I enjoyed Hafsah Faizal's previous duology The Sands of Arawiya and I have been eagerly anticipating A Tempest of Tea since its announcement several years ago. I always feel a little trepidation when books are compared to Six of Crows, it just became so popular that any book with even a hint of a heist had Six of Crows slapped on as a comp title. A Tempest of Tea really delivered in the right ways for me. There's a heist, there's a lovable but morally gray crew, and there's some fun twists throughout the way. Add in some vampires and I'm fully sold on the concept of this book!
Arthie was a great protagonist. She is the owner of a tea shop that is often on the wrong side of the law due to nature of the tea she sells. Arthie is a lot of fun, she's highly intelligent and always have a trick up her sleeve. One of the first few scenes of the book where we see her outwitting the people ransacking her shop was so tense and I adored seeing her smarts shine through so early on. I also enjoyed slowly discovering her secrets throughout the book, although I do feel there was a twist that felt quite easy to spot early on. I really enjoyed Jin, Arthie's adoptive brother. He's a charmer and I loved all his interactions with another major character, Flick. Flick's storyline was maybe my favorite of the main characters. I really enjoyed her growth throughout the book. Rounding out the our heist crew are Matteo and Laith. I have opinions on both but they're quite spoilery so I'll have to simply stop at they exist you'll have to form your own opinions about them.
While the majority of this was very fast paced there were a few moments where I felt the flow of the story got a little odd and moments that dragged despite the action that was happening. I was also just not into Arthie's romance in this book. I felt like it occurred way too quickly and did not feel organic at all. While I wouldn't classify this currently as having a love triangle because one of the character's interest did not read as anything more than lightly flirty for most of the book, I do think at the end there are two characters who seem to be set up as potentially both being love interests for Arthie in the next book. In contrast I was 100% here for every interaction between Jin and Flick and I do honestly think the book would have read much better if they were the only characters displaying romantic feelings, at least in this installment. Part of that is because Jin and Flick are shown to have a history that Arthie simply did not have with the characters set up to be her partner. I would have needed more time and slower development to even start to believe in Arthie's romance.
All in all this was a great read and I had lots of fun. I cannot wait for the second book!
Arthie was a great protagonist. She is the owner of a tea shop that is often on the wrong side of the law due to nature of the tea she sells. Arthie is a lot of fun, she's highly intelligent and always have a trick up her sleeve. One of the first few scenes of the book where we see her outwitting the people ransacking her shop was so tense and I adored seeing her smarts shine through so early on. I also enjoyed slowly discovering her secrets throughout the book, although I do feel there was a twist that felt quite easy to spot early on. I really enjoyed Jin, Arthie's adoptive brother. He's a charmer and I loved all his interactions with another major character, Flick. Flick's storyline was maybe my favorite of the main characters. I really enjoyed her growth throughout the book. Rounding out the our heist crew are Matteo and Laith. I have opinions on both but they're quite spoilery so I'll have to simply stop at they exist you'll have to form your own opinions about them.
While the majority of this was very fast paced there were a few moments where I felt the flow of the story got a little odd and moments that dragged despite the action that was happening. I was also just not into Arthie's romance in this book. I felt like it occurred way too quickly and did not feel organic at all. While I wouldn't classify this currently as having a love triangle because one of the character's interest did not read as anything more than lightly flirty for most of the book, I do think at the end there are two characters who seem to be set up as potentially both being love interests for Arthie in the next book. In contrast I was 100% here for every interaction between Jin and Flick and I do honestly think the book would have read much better if they were the only characters displaying romantic feelings, at least in this installment. Part of that is because Jin and Flick are shown to have a history that Arthie simply did not have with the characters set up to be her partner. I would have needed more time and slower development to even start to believe in Arthie's romance.
All in all this was a great read and I had lots of fun. I cannot wait for the second book!