"Why save the world when you can have tea?"

I absolutely ate this book up. It's like a cup of your favourite tea, brewed to perfection and you can't help but devour every last drop. I mean come on, it's a heist book that has Peaky Blinders meets Arthurian Legend meets vampires vibes. You can't tell me you're not interested.

Hafsah Faizal does an amazing job of creating a rich and intriguing world filled with a compelling cast of characters. I found myself rooting for Arthie and Jin from the first chapter and my excitement only grew with every new character introduced. Every aspect of the book was filled with action, from the reveal of Arthie's hand picked team for the heist, to the planning and finally to the execution and fallout of the heist. It all had me hooked and I didn't want to put the book down. And the romance is especially delicious.

The audiobook narrator does an excellent job at breathing life into this book but my one criticism would be that her voice is a little too soft at times meaning the action scenes felt a little subdued.

That cliffhanger though. That's got to be the cruellest one I've read in a while but it's guaranteed I'll be keeping my eye out for the second book!

Another fantastically compelling action adventure from Hafsah Faizal, but I his time with an added element of vampires. I really enjoyed the narrator here as they really added to the atmosphere of the story,be specially in the action/heist sequences.

this was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and it was such a fun read! the world building, the heist, the characters! the start might have been a bit confusing and I sometimes could not really concentrate during the dialogues but I that is because of the audiobook format! I cannot wait to go back and read the physical book!

I was very excited for this novel, but unfortunately, it was not for me. It took me a long time to get really into the story and neither the plot nor the characters grabbed me. I'm still trying to decide what did not work for me, but it is difficult to pinpoint.
To be honest, I struggled with telling the characters apart (and most of them seemed one-dimensional) and I would have liked a bit more world building.

“It's tea time, Scoundrels!”

Peaky Blinders with vampires? Sign me right up!

A wild tale of secrets, revenge, betrayal, vampires, found family, romance, and a heist. I loved every bit of this and the audio narrator made it even more brilliant.
The world-building is fantastic with commentary on colonialism and its lasting effects.
Told through three POVs ~Arthie, Jin & Flick; each have distinct personalities and we understand each character’s conflicting agenda in pulling off an impossible heist.

My only critique is the very slow start. However, this is redeemed by the reveals and twists at the end.

A book I won’t ever forget.
First of all I was presently surprised when I got approved for the book case I am quite small of a creator but I am happy the publisher Macmillan gave me a chance to read and give my opinion on it . So thank you to the publishers and NetGalley.
Now let’s get to the book, three things
A, the narrator Maya Saroya, nailed it, her elegance was shining through her voice and it made the book even more beautiful than it already was
Ps. Now that I think about the book in my head the only voice that I can think in is hers, not mine, so I guess she did amazing
2, this is my first time reading the author Hafsah Faizal, but I had high expectations cause of the hype that I saw surrounding the book and the author totally outdid my expectation and went even beyond the mountains with this.
Will surely pick up we hunt the flame after this just to get a bit more from her.
And at last
C, the characters and the language, the book had the right amount of dramatic it needed to have with dialogues that can be used for a tictok edit where everyone swoons over the characters in the comment section :3 and I loved all, but my heart only belong to arthie .
So yeah, a good book to read while having a hot cup of chai wrapped in a cosy blanket.
Yours truthfully, aarohi

A disappointing read- it felt like the book was not developing any original plot but felt like a summary of many popular YA books. The blurb was extremely promising but it did not turn out to be what i had expected- the characters and the story both were unengaging.
The plot twists were not very exciting and the whole vampire-vibe was underdeveloped it simply did not have enough vampires.

The romance subplot again felt put there just because there needs to be romance and it needs to hit the booktok fanbase...quite disappointed. Everything left me wanting more and wishing the author could have gone more in depth on everything..

