The Poisons We Drink

This reads as a very confident and assured writer, I was so impressed to discover this was a debut author. I signed up for this book as a pre-order after one of my favourites Xiran Jay Zhao revealed that Cait Corrain author whose debut fantasy novel Crown of Starlight was scheduled to be publish in 2024 had created multiple fake accounts on Goodreads to review bomb other authors of colour. Kamilah Cole's (So Let Them Burn), Bethany Baptiste's (The Poisons We Drink), Frances White (Voyage of the Damned), and K.M. Enright (Mistress of Lies). So I immediately pre-ordered these novels.

The worldbuilding and the mythos of how magic works in the contemporary greater Washington, D.C., metro area id intricate and interesting, but it's the family and relations between the characters is a real strength. Leading off by the protagonist Venus’ mother, the formidable Clarissa Stoneheart, used to be the Love Witcher. From Kirkus review "She broke her pledge to only brew love potions, lost her magic as a consequence, and then turned her attention to teaching Venus, the new Love Witcher, “her 3-B philosophy…Get your bag, brew, and bounce.” When Clarissa is murdered, Venus is tested to her limits as she fights external forces by using her calling (her magical ability to brew) for political gain while also struggling to quiet the deviation (or trauma-inflicted corruption of her calling) that infects her. The deviation, which she calls It, can give Venus access to immense power, but she’s still haunted, in more ways than she realizes, by the first time it was uncaged, when she was 15. Patient readers will eventually encounter unexpected twists and turns that provide an exciting and satisfying ending.

This was too long and too dramatic for me. The mc is constantly in mortal danger, and while I understand the intention, it was just kinda annoying to read. It's 2 stars from me, but a +1 cause I'm still glad it exists.

I got sucked into the drama and the mystery. This is exactly what you want from a book and Baptiste gives it to the reader. I love the battles, the magic, and at the core Venus' love for her family. The Poisons We Drink is magic itself.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

This review is just to help me remember key points about the book. If you find it helpful or relatable that's cool too.Pride Month Edition

I... wanted to like this one so badly but I unfortunately didn't enjoy most of it. I could've even dnfed and not really thought twice about it. A lot was smushed into this one book and it's not getting a sequel. I don't know if the author was told and decided to push everything in because she wasn't getting a sequel or if she pushed everything in thinking that she'd get to clear things up in the sequel.

Either way, it didn't work for me. I had the audio and I disliked the narrator, which definitely added to my ‘reasons'. Some voices were fine but for most of them I wasn't much of a fan. Venus's voice (the main character) was mostly okay but I really didn't like Janus – her voice and her character. Janus's (and maybe Venus? I don't remember) voice was a bit scratchy and it made it difficult to hear when she (the narrator) shouted in dialogue because it was all high-pitched.

I think if Venus were either an only child or just had a different sibling I might have liked her better but because she was so much with her sister, it was difficult. I sort of liked her but not really enough to have me fully invested in the story. I kept waiting for Janus to become more likeable, to do something where I could cheer for her but it never came. In fact I didn't like most of the side characters. I didn't remember much of the uncle or the cousin but I also didn't remember much of them. I liked Presley the best of the side characters (actually of all the characters). They were the best written and I wasn't too bothered by the voice.

The plot was decent enough but because it was so jam-packed it was difficult to keep everything straight. I think only at the end I was starting to put two and two together. And because I wasn't so interested it was hard to actually want to put the pieces together.

Thank you for the early copy Coloredpagesbt and Sourcebooksfire! 
This was a really rough read for me. Especially since this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024. There are things about this book that I thought were absolutely phenomenal! I loved that there was a spectrum of love when it came to brewing potions. I loved that Venus was truly a “morally grey” character, and that it was family above everything. The complexity of the magic system and how witches brew their potions. The different powers that each witch possessed, and how the brewers couldn't delve into each other's respective practices. 
 Annnddd I think that's where my love for this book dies. 
I found myself being frustrated with the pacing, the plot, and the characters. 
The pacing of this book truly threw me off. It was terribly staggering, and sometimes just slow. I felt like plot lines linger for what longer than they need to. The so called “gotcha” or the big revelations that happened just fell so flat for me, that as I was reading I had to keep verbally saying “huh” “what” “why did that happen” because the lead up, and dialogue before had just didn't build up like how it was supposed to. I almost DNF'd at 60% because I kept have to rereading and going back thinking I was missing things. I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'm just gonna leave it at that. 
When it came to the characters I truly did not like Venus OVERALL. Yes, I did appreciate some parts of her character and personality BUT her as whole was just infuriated my soul. At some parts it felt like she was combative to just be combative. Like holy shit girl you are staggering your own progress in your own ordeal. And then it just kept happening over and over and over again. Like... at some point in even morally grey characters have to have some kind of growth in their demeanor in order to get to that next step right? 
I didn't rate this any lower because I feel like I did enjoy a lot of parts when it came to reading this BUT I didn't have a good experience overall especially with this being such a highly anticipated book for me. 
I also want to add that I think this should have been categorized outside of YA? But that's not my ministry to speak on in depth, just my opinion. 

Netgalley read

I really wanted to like this book, cover is gorgeous and enough for me to stop and pick it up.

However, I'm probably not the right audience for this book. Some teenage angst and too many secrets, and I'm not going to pretend to fully understand what's happening.

It's a very intricate world and magic and I went with, “So it's kind of like X Men but magic instead of mutants and that thing in the MC is kind of like Venom, got it.” But I didn't really get it and most magic was just stuff happening and I hoped things would become clear... it didn't.

Feels like a book that some will love and some like me just scratching their head and wondering what's going on.

Probably 2.5 but rounding it up.

Thi  was a good book.  It had moments where it was dragging or where things were taking too long but it was enjoyable. I liked that potions were the main magic system and not just normal elemental powers 

💬:N/A

📖Genres: fiction, fantasy, young adult, LGBT, queer

📚Page Count: 474

🎧Audiobook Length: N/A

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: DNF

TW - <spoiler>Abandonment, Gun violence, Death, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, and Grief</spoiler>

Thank you so much to NETGALLEY and the PUBLISHER for my arc (advanced reader's copy) of this book.

This story is about Venus, a Witcher (a person who controls a type of magic) and her family of Witchers. Venus is a powerful brewer and her and her mother sell illegal potions to people for money. At around 25% of the way through the book someone <spoiler>kills Venus' mother.</spoiler> Eventually Venus is offered a chance at revenge, will she take it?

The pacing in this book felt slow and I had a hard time caring about the characters. The side characters all seemed one dimensional but I'm putting this novel on hold until the audiobook releases, so I can't be for sure. The world building felt very heavy but not in a good way.

The world building was interesting but the way it was delivered felt really clunky. At the beginning of each chapter there was exposition in the form of a newspaper article, an email, or some other source. On top of that at the beginning of every chapter, there was exposition littered throughout the conversations and through the narrator's comments. The information overload became too much.

What I read of this book was just okay, I'm going to DNF for now and then finish it once the audiobook is released.

DNF until later date.