I really enjoyed this. We start in a world thats very cosy and really gives practical magic vibes. And then layered over the top is a murder mystery, which keeps the plot and the book moving at a good pace. I felt the way the plot was paced made this book feel longer than it was, in a good way, that meant the story stays with you better and you felt like you got to spend more time in the world.
The world itself was very well crafted and in-depth which definitely added a deeper element and another level to the story. Its vivid and colourful and really adds to the story and the characters journey.
Speaking of the characters, they are a strong point here. The relationships with each and the character growth really allowed all the bonds of friendship, love and found family to be explored in depth, id happily spend more time with these characters and read further books about their adventures. The enemies and the plot surrounding those characters whose actions are less than desired is just as well fleshed out and led to an excellent dynamic between them and the protagonists.
Overall, a really good read, and explores some themes of politics and classicism and race alongside a good, well paced plot.

DNF @ 60%.
The story was too slow to my liking and I couldn't get into it. The plot was interesting and the beginning hooked me but at some point I just lost interest in the premise and had to stop. Might give it another go at another time.

This book is really hard for me to rate. It has a lot of good points, I love there's a lot of representation portrayed in a nice way, also showing the struggles of being a minority group. My issue with this book was its tone, it was a bit too YA for my personal taste. Some of the decisions of the characters were really questionable and I was pretty tired of the constant teenage attitude. 😅 On the other hand, I can appreciate it as a good portrayal of growing up with trauma and expectations being put on you. The plot was entertaining, the world building was quite unique!

Overall, I really appreciate what this book did, but it wasn't completely up to my taste.

This book was absolutely incredible! I loved the characters in this and thought that the premise was super interesting, and it really was. The author did a fantastic job of setting up the magic system and explaining how it works without giving too many details, and the characters were really interesting and well-developed. A fantastic book and I really can’t wait for more by this author. I can’t recommend this book enough!!

Dnf at 10%

I was so excited by the premise of this book. It felt like it could have hit the nostalgia of the urban fantasy I used to read as a teen. Unfortunately the writing style didn't couldn't keep me engaged. I felt like I was being dragged along.

No doubt their is a readership for this! Just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the eARC

This book is perfect for everyone who likes an unique magic system with many plot twists.

Unfortunately, the pace was a bit slow and I often found myself being bored of the story. Also, there was a bit too much telling in comparison to showing.
I couldn't really connect with Venus, it felt like there was an invisible wall between us. Her "deviation" / or some kind of monster in her mind was interesting but in my opinion, it could have played a bigger role in the story and some things should have been explained more. I liked the diversity of the characters and their personalities were well developed. I quite enjoyed the story but there was a little bit missing for me to give it 4 stars.

3.5 ☆ stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Going into The Poisons We Drink, I was little apprehensive because I felt the premise had the makings of a great book, and I did not want to be disappointed. Thankfully, I wasn’t — this was an engaging and delightful read which ticked all the right boxes for me.

In an alternate reality Washington DC, Venus Stoneheart is a witcher who brews love potions for both human and witcher alike — only, the brewing of such potions is illegal and could result in her death. She is, however, the main breadwinner for her family, and this responsibility only gets heavier once her mother is killed by an enemy’s iron bullet. Now Venus is also guardian to her younger sister, Janus, who is both reckless and idealistic: a dangerous combination, particularly where activism is concerned, and Janus is nothing but an activist. Add in the opportunity to seek revenge for their mother’s death, and Venus is in deep, even before she steps foot into the seedy criminal underbelly of the city.

First off, I loved this world — the tension between humans and witchers was so rich, and I could see from where the inspiration for this had come, but that didn’t detract any. Whether dealing with her family, her fellow witchers, criminals, or politicians, Venus inhabits a world that is a full sensory experience, from the colours to the scents to the tastes to the atmospheres. Given the importance of poisons and brewing, this was a brilliant touch and I really appreciated it. I also loved the inclusion of spell recipes and a glossary at the end (as a Witch myself, this was really cool).


