending. Readers who enjoyed the first book in this pair will likely find this to be a gratifying conclusion. (3.5/5)
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group - Farrar, Straus and Giroux ) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

I enjoyed this even more than Tempest of Tea—I thought Jin and Flick’s story was perfect and the ending was so well done. Huge thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan for the advanced reader copy ☕️✨🪶

I loved this! I ran to read the first one before I read this and I loved this author's writing style! It was a delightful read, can't wait to read more by this author!

‘A Steeping of Blood’ is a dangerous cat-and-mouse game on a magical level.

One thing I will say is that Hafsah Faizal is an excellent writer. The plot is just as engaging as ‘A Tempest of Tea.’ The pace is fast and it’s a fun ride, with vampires, voyages, and heists galore. The crew is back, but broken. Can they find their way back together? Jin has yet to find his missing parents and the way they fit into the schemes unfolding in White Roaring. Will this mystery be solved? Flick has found herself completely changed by her time with the Casimirs, away from the prison of polite society. Is there now more room for her to grow into herself? The Ram is still on the rampage. Can they be stopped? All the answers await.

As for the overall rating, this a difficult review to write because there are many things enjoyable about this sequel, but the ending was not at all what I expected and that did affect my rating. I would say that for the first 97% of the book I thought it would sit in my heart at a solid four-star rating, but this heart hurts! I’d like to remain spoiler free, but also to pout. Why???

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. It was highly anticipated and I’m grateful.

ahh didn’t realize i had requested the sequel first! i will be diving heard first first thing into the first book because this looks (and sounds) absolutely perfect!! 💫