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jina22 's review for:
A Tempest of Tea
by Hafsah Faizal
So I had high hopes for A Tempest of Tea, but this book just didn’t do it for me. I really liked the whole concept of the tea/blood house and I think that could’ve been built on to make this whole story a unique experience.
Unfortunately, it felt like a weak version of Six of Crows and I didn’t even realize people were comparing these two, but as I was reading it really stood out. The vibe, the characters, the whole setup, it just felt like a bad copy. I really tried not to compare them, since each story should stand on its own, but I couldn’t help it.
Starting with the characters: Arthie could have been done well, but she just didn’t pull me in. I liked her relationship with Jin and towards the end she got a bit more interesting but I didn’t care about her that much. The only character I saw real development in was Flick and I kind of liked Jin. However, I did not feel any real connection to the characters, so I couldn’t get that invested.
The heist was pretty underwhelming. It’s not even that it wasn’t well thought out. The descriptions just didn’t make sense to me at some points and I found it hard to follow or care about the details.
The plot twist with the Ram being Flicks mom was quite surprising but did not have enough of an impact for me personally. And Penn protecting Arthie and showing his love for her as he was dying was a sweet touch but not enough to make me feel differently about this book.
Then there’s the romance, which was a total mess. The love triangle between Arthie, Matteo, and Laith felt really forced and came out of nowhere. Everyone seemed so into each other for no clear reason - like please, what’s going on? The only romance I was actually invested in was between Jin and Flick, but even that felt rushed.
Overall, the book felt a bit shallow and lacked the depth, strong characters, and well-executed plot I was hoping for. It was quite disappointing because I really wanted to enjoy it, especially since I was reading it with a friend. One thing though - the cover is beautiful, so maybe this is a lesson for me to stop buying books just because they’re pretty.
At first, I was going to give it two stars, but after thinking about it some more and writing all this I’m giving it one. Also, this is my first book review on Goodreads and I’m sorry that it’s so negative, maybe it’s actually more of a rant than a review but I just had to get this off my chest.
Unfortunately, it felt like a weak version of Six of Crows and I didn’t even realize people were comparing these two, but as I was reading it really stood out. The vibe, the characters, the whole setup, it just felt like a bad copy. I really tried not to compare them, since each story should stand on its own, but I couldn’t help it.
Starting with the characters: Arthie could have been done well, but she just didn’t pull me in. I liked her relationship with Jin and towards the end she got a bit more interesting but I didn’t care about her that much. The only character I saw real development in was Flick and I kind of liked Jin. However, I did not feel any real connection to the characters, so I couldn’t get that invested.
The heist was pretty underwhelming. It’s not even that it wasn’t well thought out. The descriptions just didn’t make sense to me at some points and I found it hard to follow or care about the details.
The plot twist with the Ram being Flicks mom was quite surprising but did not have enough of an impact for me personally. And Penn protecting Arthie and showing his love for her as he was dying was a sweet touch but not enough to make me feel differently about this book.
Then there’s the romance, which was a total mess. The love triangle between Arthie, Matteo, and Laith felt really forced and came out of nowhere. Everyone seemed so into each other for no clear reason - like please, what’s going on? The only romance I was actually invested in was between Jin and Flick, but even that felt rushed.
Overall, the book felt a bit shallow and lacked the depth, strong characters, and well-executed plot I was hoping for. It was quite disappointing because I really wanted to enjoy it, especially since I was reading it with a friend. One thing though - the cover is beautiful, so maybe this is a lesson for me to stop buying books just because they’re pretty.
At first, I was going to give it two stars, but after thinking about it some more and writing all this I’m giving it one. Also, this is my first book review on Goodreads and I’m sorry that it’s so negative, maybe it’s actually more of a rant than a review but I just had to get this off my chest.