A Tempest of Tea is a young adult fantasy that grow around Casimir siblings Arthie and Jin. The story have a interesting premise and I find some of the twist of the book a bit predictable. But is well written and the narrator of the Audiobook did a brilliant job. For me this sound like a Victorian era vampire book. Plus the oppression and the colonialism was some of the topics I Believe are develop very well on the book. It was a slow paced for me and there where a point were I find tedious the whole thing. But the writer did a great job with the narrative and the prose on the book. Big thanks to NetGalley and the MacMillan UK Audio for the access to this ARC

I was really happy to be able to listen to this audiobook prior to A Tempest of Tea's release. I've just started branching out into audiobooks and find with a lot of fantasy books that are quite in depth, audiobooks are the way to go for me.

The narrator does an excellent job in A Tempest of Tea, I love her voice and how she brings the characters to life. The plot is full of twists and turns, just when you think you have an idea as to what is happening it throws you in another direction.

The story itself is stunning, we were promised heists, tea, vampires and a delicious slow burn love - and boy did this book deliver! Hafsah Faizal did an excellent job ensnaring me, from the first few chapters of the book I was super engrossed and I loved the banter between the characters. Arthie is the coolest FMC I've ever seen.

I absolutely adored this book, I will be buying the physical copy and recommending it to anyone who will listen. Prepared to be sick of me.

I'm not really into audiobooks, but I was curious about this one. It had Six of Crows vibes, so that was quite catching. I quite like Arthie, she was truly an interesting character. The way that the heist was developed in the plot could be confusing at times, since, like I said before, I'm not used to listening to books. Nevertheless, I was invested in the story. The last chapters were the best. Full of twists and turns and revelations, I believe this is a good book to start a series and I can't wait to read for the sequel.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher, for the opportunity.

A Tempest of Tea is a young adult fantasy story that follows the Casimir siblings, Arthie and Jin, who when they find out that they are about to lose their establishment—a tearoom during the day, an illegal bloodhouse for vampires during the night—decide to put together a crew in order to carry out a dangerous heist on the Athereum, also known as a secret society of vampires. With the help of a forger, a vampire artist and a captain of the Horned Guard, Arthie and Jin will attempt to recover an important ledger to use as leverage to save their business.

The idea of a tearoom for vampires and the comparisons to Peaky Blinders drew me to this story, but unfortunately I found the story pretty average. It has a fun premise and liked some characters like Jin and Matteo, but I didn’t care for the rest of the crew and I found one of the romances too forced in order to make one aspect of the plot more dramatic. And although I like a ruthless main character and especially when said character is a woman, I have to say that I found Arthie quite one-dimensional.

The plot is very much linear throughout the majority of the book, although there are some interesting twists towards the end; some of them I saw coming, but one actually surprised me. I liked the commentary on colonialism and some scenes between the characters—especially those involving Matteo, who deserved his own point of view—but overall, this was just an okay read for me and I don’t think I’ll read the last installment in this duology.

A Tempest of Tea caught me off guard a bit. I didn’t enjoy Faizal’s first book. I didn’t like the writing and ended up DNFing it, but I was willing to give this book a try. I saw the audio version on Netgalley, so I requested it.

I was not prepared for how much I loved this book. In fact, I think it’s now one of my favourite books ever. It really shines through the characters. I was obsessed with both Arthie and Jin, but also the rest of the cast. The characters were just so well written, and their interactions with each other were so genuine. I couldn’t help but fall in love with them.

This book was also hella romantic. Like the interactions between Arthie and Leif (apologies if I’m getting character names wrong, I listened to the audiobook), Arthie and Mateo, and Jin and Felicity were so good. The banter was top, and the tension ran high. The characters are the strongest part of this book.

This might just be the fault of the audiobook, but sometimes I’d lose track of the conversations or the characters will say something that doesn’t make sense to me at all. But could just be my inattentiveness.

The actual heist part was a also little confusing, the timeline didn’t make enough sense or maybe I missed a few key details. But once again it could be my own fault, as maybe I didn’t pay enough attention.

Overall I think this is an excellent book, a solid series opener, and I cannot wait to see where it goes next.

