Book Review: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faisal

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book. In the beginning, it was introducing the characters and nothing happened. It was quite nice, and I liked the setup of how they were going to save the teahouse. But when it got to the action, it fell a bit flat to me. It was like the author was waiting for the right time for the characters to be badasses, and it can get a bit frustrating for them to do so. When it did get to the parts of them ready to let them do what they gotta do, it got really fun.

I do like the triple POVs of Arthie, Jin, and Flick, and seeing them preparing for the heist, but when it falls apart and they have to regroup and figure something else, secrets come out-things that some people want to keep hidden. One example of this secret is Arthie being a half-vampire and keeping it a secret from practically everyone. I wasn't even expecting it, to be fair. I thought she was just hiding something and didn't want to tell anyone about it, but to confess to Laith, who looks like some anime character, even though he was captain of the Honored Guard, even though he figured it out and tried to steal her gun from her was kind of messed up. The way Jin was scared of fire was interesting and how he finally just jumped inside the burning Spindrift, just to save Arthie but turned around to get saved by Flick was really nice. And, to me, the best character growth has to be Flick, because she finally stood up to her mother, only to turn around and get shocked when her mother was the Ram.

That's right, Flick's own mother is the Ram.

Another shocking thing was the ending, when the Wolf of White Roaring, whoever he was (maybe it was Matteo?) knew where Arthie was and picked her up...and that was it. I wanted to know more about this Wolf that keeps getting mentioned--who is he? Who are they? Did they know where Arthie was? What's going on here?

And Jin. Poor Jin. Getting turned after getting shot by the Ram. But hey, I did like the side romance between him and Flick, and how he got comfortable enough to finally call her Flick after calling her Felicity multiple times, even when she told him to call her Flick.

Flick standing up to her mother was actually fun to read. I know it was probably hard for her to do, but at least she did it, and gave back the lighter so she can finally be free of her. When she found out that her own mother was the Ram, and how she was going to start a war with a bunch of starved vampires....it hurt her so much.

This was the first time reading anything by this author and it was very interesting, and I want to read more of her work.

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