A Tempest of Tea is Peaky Blinders with a dash of Arthurian Legend with Vampires

Humans, Vampires and half vampires. Yes, half vampires. They are fast, strong, heal quickly, but can still eat food, be out in sunlight and age very slowly. They are made while on the brink of death without dying. Once they do die, however, they can be turned into a full vampire. They are more rare than a full vampire and hard to identify since they still look human and have shadows unlike vampires who do not. They drink blood and are more powerful when they do.

There are several characters, some of which are love “interests” of each other. Arthie (the lucky girl) has two men pining for her, but she’s a hard nut to crack regardless of the attraction she has to either of them. She trusts no one other than her brother Jin. The slow burn is like an itch in a spot on your back that you can’t reach and it’s quite frustrating. With that said, there isn’t spice here, so if blatant spice gives you the ick in books this one is safe for you. If you are all about spice, this will not give you satisfaction. I don’t mind books without spice if the story is good but find it aggravating when it comes close several times and then taken away.

Little Breakdown – This is told with 3 POV – Arthie FMC – JIN MMC – Flick Side FMC

The Ram is in charge of the city’s police and control the Horned Guard. They also have allegedly been taking vampires among other nefarious things and it’s all kept within a ledger. The ledger was stolen, and they are in a panic ripping apart the city to locate it. Since Arthie is a known thief, she is on The Ram’s radar now more than ever.

The Athereum (Vampire society establishment) owned and operated by Penn Arundel. Only approved members (vampires) are allowed in but can bring one personal willing blood donor. It was made around the time of the massacre of White Roaring and the cause was The Wolf. No one knows who The Wolf is, but since that tragic event The Arthereum has put a tight leash on the cities vampire society which includes illegal taking of a human’s blood and or killing humans. It was a means for the Vampires and Humans to have an accord to live cohesively together. The Ram or their Horned Guard are never allowed in.

Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Co-owner of an infamous teahouse called Spindrift that she runs with her brother Jin Casimir. This establishment caters to high society by day and vampires by night. The elites pay no mind to the servers that attend to them, and they chat freely which is exactly what Arthie wants. Knowledge is power. The issue is although everyone knows of the evening discretions, The Ram who runs the city wants to catch them and shut them down which includes random raids. They haven’t been caught yet, but the man who they rent their establishment was threatened and forced to hand over the property to The Ram and now Arthie and Jin must do what they can to save it.

“She had forged a crown for herself when the world told her she was not meant to have one”

Jin Casimir is Arthie’s brother by mutual choice. Arthie found Jin when they were both young (about 12?) when he ran into his family home that was on fire. His parents were extremely intelligent and low key working on scientific things regarding the vampires. Things that The Ram would never approve of. After losing his parents in the fire, he and Arthie changed their last name to the same and took care of each other. They became very proficient in obtaining things that were not theirs (stealing) and over the years built a little gang of thieves that helped them earn the money to open Spindrift. He is as clever and dangerous as his sister Arthie, and he has to for their line of work.

Flick- aka Felicity Linden is a young socialite who was adopted by Lady Linden, a high society woman with money and power. Out of boredom, she found that she had the knack for forgery. It started out with innocent forging her mother’s name on letters to help the staff obtain things they needed but then due to her being so adept she started doing more. Alas, she was caught and arrested which infuriated her mother. Her name was kept out of the papers, but The Ram and The Horned Guard knew she did it which made her mother look very bad. As punishment it seemed, her mother hadn’t given her the time of day since it happened months ago, and Flick misses her time with her. She must find a way to make it up to her and take the black mark she put over her mother’s name to win her affection back. So, she agrees to help Anthie and Jin with their heist although is frightened by the thought of working not only with the Horned Guard but also with vampires who she was taught to stay away from.

Laith is the extremely handsome foreign captain of the Horned Guard and is tasked with finding the missing ledger. However, he has no intention of handing the ledger over to the Ram. He wants to bring The Ram down and to do it he asks Arthie to help. He knows that she is the best thief in the city and if anyone can find and steal the ledger back, it’s her.

Matteo A beautiful, rich, talented and alluring vampire with pockets full of secrets of all things. Including many about Arthie. Since he is a full vampire, he would be able to enter The Athereum and have the key to get in. Arthie hates to need him for this new job as she is annoyed at how she is attracted to him and he knows how to push her buttons, but she refuses to entertain his flirtation. She has built herself up on being cunning and not falling for the advances of pretty men. His involvement is needed even though Laith doesn’t want him to be for unknown reasons.

“You know darling, not everyone needs to be threatened to work for you. It’s possible for someone to simply want to.”

*****SPOILERS and Theories*****
This is a very short book. There is mystery surrounding Penn Arundel, his back story and his involvement with Arthie. I believe that possibly more will be said about that in book two, but it would have been nice to have a little more in this book since his name was thrown around a few times in passing without a ton of information. I have a theory regarding his relationship with Arthie, but it goes against another theory I have about Matteo.

Arthie never told Jin about Penn. She told him her parents were dead, and never mentioned Penn at all and he is still alive (well, kind of since he is a vampire). She refused to drink blook other than the bit laced in the tea at her teahouse. She was afraid to do it and lose control. So, is Arthie afraid because she was the one who is considered the Wolf of White Roaring and the reason why Penn made the organization in the first place? She never spoke of him and seems to avoid seeing him as well. She also hid being a half vampire from Jin who thought he knew everything about her.

Matteo said that although he has a key to get into Athereum he needed to be in disguise when he goes in because it would cause a huge uproar. Matteo knows the layout of the inside very well and who does what for someone who never goes in there. So, is he The Wolf of White Roaring or did he actually make the establishment and tell Penn to run it because it was his daughter that he created who caused the massacre that made the need for it and Matteo has been keeping tabs on her all this time to make sure she never does it again? Especially with the comments he makes to her.

“Tell me, do you remember what it’s like to live?”

“So vicious, so ambitious, I like it”

I am leaning harder on the theory that Matteo created Athereum because of Arthie.

How will Jin handle being a vampire and will that change how Flick feels about him since she was raised to hate vampires. Has her mind been changed since working with Matteo and Arthie?

It’s left with quite a cliff hanger. If you hate that then wait for book 2 to read this. Was this half-assed review helpful? Probably not, sorry.

If you like YA with a strong FMC, Vampires, Heists, Found family, and a dash of bloodshed, you may enjoy this book.

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