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cozysabie 's review for:
Potions and Prejudice
by Tee Harlowe
fast-paced
"I learned that love always finds us in the most unexpected way. In the most unexpected person."
GENRE: Cozy Romantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Would I recommend to others?: YES! This needs no other explanation but of course I will explain and yap about every book I love: this is a cozy romantasy book that is so wholesome and just made my heart swell so much with all the love that was in it
Long Review:
Potions and Prejudice starts with our main FMC, Elspeth, who is the main carer of her family, which consists of her mom and three sisters. (SIDENOTE: one of the sisters, Prue is a bookworm like us and books are the sole reason for her happiness. I hope we get a book in this series about her one day) She is a strong FMC, stubborn and is worried that she won't be able to protect her loved ones. In the first part of the story, she was starting to get to me because she reminded me so much of myself.
Elspeth has faced many challenges but being abandoned by the men that she loved (her father and then an ex) has hurt her more than she will ever admit. In fact, as a magicless witch (due to an accidental curse in a land that made it illegal to live without magic) she seeks to protect people coming to their little carven by stopping them from buying love potions
"But if she had to seek out a love potion to get his attention, then whatever was between them clearly wasn't love."
As such, she is the main person maintaining everything in her family and being the strong one. She has the support of her sisters and her mama but she is the one they listen to and the one who wants to protect them. Because of the fact that they are magicless, they are always on the run and she always had to figure out a solution
"We'll figure this out. We Always do." She (Adelaide) was wrong. We didn't figure out anything. I always handled the problems that came our way, and for the first time in my life, I was out of solutions"
The only solution to fix their curse was to get married and so they needed to marry and settle down. However, with Elspeth's previous relationship record, they were all wary of love (except for Adelaide and Auggie, so more like Elspeth and Prue) and it is truly a sweet thing because they want to find their right match. Elspeth tells her mama this, that she isn't corrupting her sisters but trying to show them not to settle down
"I haven't corrupted anyone. I'm just refusing to settle. We all are."
And our MMC? Draven is a grumpy MC who is just soft on the inside and if you guys know anything about me, you know I love any trope of sunshine x grumpy or grumpy x grumpy, which this is AND it is done SO well! He also is shouldering a lot of responsibility and he took in his sister about a year ago when they lost their parents. Her name is Georgia and she is still young and figuring out her way in life. As such, Draven tries to help her but he struggles with this
"She seemed so lost in this world and I didn't know how to help her find her place."
The common theme in Potion & Prejudice is that we cannot protect the ones we love from everything. We cannot stop them from getting hurt as doing that stops them from the positive emotions as well, like love, happiness and feeling like you are part of a community.
"Guilt bubbled like our cauldron full of soup. I was the cause of this. Adelaide had been so happy the first few days we'd been here, and it was like someone had stolen her light. I stole her light. I was the thief, and I needed to return what I'd taken."
And not only is this cozy romantasy book so meaningful and filled with character development in the most wholesome way. It is SO funny, had sarcastic humor filled in a way that was just perfect for each character and I LOVED that so much. I was laughing and giggling at the right moments. AND WE HAVE A CUTE SMALL DRAGON THAT IS FRIGHTENED and learns to be courageous (yes I had to scream the first part lol)
And then, the FMC and the MMC met and that's where it all began
"It sounds like you've met your match, Draven Darkstone."
The amount of things I could say about this but they almost don't make it and Elm (Draven's best friend and Adelaide's other half) knocks some sense into Draven while Adelaide knocks some sense into her sister
"So you think Elspeth got scared? I asked. "Because of me?"
"Because she loves you, and love is terrifying," Elmy said."
And let me just say, looking back now,
Thank you to the Author for the eArc in exchange for my honest opinion