Review | The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward

The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward
Series: The Potion Diaries #1
Published On: July 2, 2015
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★
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When the Princess of Nova accidentally poisons herself with a love potion meant for her crush, she falls crown-over-heels in love with her own reflection. Oops. A nationwide hunt is called to find the cure, with competitors travelling the world for the rarest ingredients, deep in magical forests and frozen tundras, facing death at every turn. 
Enter Samantha Kemi - an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. Sam's family were once the most respected alchemists in the kingdom, but they've fallen on hard times, and winning the hunt would save their reputation. But can Sam really compete with the dazzling powers of the ZoroAster megapharma company? Just how close is Sam willing to get to Zain Aster, her dashing former classmate and enemy, in the meantime? And just to add to the pressure, this quest is ALL OVER social media. And the world news. 
No big deal, then.

Do you ever pick up a book years after buying it and realise you're not interested anymore? This was how I felt about this book. However, I decided to give it a chance before getting rid of it, and I'm glad I did. This is a really fun story of a girl searching for the cure for a love potion in a competition being followed by people all over the world (think The Hunger Games but less violent and deadly). It is full of adventure, fast paced, and generally a really enjoyable read.

The characters did feel a little underdeveloped, particularly the side characters who all felt quite similar. However, they were not bad characters. I enjoyed reading about them and hope to get to know them more as the series continues. The relationships between the characters felt a bit forced - the friendships didn't feel real and the romantic relationship happened very quickly. I do think these can hopefully be improved upon in future books in the series.

As I have mentioned, this is a very fast-paced book with a fun plot. I flew through it and didn't get bored once. There is always something happening. My only other complaint about this book is how convenient things were. This is supposed to be an incredibly difficult competition to find a cure no-one knows the ingredients for, yet all of these competitors just know what to do next or how to solve their problems. There is some very impressive guess work.

Despite having a couple of complaints, I did really enjoy this book. It is not the next great fantasy series, but it is a fast, fun read and perfect for those, like me, who don't tend to enjoy too much fantasy. This read a lot like a contemporary with fantastical elements, which I enjoyed. It is not the best written, most creative book, but it has definitely made me want to carry on with the series and see where it goes.