Mood Readers:
The Poisons We Drink is the kind of story that both hurts your heart, and gives you hope. If you’re in the mood to witness the struggle and sacrifice that comes from protecting those you love, you should grab this book right now.
How did the book make you feel?
Would you recommend this book?
There are several reasons I would recommend this book to fantasy readers. Venus Stoneheart is a fierce heroine with a dark side. She has to pay steep consequences for supporting her family, and to advance a secret mission to save Witcher society. It’s all morally gray, which makes for great reading.
Also, I’m a sucker for stories that mirror the true injustices happening in real society. I think when authors place a mystical lens on prejudice and social injustice, it causes young readers to think outside the box. It’s easy to right the wrongs with magic, potions, and blood oaths. In the real world, it’s protest and political voting to garner change. I think stories like this can resonate with young people better than true history in the classroom.
Bethany Baptiste packed more twists in this story than I could count. The Poisons we drink is hard to put down!
Would you be friends with the main character IRL?
I can see how Venus Stoneheart would be a challenging friend. She’s the kind of person who wants to solve all the world’s problems on her own, but would help others she loves in an instant. It’s a loveable yet annoying flaw that I’d be drawn to in real life. Let me help you Venus!
What songs would you put on this book’s playlist?
American Requiem by Beyonce
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
I see Red by Everybody Loves an Outlaw
The Poisons We Drink Synopsis:
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.
The Poisons We Drink is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death.
About the author
Bethany Baptiste is a slightly responsible grown-up living Jacksonville, Florida in a little brick house with two chaotic evil dogs and too many books. She holds two degrees in Early Childhood Education and taught for seven years. Now as an inclusion specialist, she advocates for preschoolers with special needs. When not prying a shoe from a Schnauzer’s jaws, she writes about Black characters with big hearts and little morals.
Kristin lives in the PNW with her husband, and three kids. She loves to read YA fiction, fantasy, and romance. She enjoys a few side-hustles, including creating bookreels/booktoks for authors. The only shows she watches are re-runs, and if she’s not reading a book, she’s listening to one.
