Out Now from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux; 352 pages
Content Warning: Violence, death, colonialism, racism
About the Author: “Hafsah Faizal is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of We Hunt the Flame, We Free the Stars, and A Tempest of Tea, and the founder of IceyDesigns, where she creates websites for authors and beauteous goodies for everyone else.
A Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, when she’s not writing, she can be found designing, playing Assassin’s Creed, or traversing the world. Born in Florida and raised in California, she now resides in North Carolina with her husband and a library of books waiting to be devoured” (Bio from author’s website).
Find Hafsah Faizal on the following platforms:
Arthie Casimir runs a prestigious tearoom in White Roaring, but, after dark, it becomes a bloodhouse frequented by vampires. Running this illegal business with the help of her brother-by-choice Jin, Arthie uses secrets and their power to keep her business open and thriving. However, when the tearoom is under threat by the government, Arthie has to form an unlikely alliance to save it. Bringing together a crew for the job, she creates a plan to break into the Athereum, the elite vampire society, and steal something vital that could save the tearoom and alter the country forever. As Arthie and the crew get to work, it becomes unclear who to trust, and secrets are uncovered that could change everything.
I have always said that Hafsah Faizal is a poet, and she proved that once again with A Tempest of Tea. She has a habit of beautifully describing one character through the eyes of another character, conveying their love in the smallest of ways. There were so many times while I was reading when I had to stop and take a second to appreciate how impactful a single sentence could be when written by her. The novel switches between the POVs of Arthie, Jin, and Flick, and, while I honestly loved each chapter, Jin was by far my favorite character. Arthie, on the other hand, had to grow on me. At the beginning of the book, I liked her, but I felt that there were very few sides to her. As the novel progressed, Faizal slowly uncovered Arthie’s character, leading me to become more invested. Despite reading about her for most of the book, I feel like there’s still so much about her that we don’t know yet, and I’m excited to see her evolve in the sequel. This book is for everyone who loved books like Six of Crows but wanted to see a woman in charge instead. Arthie reminded me of Kaz Brekker, but she stands on her own as a powerful female leader fighting against colonialism and those who tried to put her down because of who she is.
Sam Yanis, Pine Reads Review Writer