Book Review: A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea #2) by Hafsah Faizal

October 18, 2025October 11, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Publisher: First Ink
Release Date: September 25th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The epic conclusion to the #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal; the gritty fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

She’s had her tea, now she’s out for blood.

White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press are dead, the public calls for justice, vampires are in danger, and amid the turmoil, the Ram announces a celebration.

Still reeling from the bloodshed, Arthie Casimir has no time to mourn the death of anyone, let alone her own. She has no time for love, either, but it had saved her life. As Arthie navigates new emotions and new allies, she must reassemble her scrambled crew and scrape what little they have left to fight one last time – and she will need to face the ghosts of her past to do it.

In Ceylan.

After the jaw-dropping ending of #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea, Arthie and her crew still have plenty of hearts to break and crimson-red secrets to uncover. Hafsah Faizal crafts a deliciously twisty and seductive sequel that will leave readers breathless until the very last page.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

WELL.

I’ll make a note first about the audiobook. While I thought the narrator read the book perfectly fine I think it’s frustrating when a book has 3+ POV’s and only ONE narrator. It made it difficult to switch to each POV in my mind and things started to run together and I got confused multiple times on who was who. I’d still recommend this but I would say go the eyeball read route.

But also maybe it wasn’t all the audiobook? I do think some of the ending pieces were a flop (ANGER INDUCING FLOP). I guess the plot wrapped up well after that? I DID like the vampire aspects. I’m not really a vampire girlie but this didn’t bug me at all. There were some good found family moments and the heist was fine I suppose.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy
Language: mild
Romance: closed door
Violence: moderate

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ALC Book Review: A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1) by Hafsah Faizal

February 20, 2024February 2, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Release Date: February 20th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Hafsah Faizal, New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame, comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated new fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

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 upon a band of misfits, Arthie formulates a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not every member of her 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. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

DID I OVERHYPE MYSELF?

I’ve been really excited about this book y’all. After loving the conclusion to Faizal’s previous duology I knew I wanted my hands on this. But it wasn’t quite what I was hoping.

Audiobook notes: I thought the narrator did a great job, I don’t have any issues there at all. I do wish there would have been a second or third narrator for the other POV’s. There’s three POV’s in total and I continually found myself confused as to whose I was reading at that time.

The story was intriguing, and the pacing was slow. I looove found family, and I do think that was presented well. I love the mash up of personalities and loyalties and connection that this trope brings. There’s even some romantic plots brewing, I was kind of into them? I’m hopeful for book two expansion on this and some more tension.

I found myself easily able to put this down and never felt like it was grabbing my full attention. There were some good scenes and I did enjoy what we got of the characters. I loved that this was set in the same world as We Hunt the Flame too. I could definitely feel those vibes.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy
Language: low
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate

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Book Review: We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal

May 4, 2022June 28, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 592 pages
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Release Date: January 19th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Lush and striking, hopeful and devastating, We Free the Stars is the masterful conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya duology by New York Times–bestselling author Hafsah Faizal.

FANTASTIC CONCLUSION.

Some dulogies really hit with that second book. This is without a doubt the case here. LOVED IT. Everything I needed. Especially since I gave the first book 3.5 stars and wasn’t convinced to pick this up for awhile. It took the audio coming to my library (which by the way, is AMAZING. Highly recommend the audio) for me to read it and I’m so happy I did!!

I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS. I probably will forget to name them all, but the main characters and supporting cast are well thought out and flow into the story perfectly. I loved Zafira and her fiery, determined nature. Nasir who is clearly the biggest cinnamon roll alive. Altair who I just want to be best friends with and Kifah who rounds out this crew with her loyalty and sharp wit. There’s many more I could mention. I loved the balance between plot and character drive.

The rooooomance. Oh it picked up beautifully. Anytime Zafira and Nasir were in the same location I got all of the giddy heart flutters waiting for them to connect. The impassioned kisses and utterly tender words whispered. MY HEART. And I’m pretty sure that ending added years to my life.

My only tiny complaint was that it took me a minute to get into and understand how the magic system was connecting with the larger plot. Since the WHtF was a travelling story I felt like I didn’t get a lot of explanations. Grateful that WFtS spread that out without info dumping. The world building and magic system are intricate and well plotted.

Overall audience notes: