The Potion Diaries Book Series + Giveaway!

Over the past few months I’ve had some blog opportunities out of the ordinary to what I normally talk about on my blog and one of the most exciting for me has been this one. Reading books is something I love doing, but rarely find the ability to make time for it in my routine – normally on a beach holiday I can read a book a day but find it hard to prioritise in the comfort of my own home. But when the opportunity came to review The Potion Diaries and it’s unreleased sequel I jumped at the chance.

I’m a massive fan of YA fiction, although I know I’m starting to edge out of it’s target market – but I find something really engaging about the easy reading style of Young Adult fiction and normally everything ends with a happy ending.

The book series is written by Amy Alward, a Canadian author living in London – a name you may recognise as she’s the editor of the Girl Online Books by Zoella, and works at Penguin as an editor too.

The first Potion Diaries focuses on Samantha Kemi – or Sam as she’s more often referred to – a teenager who is the latest in her family to begin taking the reins of her families once thriving potion store. After Princess Evelyn falls deeply in love with herself after accidentally poisoning herself with a love potion, Sam is called to a Wilde Hunt, where all the best potion makers in their kingdom, Nova are called to figure out the cure and source it’s ingredients from across the globe. With a big prize at stake and hope of returning the Kemi’s potion store to it’s former glory, Sam is desperate to win the prize.

the-potion-diaries-1-and-2-review-giveaway

Sam’s inexperience leads her down paths to adventure and disaster, with distractions along the way from the Kingdom’s most eligible bachelor Zain, who is competing against her to create the cure. This book took me by surprise, it was deeper than I was expecting it to be and found the mix of talks about potions and magic with talks of apps and wifi intriguing and quirky. It turned out not to be the easiest read as it had more depth than I was expecting and it probably all in all took me roughly a week to finish it up. I loved having an hour at a time to sit and fully emerse myself in their world.

From finishing the first book I jumped straight into the second, now unfortunately I haven’t got around to finishing this up yet due to it arriving whilst I was on holiday last week. But as I finished turning the last page of the first book, I jumped into turning the pages in the second so I’ll keep you updated on it once I’ve finished it. I don’t want to give too much away incase I’ve hooked you on the first book and you now want to give you a chance to read – but Sam joins Princess Evelyn on a worldwide royal tour after the finishing of the. The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour is out tomorrow 11th August in WH Smith (available to order here). You can view the trailer for the second book below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzVetdJS4g]

Giveaway

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You can win your very own copies of the books kindly provided by Simon and Schuster & their PR team, to be in with the chance of winning all you have to do is be following my blog on WordPress or Bloglovin, and leave me a comment below letting me know what your favourite book is to be in with the chance to win. Alternatively you can Follow me on twitter and RT this tweet to win, doing both will gain you two entries!

Unfortunately this giveaway is UK only (sorry international readers!) and will run for one week 17th august at midnight BST, a winner will be drawn at random – please leave your contact details so I can drop you a message if it’s not obvious! Good Luck!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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15 Comments

  1. emma
    August 10, 2016 / 11:53 am

    Hi racheal, I would really love to win these books , as like you I love reading bur I don’t proitise reading.
    My favorite books that spring to mind are a spy in the house and poison study that I read a few years ago. Xx

      • emma
        August 10, 2016 / 4:34 pm

        They are some of my favorite ya books I read when I was younger. I hope you enjoy them. Thank you for the giveaway. Xx

  2. saturdayonwednesday
    August 10, 2016 / 11:53 am

    I haven’t read the YA book in ages but I used to love them. This one seems quite fun so it’d be amazing getting my hands on it! My favourite book at the moment is definitely the Name of The Wind, I have just finished reading it a few days ago and jumping to the second one, it’s another huge one of 990 pages so I’ll keep me busy for a bit, although I read the first one much quicker than I should have had..whoops.
    Heading to twitter for double points, I never win anything but it’s worth a try haha xx

  3. August 10, 2016 / 3:35 pm

    My favorite YA book would have to be Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Mass. I love all of Sarah J Mass’s books. Her writing is amazing!
    The books you’re giveaway seem really interesting and I’d love to win and read them. Thanks so much for this giveaway!

  4. August 10, 2016 / 6:13 pm

    I’ve never heard of this series… I’m such a slacker when it comes to reading books. I never have time! I mostly read on vacation.

    • August 10, 2016 / 6:30 pm

      Yeah snap, unless I get really into a series and can’t stop myself putting it down then I barely make time to read at home. I’m hoping I can make a start on getting back into it daily though before bed (after we’ve finished prison break, late to the party and totally addicted)

  5. August 10, 2016 / 8:55 pm

    I am a huge lover of books and actually posted a book review on my blog today! It’s of my current fave Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! Lucky you for getting asked to read books – that’s like the dream for me!! Xx

    • August 10, 2016 / 9:27 pm

      I have Harry Potter but I don’t want to read it til I’ve seen the play which isn’t til next July 🙈 I started reading your review and then was like shit am I going to read a spoiler so clicked off!

      • August 11, 2016 / 8:28 am

        Hahahahaha!! I’m going to see it next August but definitely couldn’t have waited till then. In fact reading the book made me even more keen to see the show! Xx

  6. Rachael Watkins
    August 11, 2016 / 6:56 am

    I love to read! I’ve got hugely back into it this year, reading a lot of fantasy YA lit, and my best author discovery is Sarah J Maas! She’s got two series out – Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. I’ve not been as obsessed about a book in years as I am about A Court of Mists and Fury! I haven’t gotten round to reading The Potion Diaries yet although I’ve been eyeing them up (along with more than 100 other books, seriously I’ve got an Amazon wish list dedicated to them).

  7. August 11, 2016 / 6:59 am

    I love to read! I’ve got hugely back into it this year, reading a lot of fantasy YA lit, and my best author discovery is Sarah J Maas! She’s got two series out – Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. I’ve not been as obsessed about a book in years as I am about A Court of Mists and Fury! I haven’t gotten round to reading The Potion Diaries yet although I’ve been eyeing them up (along with more than 100 other books, seriously I’ve got an Amazon wish list dedicated to them).

    • August 11, 2016 / 7:18 am

      I have the same thing with sample chapters on my kindle. And are you back ok WordPress for any other reason than to enter 🙏🏼 please say yes ha!

  8. Shirleen Sprengelmeyer
    August 2, 2018 / 7:43 pm

    I just bought it a week earlier and simply finished reading it. Totally enjoyed it. Really engaging . PS: I appreciate your work. Thank you

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