All the characters were fully realised and I found myself rooting for each of them in turn: Venus, Janus, Presley, Darius, Bram, Ty — even Clarissa, Nisha, and Matrika. I understood each of their motivations and, even when I could see plot twists coming, I still enjoyed the how and why they acted in certain ways. I raged and cried at different points, and read with my heart in my throat for much of this novel. Venus and Janus would kill for each other — and even though they can drive each other crazy, nothing is stronger than the sisterhood they share. It is sacrosanct, and nothing can break it. The fact that these sisters had people around them who would also stand with them through thick and thin was just icing on the cake, even if the relationships at play were messy and complex. I also loved the representation in this book — brilliant inclusion, and very integral to the characters and story.

The plot itself was tightly woven, and the only — tiny, very tiny — irk I had was with Venus’ cover job, which is important at the start of the novel but is forgotten about in the third act; surely her employer must be wondering why she’s not clocking in? But really, if this is the only thing that bothered me, I’m really clutching at straws.

This was easily one of the best reads of the year for me, and I would love to see a special edition of this available at some point. As it was, I begged my husband to drive me straight from a hospital appointment to a bookstore on release day, just so I could grab a physical copy. I am excited to see what comes next from this author.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to the fantasy and mythology genre, but, I am widening my perspectives and so far loving it. The author has done this brilliantly. The story is beautifully written, the characters come alive on the page, the settings pop and all characters have believable voices. One of the key elements of this book is world-building, the author has created an intricate and detailed world, complete with its own histories, cultures, and languages.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

An engaging YA read which highlights prejudice and its effect on people in an easily understandable way.

The magic system was interesting, and the characters felt well rounded. The pacing was fast and there was a lot going on.

Pretty enjoyable overall!

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. Drawn in by the premise, I did feel that at some points, it felt a little heavy on the world building, and not in a good way, and there was less magic in it than I expected and more politics. But overall, it was a good read.

I really struggled with this review, or better yet, how to review this book. I noticed that the ARC had so many errors, more so than the average ARC I get. The author has publicly discussed the issues she's been having with the publisher, however, I'm a bit confused as to how the book ended up with these many errors, when the author is supposed to also re-read the book a multitude of times during all the edit rounds. I really don't know what happened here. The author also admitted to the book not having some actual plot/character edits.
Could the choppy, short sentences, that were repeated several times be errors? Could this be why there are major plot holes and a lot of seemingly unpolished parts? I am not too sure to be fair. My rating is based on the plot tho, and not any grammatical errors (including sentence structure etc).

Positive:
I loved the representation and I absolutely LOVED the MC. I really enjoyed the concept too and the blurb made it seem right up my alley. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

Negative:
To be fair, there are some MAJOR plot holes, that took me out of the story and I just couldn't suspend disbelief. I'm not going to write down anything specific to avoid spoilers, but there were so many times I just had to stop because it simply did not make any sense why people would do that: like being asked to do an incredibly strong potion that almost killed the MC, for basically no reason, just to "test" her. Which would be fine, if it wouldn't have been explained that everything is sort of limited or finite.

Which brings me to the fact that the world building was poorly done and very convoluted. There were wikipedia like bits at the beginning of the chapters (which at first I thought were great), that had nothing to do with the content of those chapters, and would only be brought up later, by which point I forgot about them entirely and had no clue what was what. The magic was really hard to understand, and it seemed that it was a hard magic systems (clear rules), but then the MC could easily bend these rules.

Besides this, it was unclear as well what the character motivations were. At first it's her family and making potions/money, then finding a killer (which only lasted only a couple of chapters), then getting her sister out of the country (which is quickly forgotten), and so on. I didn't feel like the progression from one to another was natural and it felt like we were just thrown into them.

I'm also a bit confused as to why the author chose to call the witches "witchers." There are so many other terms, but it seemed a bit strange that this would be used as The Witcher is such a massive franchise, and also a direct translation of the polish word "Wiedźmin" which is coined by the author Sapkowski, as there was no term for the male equivalent of "witch" in Polish. What this term is trying to convey has deep roots in Slavic mythology. I just simply did not understand the word choice, and took me out of the story.

Another issue I had is that the book doesn't feel at all YA. Again this is the publisher's fault and the way they chose to promote the book. And I know a lot of authors who have written books that get put into an adult category is a country and YA in another. To be fair, in the UK this sits on the "adult fantasy" shelf and not the YA one. But going in I was under the perception that this was YA, and this impacted how I viewed certain scenes.