This was my first ever Hafsah Faizal book and wow I'm absolutely impressed. Set in the universe of Sands of Arawiya duology (which I have been seeing on both booktok and booktwt and have been wanting to read for a while now), this book brought heists, vampires, kitten (!!) and also tea. Marketed for fans of Six of Crows duology and this book DELIVERED. Arthie Casimir IS the female version of Kaz Brekker. I had a really fun times listening to this. I might have struggled in the beginning because this was my first my first ever audiobook, I have come to loving how Maya Saroya narrated each POV in this book, making each character sounds different.

Full of twists and turns and also betrayal from all sides, I went from giggling at Jin asking one of the vampire if they had ever been hit with an auction paddle, to restraining myself from saying "WHAT" outloud when a certain someone said "Hello, daughter". Everyone is connected in this book. But nothing, absolutely nothing compared with listening to the ending of chapter 54 until chapter 60. I truly could not stop listening. I believe now I have a whiplash from all those revelations after revelations after revelations. Ending this book like chapter 60 should be prohibited because of the long wait until the sequel comes out. I need the sequel so badly oh my god.

— 4.5 stars ✰

There was a point last year when this book was all over my Tiktok, being recommended for fans of peculiar magic systems and the TV series ‘Peaky Blinders’.

Imagine yourself in a Victorian style world, full of vampires, where everyone holds their secrets close to heart. In this world, there is a small tea room owned by none other than Arthie Casimir, a criminal mastermind who happens to deal in secrets. She finds herself entangled in a deadly heist, in charge of a team of misfits, who slowly, but surely become her family.

If you read ‘Six of Crows’ and wanted a similar type of story, but with more of a British lilt to it and a girl version of Kaz, look no further.

This book was simply enthralling, I could not think about anything else and found myself finishing this in a day. And yet, whilst it was a young adult fantasy with romantic subplots, it definitely had deeper themes within it - standing up to oppression, dealing with colonialism and facing your own fears. I am very much interested to see what will happen in the next book and where the characters will find themselves. There were so many twists and turns, I simply could not get enough.

Albeit, I did wish I could see more of the heist itself. Hafsah Faizal spends a large portion of the book building up to it, only for it to last a few chapters. Nevertheless, this did not ruin my enjoyment.

I am incredibly lucky and grateful to have been able to listen to the audiobook on NetGalley. Thank you to both NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.

Easily one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to in a long time.

This book does ‘found family’ in a way that has the reader’s heart aching for both Arthie and Jin and is almost reminiscent of Six of Crows and Oceans 1 while simultaneously having it’s own unique flavour of ‘heist crew turns to family’. A flavour which is distinctly tinged with coconut.

The vampirism is written so exquisitely and the lore, levels of vampirism and even the creation of a speak-easy type blood bar hidden in a tea room is so incredibly clever that Hafsah Faizal leaves the reader in awe at every turn.

Some of these plot twists had me suffering from whiplash as, every time I thought I’d got over the last reveal, something else would hit me.

Such a high 4.5 but it JUST misses out on a 5 as I still don’t understand the inclusion of the kitten and feel too much time was spent on it - and it’s owner.

Oh my god the last 10% of this book. So many things went wrong, so many revelations.

Let's start from the beginning. Arthie and Jin are siblings in all but blood and they are the proud owners of Spindrift, a tea room by day and an illegal bloodhouse by night (yes, there's vampires). But Arthie's real trade isn't tea or blood, it's secrets. When Spindrift is threatened, Arthie is willing to do everything it takes to save it. Even striking deals with people she doesn't trust and planning a heist to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But she might also have to reaveal a few secrets of her own and make sure she does the betraying before anyone can betray her.

I really liked this. It's not fully 5 stars and I'm not head over heels in love but I really really enjoyed it. It's very reminiscent of Six of Crows but also very different. I loved the crew, the characters had depth to them and were chef's kiss level of perfect and the romances that are brewing have me swooning.

I also really liked the writing. This is my first Hafsah Faizal book and now I very much want to get around to We Hunt the Flame, especially since Laith is an Arawiyan hashashin.

So much went down in the last 10% that I need to read the sequel right now. Also, can we place bets on who we think the Wolf of White Roaring is? My money is on Matteo.

