I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 3/26/24
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 474
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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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.
Short and Sweet Review
Venus brews love potions illegally, but she does what she needs to keep her mom and sister afloat. In this book we see a divide between witches and humans. When Venus’s mom Clarissa dies from an iron bullet, Venus’s world is turned upside down, but when Venus is offered the chance to make a difference for witches and get revenge on her mothers killer by the grand Witcher, Venus accepts. All Venus needs to do is brew poisons that will have politicians follow the wishes of the grand Witcher. The further Venus goes on in this scheme the more she realizes that everything around her is corrupt and she doesn’t know who to trust including herself.
This was an interesting take on a book about witches. It takes place in current times but the country is divided and there’s laws that are going to be voted on soon that aren’t favorable to witches. Venus isn’t too worried about that yet, she’s more focused on making potions for customers. We see that Venus cares about her family and after the death of her mother she really feels like she has to keep her sister Janus safe. I think Clarissa’s death sets everything in motion, we see Venus start to work for the grand Witcher and stop the vote against the witches. There’s a lot going on in this book and I thought the pacing was off. There were times where things were picking up and then other times when it was so slow that it made me feel like I’ve been reading this book forever. I was thinking this book could have been a part of a series but its just a standalone and it kind of made sense why it was so long, but thinking back it could have been cut down a bit. I liked seeing the different types of magic that the witches had. Venus has a good support system behind her but we see through the book that Venus starts to lose herself and really has to dig down deep to remember who she is and what she should be fighting for. Venus had a romantic interest, Presley, but I feel like there was really no time for romance in this book. The book is good and you get some glimpses of amazing writing and story telling but there’s points in the book where it drags and you just wonder why everything has slowed down so much. The pacing is almost like a rollercoaster ride and not a fun one when it comes to keeping your attention.
Overall, I did like the story it was interesting and the world is really something different. Venus is a character that will have you rooting for her and just wanting her to be safe and get everything she wants especially with all that she’s been through. The only downfall was the length of the book and again the pacing, but besides that its a good read.
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