I wanted to love this, I really did, and I think a lot of people will love it. I just didn't. Leaving it aside, I will def pick another book by this author.

¿Alguna vez te has dejado llevar por una cubierta bonita?

Yo sí (¡más de una vez!) y eso es justo lo que me llamó de primeras sobre The Poisons We Drink, la novela debut de Bethany Baptiste. Ese insolente color rosita captó enseguida mi atención.

Esta novela de fantasía arranca con Venus, una joven que prepara ilegalmente pociones de amor en un Estados Unidos donde la magia está en vías de penalizarse. Cada vez que prepara una poción, Venus entrega un pedazo de su alma, pero está dispuesta a arriesgarlo todo por el bien de su familia.

Hasta que un día un hombre mata a su madre y el gobierno mágico le ofrece la oportunidad de vengarse por un precio: preparar las pociones más difíciles que existen. Venus sabe que eso acabará con su vida, pero la rabia la ciega y decide hacerlo.

The Poisons We Drink es una novela con escenas duras y violenta que alterna con otras más tiernas y dulces donde vemos el amor de Venus por su familia y su comunidad. Me ha gustado mucho el mundo planteado por Baptiste y la relación directa que podemos establecer con muchos de los problemas que vivimos ahora. Los gobiernos no están criminalizando la magia, pero sí la existencia de personas queer, trans, racializadas, migrantes, refugiadas... Es una situación que no debería dejar indiferente a nadie y Baptise no duda en describir toda la crudeza de esta realidad.

Ahora bien, aunque la trama, la ambientación y los personajes están genial, falla mucho en el ritmo y la parte técnica. En la segunda mitad, no dejan de aparecer subtramas, nuevos personajes, hilos que quedan colgando y escenas a medio gas. Fui a investigar y resulta que la editorial pidió a la autora que fusionara dos libros en uno. El resultado es un tanto irregular y el final lastra la buena base del inicio, pero yo disfruté bastante de su lectura y os recomiendo The Poisons We Drink porque tiene elementos muy chulos (también tengo que decir que leí una copia de prensa y es posible que hayan cambiado algunas cosillas).

The Poisons We Drink se publica en mayo en inglés y, hasta donde yo sé, aún no se ha anunciado su versión en español. ¡Ojalá alguna editorial se anime a traerlo a nuestro idioma!

¡Y gracias a Sourcebooks UK por el ejemplar!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This is an interesting and new take on a magical system, and I liked the way Baptiste introduced elements through short extracts at the start of each chapter, although the world-building was slightly clunky at times. The family element was handled very well and the dynamics were completely relatable, and I thought the romance angle was also done very well. However, there was something about the writing that jarred for me and shook me out of the story at times.

4.5 stars!!🌟

I loved this so much. The world building was different from what I usually read in fantasy books, but this urban fantasy holds to much complexity and well thought-out ideas that it comes together nicely, creating an interesting story that keeps you captive. The characters—Venus, Janus, Ty, Presley—were great, I loved each of them. I learned however that this arc version isn’t the fully finalised one; that one has more queer characters—ace etc. so I can’t wait to see what the final version of The Poisons We Drink looks like.

I loved it. I wasn’t sure where it was going at times, but I absolutely loved it.

This world that Bethany has started building is so gorgeous and I am gagging to know more. More about the magic system, how it works, it’s just so delightfully fascinating!

Not sure if my favourite character is Patches, but, it is possible. We love a hard working and protective good boy. But then I also just loved the relationship between Venus and Janus and how they communicate at different stages through the book. Being a sister is hard and being the older sister is hard so we see you Venus!

