A Tempest of Tea – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1)

Author: Hafsah Faizal

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 2/20/24

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Categories: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Peaky Blinders, Vampires, Heist

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

Content Warning: violence, blood drinking, fire, death

+ I love when a book totally catches me off guard and surprises me. This book was full of surprises! How do you combine King Arthur, Vampires and Peaky Blinders (never watched it though I’ve always wanted to) together and make it work? I don’t know but this author just did it! I also loved how she adds historical fiction to the mix as she covers the colonization of countries liked Ceylan (in our reality that would be Ceylon-now Sri Lanka). This story is set in Ettenia which I’m assuming is England. And the vampires are just a race of people that live among them. This book just had everything I wanted, things I didn’t even know I wanted in one place and I loved it all. There are a lot of twists and turns in the second half of the book and that cliffhanger ending left me wanting book two now.

+ I am in love with Arthie and Jin. I love their story, their friendship, their love for one another – even though this story had hints of a romance for Arthie (a love triangle even that never came to fruition-an no it didn’t involve Jin), the love between Arthie and Jin appeased my soul. I also loved that this was told in multiple POVs because Jin’s voice was important to this story. He is Arthie’s right-hand man and I loved that he was the lightness in their relationship. They are found family, they are to one another the siblings they never had, they are soulmates and I knew they would have each other’s back no matter what. Also, I need Jin to have a happy ending, that guy deserves the world!

+ Because this story is about a heist, there are other characters involved and part of the crew. Flick, Matteo and Laith. All of them intriguing and we do get Flick’s POV but not Matteo and Laith who are very intriguing and added to the story in various ways. I like how they all have complex backgrounds.

+ Arthie is a complicated character which I love. She’s had trauma and holds a lot of secrets, not only her own but she’s a phoenix who basically rose out of ashes. I love that she was smart, and still allowed herself to love (Jin and Spindrift) even though she doesn’t open herself to anyone else. She is flawed. I love that she is a business woman and she’s the leader of their crew.

~ I can’t call what was in this book a true love triangle. There is flirtation, there is desire that Arthie doesn’t want to explore because she is a person who is in control at all times. But I think it makes her mistrust even more heightened. She has a crew of people she doesn’t totally trust (except Jin) and her weakness was a good-looking mysterious man. She isn’t perfect, she can only hold so many of the right cards in her hand and I honestly loved every part of whatever romance was building for her because the tension between them was delicious!

~ I think Flick’s POV was the weakest and she seemed like the weakest link because she’s not like the rest. She grew up in luxury as a lady’s daughter but she has her own agenda. Out of all of them I felt like I didn’t trust her the most because all she wanted was to please her mother and she had such a shiny upbringing.

My Thoughts:

Why was I surprised that I loved this book? I loved the We Hunt the Flame series. The writing is so good, the slow burn in the romance is enticing and the relationships are heartfelt. Honestly, Arthie and Jin, they have my heart. It might be a slow build in the beginning as the pieces are set on the chessboard but I was riveted from the moment I started the book. Once the pieces started moving, it was a fun, twisty, emotional ride to the end. And then of course we get a crazy cliffhanger that made my jaw drop! I need the second book asap and this book solidifies that this author is a must-read for me.