I want to thank Netgalley for an advanced ARC of this book

I started this excited to read but I soft DNF'D afew times until now when and it was an OK read but wasn't brilliant and toke a week for me to read it, the beginning with some characters I didn't like but I did enjoy it more when it got to the second part of the book.



3.5 stars

4.0⭐️

Thank you so much for the review copy of this book!

The Poisons We Drink is a particularly unique story with excellent worldbuilding that I really enjoyed! The writing style is strong and you could really feel the personalities of the characters in the way they were written, especially Venus as she is the one we follow throughout the book.

I adored the story behind the witchers in this universe and all the different types of love potions, it really isn't like anything I have read before. I would happily read something else set in this world!

Only a couple of minor nitpicks to mention that stopped this from getting a higher rating (but definitely aren't massive problems in the grand scheme of things) - I did have some trouble remembering who some characters were as the pacing felt off at times, but that definitely could have just been a me problem.

I also felt a bit lost with some of the terminology - there is a glossary at the back of the book, but as I was reading an eBook I didn't know this until it was too late. Highly recommend using it if you decide to read this book!

Overall this was a wonderful experience, especially for a debut, that I would definitely recommend to others. I look forward to seeing what the author does next!

I'm absolutely loving the current influx of writers of colour, telling their stories with all the fierceness and magic that has been largely missing from bookshelves in the past.

This is a heartfelt tale of family and magic, with allegories of racism and discrimination that are handled exceptionally well. It feels determined rather than heavy-handed, and the protagonists react and manage their situations as well as can be expected; we feel for them with every challenge they must face. It reminded me of when I first saw the X-Men cartoons: no matter how it appears, hate is something to be fought against, as personal power is reclaimed. The author shows the battles that must be fought within a magical context, and the messages are clear and proud, completely engaging from the first pages. I also had to smile at the backhanded nods to 'real world' discrimination (the 'WASP' acronym being reclaimed in particular!).

I'm pretty sure I'm not the target audience here (white middle-aged British woman!), but I'm absolutely recommending this book. My niece - an amazing young woman of colour - openly challenged her English teacher as to why they didn't study books that featured people like her. This would be a fine addition to any curriculum or library, as I've no doubt that while traditional teachers would approve of the writing quality, smart young readers will hold it close to their hearts for the story and characters.

Thankyou, Bethany Baptiste.

Formatting of the ARC made it difficult to read with massive gaps and spaces. It made it less accessible to read due to the spacing issues therefore it took much longer to read than normal. Other than that it was an appealing story with an engaging writing style. But the formatting made it very difficult to read and I can't get past that. I'm sure the physical book is fine but in the future the formatting of your digital books is just as important as the content.

This book should be read just for the fact alone that the premise is so unique and the world building is phenomenal, how on earth can someone give us something so solid as a debut? Bethany Baptiste, I am so excited about what you have to give to the world, I am now a fan and follower.
The characters are all very realistic and the family and friendship/relationship dynamics are very relatable. I particularly enjoyed the sisters bond. But back to the world building, the whole witch world serves as a metaphor about what the world feels like today, especially in the USA, especially for people of colour and other social groups, who find themselves under threat and living with fear. this is brought brilliantly to life. the wikipedia type entries at the beginning of each chapter are amazing and add to the effect. there isn't a detali that has not been considered and I was happy to overlook the bits that didn't feel super convincing because overall the story delivers in spades.

Venus is a fantastic main character and her character development and everything so goes through made me very invested in finding out how the story unfolds.

A very easy and solid recommendation from me, thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

*thanks, netgalley, for the arc*

If you grew up watching movies like practical magic or a TV show like Buffy, you might just love this book.

You follow Venus, a young brewer of potion navigating the aftermath of her parent violent death. In a world where witcher are frowned upon and treated like low life, being stripped of all human rights little by little.

It's a book full of rage but also full of love. The dichotomy between love and rage works, so complete each other.

Venus is a complex main character. She's literally full of rage, anger, and kind of want to murder people, and for that, we have to stan this Bisexual queen.

I have some issues with the pacing, I found the first 35% kind of slow and hard to get through, but once we got past this point, everything worked better for me !

It can be read as a standalone, but I wouldn't say no for more time with the characters!!

This was a chonker of a read so I thought it's be slow, it would be repetitive but boi, was I wrong! It was so good. It didn't feel slow at all. I started reading it and before I knew it, it went from light, to dark, to light again. Time really flew by when reading this, that's how much I loved it. The only question I have is, how do I read for this for the first time all over again?