I’ll just be sitting over in the corner hoping there’s a part 2 so we get more Venus and Presley. 😍

4.5/5

‘for what humans lack in magic, they make up for it with something even more dangerous. power.’

this is an urban fantasy ya featuring angry black girl magic. it’s on the upper ya side of the spectrum for me. if na were used in trad pub, imo this is na not ya (which is prob why i enjoyed it).

i liked the world building and how it was informed by the real world - racism and segregation and shitty politicians to name a few elements. i also really liked the portrayal of generation trauma in a way - the failures of adults inherited by their children, the secrets of the people that were supposed to protect the kids, affecting them and becoming the kids’ burdens.

this also features an f/nb b-plot romance! is it a relationship that’s a good idea? not particularly and they both know it. it’s very secondary, tertiary even.

but i did have a few issues in the execution. the pacing was quite choppy and felt like there were too much back and forth with oh we figured it out, oh never mind, here’s the real, real culprit. there were also a few elements that i may have missed but didn’t feel resolved or wrapped up enough for me. especially as this is a standalone. the open-ish ending makes sense for the story there were just a few loose details that felt forgotten with all the different threads that did run through this.

but overall, a really good debut (and a fab cover!!. it’s a rough read at times, it’s dark, it’s very real - magic aside. vaguely reminiscent of the general vibes of HELL FOLLOWED WITH US - angry kids trying to reclaim their lives.

I think that this suffered from reading it at the wrong time for me. I read the majority of this when I was in a bad place mentally, so I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was reading. But from looking at other reviews, I don't think it was all me? This book did feel like it dragged a lot, and I definitely think that this did not need to be 500 pages long. This story also focuses a lot more on the politics of the world than on the magic/potions, which I would've preferred to see more of. It's such a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this, especially given the stunning cover art, and the horrendous publishing journey this author has been through, but it just fell flat for me. I'm giving it 3 stars because I don't feel I can judge entirely fairly based on how all over the place I was while reading it!

I was immediately drawn to this book by its stunning cover and the description of witches and potions sounded intriguing.

This world is one where humans and witches live in a world which is divided. This does start off slow with the world building and the characters. But once things get going I found I couldn’t put the book down!

Venus is a brewer of love potions, which is dangerous and also illegal! She does this for her family. I loved Venus, she was such a great character, she knew what she wanted and she was determined to discover the truth.

There were some great twists I didn’t see coming. I loved all the potion recipes at the end too!

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of the book and to Pride Book Tours for having me on the tour.

Venus brews love potions. Doing it is dangerous and if you're caught you can end up in prison or dead. She also hides a dark, sentient magic. When her mother is killed she must take care of her reckless sister Janus. The Grand Witcher offers her revenge as long as she makes potions to enslave D.C.'s most powerful politicians. Corruption fills her life and she doesn't know who to trust, even herself!

The narrative is engaging and clever like its protagonist. The inviting story just exudes coolness. It is deliciously dark, full of danger and bluntly honest. It is gifted with an interesting magic system & mythology. Emotions are heightened, pain and anger seeping into everything while descriptions are intensely visual. Intrigue, affected by the past, colors this story as does the desire for dominance over others, in so many forms. A manipulations galore. I really liked how the sentient magic in her, It, was portrayed. I also enjoyed the little tidbits at the beginning of chapters from Witcherpedia (how clever), books ads and the whatnot, helping us acclimate to the witcher society.

Venus doesn't think the world is worth saving or at least that's what she says. Despite her not-so-cheery disposition and her bleak outlook on lie you like her, and her witty retorts. Of course you cannot blame her. And you cannot help feeling for her. Rooting for her. The antithesis between cynical 'trying to be calm for everyone's safety' Venus and her 'my emotions are intense' sister Janus serves the book well.

I'm not sure I like this new trend of 2-3 line paragraphs. And this one had one line paragraphs, often and one after the other! And not dialogue! Makes the page look like its full of telegraphs. It is tiring and constantly knocks you out of the story. I did very much like what happens after that 'big save', how everything is wrapped up beautifully. It could end here or there could be a sequel. I have to applaud the glossary and potion recipes at the end.

This book examines prejudice and discrimination in a powerful way, a way that fans the flames of the desire to fight injustice. The human vs witcher conflict as these themes' allegory presents a clear and meaningful picture.

A modern-day witchy fantasy full of brews, blood oaths, revenge, betrayals and the thirst for power no matter the cost.

I liked this fine but I felt like the pacing was off, it was a bit too long and I wasn't fully invested. I did like the magic system and the main character was really cool. I was taken aback by some of the twists but it became all too much in the end. I feel like it really could have been shorter. I didn't know what to feel about all the relationships and in the end, I was mostly invested in the relationship between the main character and her sister.
Overall, it was still a good debut but I feel like its potential wasn't fully reached.