Book Review | A Tempest of Tea

In the city of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir runs a tea house that secretly doubles as an illegal blood house for vampires. However, when the Owl threatens to shut her establishment down, she plans a daring heist to steal incriminating evidence against them in order to blackmail them into letting her keep the place.

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal is a delightful romp that made me realize how much I missed fantasy heists along the lines of Six of Crows. There’s witty banter, found family, and a ride or die crew.

The main cast is charming and endearing, and each of them feels distinct and fleshed out, which I’ve sadly been missing out from a lot of other fantasy novels with larger casts lately.

However, for a high fantasy with multiple POVs, this is definitely a book that should have been longer since the final third felt incredibly rushed. There were so many plot twists and major events back-to-back that it gave me whiplash, and they began to lose their emotional impact. I wish the story had been at least a good 40 pages longer so it could spend more time on certain plot threads and character beats. Heck, some of the reveals probably should have been saved for the sequel.

Pacing flaws aside though, this is still a highly entertaining read and that cliffhanger at the end has left me frothing for the sequel.

Thank you, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Details:

Publication Date : February 20, 2024

Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux

ISBN: ‎0374389403

Pages : 352

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