In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.
Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.
Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.
As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.
Warning: parental death, child death, and dying/death.
My thoughts
Michael Machira Mwangi sold me on this book with a gorgeous cover.
The Poisons We Drink is a long one. I’m not sure if it could have been edited for a faster pace. It did drag at times, but every detail ends up being important in the end. Bethany Baptiste gives us action, mystery, drama, and betrayal. Plus they include a hefty dose of family loyalty and a touch of romance.
The story is filled with diverse characters which I love. Baptiste celebrates their diversity by giving them starring moments.
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.
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Meet the Author
Bethany Baptiste is an inner-city educator by day and a young adult SFF novelist by night. If she’s not writing a lesson plan or a story, she does retail therapy in Florida bookstores and takes scheduled naps with her three chaotic evil dogs.5
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Further Details:
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire, 9781728251950, 30 April 2024
Cover Design by: Liz Dresner/Erin Fitzsimmons/Sourcebooks Jacket Art © Michael Machira Mwangi; Internal Design by Laura Boren
Edited by: Annie Berger
Narrated by: Lynnette R. Freeman
Series: N/A; Settings: Deanwood, DC. U.S.
Pages/Length: 480/16h6m
Secondary Characters include: Indian-American
Mx Phoebes Viewpoint 