I rather enjoyed this book it had good pacing, an entertaining plot a beautifully written and immersive world in which to dive into, there are a lot of characters but each is necessary in the story in their own way
I found the main character to be likeable and not overly worked to the point you get bored she was intriguing with a genuine liability

Genuinely a little terrified but otherwise feeling a tad bit underwhelmed. I would have given this book 4 stars if it had not ended that way.

DNF @ 22%

The premise of the book is extremely interesting, and I was so happy to receive the eARC, but I think the DNF is a case of "It's me, not you" because you need to be in a very specific mood to enjoy the book as it's extremely angry. While Venus' anger never feels very deep, her sister's anger is by far more potent. They are angry at each other, at their mother but especially at the society that enforces laws that punish witchers. The book incorporates, among others, the following themes: police violence, racism, child abuse (emotional but also physical in a way due to the nature of brewing), child neglect (as Venus' and her sister are teenagers), a good amount of morality (e.g., giving someone unknowingly a love potion), discrimination, ... -- Overall, it is very angry and I have currently not the energy or the mind space to deal with such an angry setting at the moment.

However, three main issues are the reasons why I DNF'ed the book (the anger of the book is just the cherry on top):

1. The writing style.
It is very immature at times and the author uses extremely short sentences to highlight emotions. It feels choppy and unedited to read sentences that just consist of three or four words. In addition, some word choices were rather poor because they gave me the feeling of "I want to be special by using unique vocabulary" but it just renders it meaningless if it irritates the reader.

2. The pacing.
It is so off. By the time, I abandoned the book, nothing really happened that was relevant to the main plot line as far as I can tell. Yes, there are a few scenes where something happens (e.g., a shady deal for brewing a love potion, brewing the love potion, going to an aurora party) but the only major plot point that happened was the death of Venus' mother. The rest of the 22% are mostly world-building in a way but not to the depth that would excuse the lack of action. I have the feeling that the plot, which is mentioned in the book's summary, starts to happen between 40% - 50%, which is a shame. By the time when I'm 40% - 50% into a book, I want to be in the middle of the plot and not at the start of it.

3. The world-building and magic system.
It is so vague and superficial. While the entire story plays in an alternative version of the USA, I cannot tell you much about the witcher history or the magic system.
The world-building happens mostly through tidbits in the form of texts above each chapter, which I hate as a mechanism to introduce world-building because it never explains enough. The witcher vs. non-witcher conflict feels old and young at the same time as the book refers to events prior Venus' birth but also makes it sound as if the entire conflict is centuries old.
The magic system is just as vague. There are several types of magic mentioned (e.g., brewers, forgers, ...) and sometimes even sub-classes for each magic type (e.g., brewers have to focus on one type of potions) but that's it. By 22%, there was no mention of why iron hurts witchers. There's no explanation why brewers suffer from magical backlash or if witchers of other magic types have their own drawbacks.


To sum it up, it's the typical "them vs. us" story with magic as the dividing line that uses the question "What would you do in the situation?" as Venus will get caught up in a bad situation while she doesn't seem to be a bad character, but it just falls flat due to writing issues, the vague world-building & magic system, and the catastrophic pacing. It's also a very angry and political book but even the incorporation of the fitting themes for the politics fall short. I think it could have been a good book but it needs a few more rounds of editing to make it smoother and more cohesive.

I really enjoyed this. We start in a world thats very cosy and really gives practical magic vibes. And then layered over the top is a murder mystery, which keeps the plot and the book moving at a good pace. I felt the way the plot was paced made this book feel longer than it was, in a good way, that meant the story stays with you better and you felt like you got to spend more time in the world.
The world itself was very well crafted and in-depth which definitely added a deeper element and another level to the story. Its vivid and colourful and really adds to the story and the characters journey.
Speaking of the characters, they are a strong point here. The relationships with each and the character growth really allowed all the bonds of friendship, love and found family to be explored in depth, id happily spend more time with these characters and read further books about their adventures. The enemies and the plot surrounding those characters whose actions are less than desired is just as well fleshed out and led to an excellent dynamic between them and the protagonists.
Overall, a really good read, and explores some themes of politics and classicism and race alongside a good, well paced plot.

DNF @ 60%.
The story was too slow to my liking and I couldn't get into it. The plot was interesting and the beginning hooked me but at some point I just lost interest in the premise and had to stop. Might give it another go at another time.

This book is really hard for me to rate. It has a lot of good points, I love there's a lot of representation portrayed in a nice way, also showing the struggles of being a minority group. My issue with this book was its tone, it was a bit too YA for my personal taste. Some of the decisions of the characters were really questionable and I was pretty tired of the constant teenage attitude. 😅 On the other hand, I can appreciate it as a good portrayal of growing up with trauma and expectations being put on you. The plot was entertaining, the world building was quite unique!

Overall, I really appreciate what this book did, but it wasn't completely up to my taste.

This book was absolutely incredible! I loved the characters in this and thought that the premise was super interesting, and it really was. The author did a fantastic job of setting up the magic system and explaining how it works without giving too many details, and the characters were really interesting and well-developed. A fantastic book and I really can’t wait for more by this author. I can’t recommend this book enough!!

Dnf at 10%

I was so excited by the premise of this book. It felt like it could have hit the nostalgia of the urban fantasy I used to read as a teen. Unfortunately the writing style didn't couldn't keep me engaged. I felt like I was being dragged along.

No doubt their is a readership for this! Just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the eARC

This book is perfect for everyone who likes an unique magic system with many plot twists.

Unfortunately, the pace was a bit slow and I often found myself being bored of the story. Also, there was a bit too much telling in comparison to showing.
I couldn't really connect with Venus, it felt like there was an invisible wall between us. Her "deviation" / or some kind of monster in her mind was interesting but in my opinion, it could have played a bigger role in the story and some things should have been explained more. I liked the diversity of the characters and their personalities were well developed. I quite enjoyed the story but there was a little bit missing for me to give it 4 stars.

3.5 ☆ stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Going into The Poisons We Drink, I was little apprehensive because I felt the premise had the makings of a great book, and I did not want to be disappointed. Thankfully, I wasn’t — this was an engaging and delightful read which ticked all the right boxes for me.

In an alternate reality Washington DC, Venus Stoneheart is a witcher who brews love potions for both human and witcher alike — only, the brewing of such potions is illegal and could result in her death. She is, however, the main breadwinner for her family, and this responsibility only gets heavier once her mother is killed by an enemy’s iron bullet. Now Venus is also guardian to her younger sister, Janus, who is both reckless and idealistic: a dangerous combination, particularly where activism is concerned, and Janus is nothing but an activist. Add in the opportunity to seek revenge for their mother’s death, and Venus is in deep, even before she steps foot into the seedy criminal underbelly of the city.

First off, I loved this world — the tension between humans and witchers was so rich, and I could see from where the inspiration for this had come, but that didn’t detract any. Whether dealing with her family, her fellow witchers, criminals, or politicians, Venus inhabits a world that is a full sensory experience, from the colours to the scents to the tastes to the atmospheres. Given the importance of poisons and brewing, this was a brilliant touch and I really appreciated it. I also loved the inclusion of spell recipes and a glossary at the end (as a Witch myself, this was really cool).


All the characters were fully realised and I found myself rooting for each of them in turn: Venus, Janus, Presley, Darius, Bram, Ty — even Clarissa, Nisha, and Matrika. I understood each of their motivations and, even when I could see plot twists coming, I still enjoyed the how and why they acted in certain ways. I raged and cried at different points, and read with my heart in my throat for much of this novel. Venus and Janus would kill for each other — and even though they can drive each other crazy, nothing is stronger than the sisterhood they share. It is sacrosanct, and nothing can break it. The fact that these sisters had people around them who would also stand with them through thick and thin was just icing on the cake, even if the relationships at play were messy and complex. I also loved the representation in this book — brilliant inclusion, and very integral to the characters and story.

The plot itself was tightly woven, and the only — tiny, very tiny — irk I had was with Venus’ cover job, which is important at the start of the novel but is forgotten about in the third act; surely her employer must be wondering why she’s not clocking in? But really, if this is the only thing that bothered me, I’m really clutching at straws.

This was easily one of the best reads of the year for me, and I would love to see a special edition of this available at some point. As it was, I begged my husband to drive me straight from a hospital appointment to a bookstore on release day, just so I could grab a physical copy. I am excited to see what comes next from this author.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to the fantasy and mythology genre, but, I am widening my perspectives and so far loving it. The author has done this brilliantly. The story is beautifully written, the characters come alive on the page, the settings pop and all characters have believable voices. One of the key elements of this book is world-building, the author has created an intricate and detailed world, complete with its own histories, cultures, and languages.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

An engaging YA read which highlights prejudice and its effect on people in an easily understandable way.

The magic system was interesting, and the characters felt well rounded. The pacing was fast and there was a lot going on.

Pretty enjoyable overall!

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. Drawn in by the premise, I did feel that at some points, it felt a little heavy on the world building, and not in a good way, and there was less magic in it than I expected and more politics. But overall, it was a good read.