The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour Review

The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Early copy from YALC (released 11th August 2016)

Since winning the Hunt and saving her new BFF, Princess Evelyn, Sam Kemi has been royally busy. What with TV interviews, working in her family’s potion store and preparing to join Evelyn on her world tour, Sam STILL hasn’t had time for a real date with Zain, her new-boyfriend-slash-former-rival.

And that’s not happening anytime soon. Someone has tampered with Sam’s granddad’s mind and she is the only one who can unlock his memories. But those memories hold the key to the most powerful potion in the world – which people would kill for…

So Sam must swap dresses, princes and palaces for dragons, centaurs and caves in her quest to save her granddad (and everyone else).


So I attended YALC last month and picked up an early copy of this book. I did a BookTube review of the Potion Diaries as part of the Zoella Book Club and I absolutely adored it so when I saw they had early copies at YALC, I was desperate to get my hands on it and it was actually the first book I bought that weekend. It was finished in one evening…I couldn’t put it down.

What I love about this series is that it’s so unique. You will not find a book series like it. I think it’s really difficult to write a book about magic, royalty and potions etc. for young adults because there’s a thin line between making it too “childish” or making it too “adultish” (that’s not a word but we’ll go with it!) but Amy Alward does this beautifully. Not that adults can’t enjoy it, I’m 22 so I guess I’m a (youngish) adult and it’s now one of my favourite series. I can’t wait for the next installment in the series; The Potion Diaries: Going Viral. This is set to be released in August 2017.

The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour is written from Sam Kemi’s point of view predominantly. There are a few chapters that are slightly different, for example: the books first chapter is a forum post and comments that have been posted about the Kemi family. If you’ve not read the first book, it focuses on Samantha Kemi, an alchemist from Nova who is part of a Wilde Hunt (a hunt alchemists go on in search of a cure for something) to save the Princess of Nova who had fallen in love with herself, by making a love potion.

The second book starts off exactly where it was left and Sam’s life seems to be going brilliant. Her family shop now has a lot more customers, she’s dating Zain, she’s best friends with Evelyn and she’s about to join her on a Royal Tour…sounds perfect, right? It doesn’t stay that way for long…
Samantha’s granddad is suddenly taken ill and is unable to mix a potion correctly as some of his memories have been locked away. Could this be a coincidence or has someone done this to him? Sam also believes her granddad is hiding knowledge about the most powerful potion in the world, a potion she thinks her great-grandmother may have discovered (but was lost with her potion diary). The aqua vitae.

"Aqua vitae. Water of life. A potion that can cure any disease, deformity or illness. Origin, ingredients and recipe unknown. A potion’s legend and a fool’s errand – like the philosopher’s stone."

Sam needs to save her granddad and restore her family’s name so she sets off on a Hunt to find her great-grandmother’s lost potion diary. Oh, and to also create a potion for the Princess as her magic is far too powerful for just one person. Sounds an easy task for one person, right?

She finds herself face to face with dragons, centaurs and the King’s exiled sister Emilia Thoth. This book is action packed and you barely come up for breath when you read it. It really is a brilliant book.

My main question throughout the book was: Are Zain and Sam ever going to get their first proper date? I’m afraid I will not be spoiling that for you, so go and pick up a copy when this book comes out on Thursday and let me know if you loved it as much as I did.


Also, here’s a link to my video review of The Potion Diaries if you’ve not started the series and want to know more: Zoella Book Club: The Potion Diaries

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