A Tempest of Tea was an action-packed story with lovely characters that kept me on the edge as I read. The vibes were amazing, and Faizal's writing style put me right in the universe of the story. It's tea, it's vampires, and it's a wild cast going on a heist.

The characters were the high point for me. All POVs were interesting to read from and kept me wondering what would happen next for each one.The build-up and pacing were also great as the ending left me on edge. The story moves at its generally high pace and suddenly slows down at the last part, which was VERY GOOD. I felt the sudden silence as poor Arthie goes through...you know what...oh my.

I want the sequel. I WANNA KNOW. I JUST NEED TO KNOW. THE AFTERMATH. GIVE ME. PLEASE.

Summary

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

Spicy rating: 🌶️ 0/5

Fluff rating: 💖 1/5


In a single word this was awesome. It was like if peaky blinders met oceans 11, had a sprinkling of Arthurian legend and was also vampires. With an eye opening and thought provoking undercurrent of the horrible effects of colonialism (definitely made me check my privilege).

I love the rag tag misfits element of the found family. Their dynamic with eachother was absolutely brilliant and had me laughing. It was so believable and the banter was well written. The whole book was well written fast paced and I could not put it down!

I adored Jin and Arthie’s platonic/ sibling relationship and their first meeting as children had me tearing up, then as adults they definitely give unhinged Cray twins vibes. Speaking of Jin… I love him like is hand down my fave character he’s cheeky and sweet and just perfect he needs to be protected at all costs please.

Arthie was an absolute badass. I love having a woman in charge. Especially in a heist. I loved her no nonsense attitude and how she took charge of every issue and basically said a big F You to the man at every turn.

That cliff hanger was brutal and I cannot wait to read what happens in the next instalment of this duology. Faizal was a new author to me with this book but it definitely won’t be the last book I read from her.

As for the narrator she was brillliant. A fantastic story teller and great differentiation between characters. She had that dapper London aesthetic down to a tea!

I loved it. If you were a fan of Six of Crows and Picky Blinders back in the day and you're looking for a book with the same vibes, this one is for you. There's Tea, Gangs, heist and Vampires. What else could we ask for? One of the best parts of this book is its characters, especially the badass Arthie and her crew. I loved their bond and the love that they have for each other no matter what. But what I enjoyed the most was the political intrigue/world that I can't wait to learn more about in book 2.

For those wondering, it is set in the same world as We Hunt the Flame!

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal is a hard book for me to review.

I feel like my expectations might have been too high, and that might seem a weird thing to say about a book that ended up getting four stars, but it was a mix of three star and five star qualities for me.

In the story, we follow Arthie who lives in White Roaring and is an owner of a teahouse that serves as a bloodhouse for the vampires during the nights. She has a crew of outcasts, and we follow a heist.
I feel like in the beginning, the book had a very YA tone to it, and it might be my fault I've picked it up, as I'm straying more and more towards only reading adult fantasy. I felt like the dialogue was a bit overly quippy and it made me really have to suspend my disbelief when we were shown how these characters overcame a lot of difficulties as it made their youth and assumed competence clash.

What I mean by YA is, one of the characters flirts with another by using the name the other one would prefer not to have attached to them anymore because of bad memories attached to it. And for me, unfortunately, it reads more as not respecting boundaries than a fun banter, but maybe I'm reading too much into it. All I know is, such way of flirting would make me mad and definitely not attracted to the other person. 😅

The found family vibes were good, although I feel like I've known the crew together way better than the individual characters. I wasn't particularly attached to most of them, and that's often a deciding factor in whether I like a book. That being said, one of the POVs really touched me and made me feel connected to the character. I feel like a whole star, or more, is added to my rating because of it as I feel like the issues there were handled really well.

I feel like the review sounds more negative than I've meant it to be, but the book was overall fine. I enjoyed it, it was a quick fun time, but I don't really feel attached to it. I think I will read the sequel to see how the story progresses, but I won't be holding my breath waiting for it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for granting me access to the audio ARC. The narrator was great!