A Steeping Of Blood by Hafsah Faizal

Blurb:

After the jaw-dropping ending of #1 New York Times-bestseller A Tempest of Tea, Hafsah Faizal crafts a deliciously twisty and seductive sequel that will leave readers breathless until the very last page. A romantic vampire fantasy novel for fans of Immortal Dark and Heartless Hunter.

Arthie Casimir has 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 is calling 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, even though 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.

Review:

"Bury me shallow, for I will return.”

―Hafsah Faizal, A Steeping Of Blood, sequel and finale to A Tempest Of Tea

In A Steeping Of Blood, Arthie is left reeling after her world was turned upside down. After learning the monarch who colonized her people and the aggressor who seeks to make all of society believe vampires are terrible and dangerous are one and the same, she’s determined to pick up the pieces of her ruined life. With her tea-slash-blood shop burned to ashes in retribution for her trying to foil the monarch’s sinister plans, she seeks an alternative route to ousting the villain behind the deaths of countless people, vampires and humans alike: another heist—this one leading into a past she has never had the courage to face. The only thing that will stop her from reaping vengeance is her failure…or her heart, which she’s beginning to learn to give to others.

Hafsah Faizal concludes the epic fantasy heist duology, A Tempest Of Tea, with a bang. I’ve never read any of Faizal’s work before this duology, but she’s climbed the ranks of my favorite authors with a speed I don’t think any other authors I’ve read have managed to do. She has an incredible tongue for banter, for whip-smart characters, and for a world that feels grounded while also being so different to the one we live in today.

I finished reading A Steeping Of Blood in less than a day, and I recommend it to all readers seeking an unforgettable adventure filled with action, emotion, and best of all: heartbreak. It takes a lot to get me invested so much in a story that I neglect to do the other things that pry for my attention in my life, but Faizal does just that.

Her prose was visceral, the action scenes were intense, and everything was so fast-paced I couldn’t stop turning the pages into a flurry to see where the cast of characters ended up.

I especially applaud Faizal’s ability to write such a gripping, visceral, astonishing ending. I won’t spoil anything here, but the climax of book two in A Tempest Of Tea had me close to tears, with my hands trying to rip out my hair and demands for justice flying from my lips. 

I was absolutely obsessed with every dynamic presented in this story. The romantic tension was rife throughout the pages between all major relationships, and I adored how every action the characters made had long-lasting consequences. In a world where writers shy away from tragedy, heartbreak, and terrific losses for the sake of pleasant finales, Faizal’s work is a breath of fresh air.

I couldn’t get enough of this story from the time I read book one and pre-ordered the sequel long before it was released. Faizal is truly a talent in the literary industry, and I can’t wait to see what other phenomenal works she brings into the world of fiction and fantasy. 

This is the kind of story that makes you stay up all night reading, tucked under the covers of your bed while your jaw drops further and further with every plot twist and revelation that plays out across the span of the book’s pages. If you’re looking for a talented author to add to your TBR, there’s nowhere better to look than the stellar novels written by Hafsah Faizal.