Book Review : Potions, Poisons, and Policies

Potions, Poisons, and Policies by Courtney Thorne
on October 17, 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 247
Buy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org
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At Forrestbriar Academy, Henri is focused on her studies and determined to steer clear of romance. But when someone attacks her campus with a widespread love potion, turning her fellow students into lovesick fools, Henri is forced to look for a solution.
Teaming up with her arch nemesis, and long-time academic rival Noah Lawrence, Henri must race against time to uncover the source of the potion and prevent future attacks before it’s too late. As they delve deeper into the mystery, the tension between them ignites, forcing Henri to confront feelings she never wanted to explore.
Caught between her resolve to remain unattached and the undeniable chemistry with Noah, Henri faces a dilemma: can she solve the mystery and save her classmates without losing her heart in the process? Can she and Noah stop the attacks before something much more dangerous is spread to the entire campus, threatening the very lives of anyone in love? In this enchanting tale of rivalry and romance, love may be the most powerful—and dangerous—poison of all.

I came across Potions, Poisons, and Policies on Booktok, and thought this novel, focusing on a magical school turned upside down by a love potion, sounded fun. When I came across the book a second and third time, I was naturally intrigued by the idea of academic rivals, who are the only ones unaffected by the affliction of a schoolwide love potion, and reluctantly team up to find an antidote. I thought this was such a cute idea that I decided to pick it up.

 

“ALL STUDENTS MUST RETIRE DIRECTLY TO THEIR DORMS—ALONE! LOVE POTION DISTRIBUTED ACROSS CAMPUS IN ACADEMY ATTACK.”

 

I was hoping for a read similar to Sorcery of Small Magics, but unfortunately Potions, Poisons, and Policies lacked much of the charm, character development, and subtlety of the former. The novel reads mostly like a Harry Potter fanfic, with the female lead, Henrietta “Henri” Baker resembling studious Hermione, and the male lead, Noah, resembling Draco Malfoy, down to his influential family and his ability to play Quidditch—er, football. I think fans of Harry Potter, specifically the Dramione (Draco x Hermione) pairing, will find plenty to entertain in Potions, Poisons, and Policies, but I personally prefer a little more focus on character development outside of the romantic relationship and the fantasy aspect of romantasy novels.

 

Unfortunately, neither main character is particularly likeable and are more archetypes than fully developed characters. Henrietta only has one personality trait, which is that she likes to study. That’s it. She doesn’t do anything else whatsoever, not even on the weekends. No secret campaign to free house elves or anything else of the kind, which makes her feel very boring and flat. Noah, on the other hand, isn’t much better. Not helping matters is that when readers first stumble across him, he reads more like a walking-talking sexual harassment case than anything else. The comments he makes to Henrietta while they are still in their rivalry stage are anything but endearing. And I was unable to see how anyone could make someone so icky suddenly an attractive male lead. 

 

While the author does highlight some of his better qualities, it doesn’t feel earned, as it’s almost like a switch had been flipped and suddenly he’s a brand new character. There’s no slow reveals or glimpses of redeeming qualities hidden until they worked together and were forced to see each other in a new light. Instead, there’s suddenly a fake dating scenario, complete with forced proximity. The reason for this fake dating is in order to fool the perpetrator of the love potion who is monitoring and threatening Noah and Henri to stop looking for a cure. However, none of this fake dating thing really makes a whole lot of sense to me, as the perpetrator already knew the two were working on a cure in the first place, and it seemed like a love potion was already a big enough excuse for the forced proximity trope all on its own.

 

“Love potions didn’t just make anyone fall in love with the first person they laid eyes on. They only brought out feelings that were previously harbored by the witch or wizard affected. If I had an infatuation with someone before the love potion bombing, I would be one of the many wrapped up in physical affection. But I didn’t, so I remained safely tucked inside my room.”

 

Plus, suddenly the characters are ramping up the dial on the affection meter to 100 and referring to each other as “baby,” and “darling.” Undoubtedly, plenty of some readers will find this swoon worthy, but I found it over-the-top and rather hard to bear because of how Noah’s character acted before. I’m also a huge fan of the build up before characters act on their feelings—I could easily read an entire series waiting for characters to admit their feelings for one another, let alone acting on them. But in Potions, Poisons, and Policies, the characters jump straight from aggravation to acting on their attraction, which I can’t help but to find disappointing. Without much fleshing out of their relationship or their characters, it was hard for me to care what happened to the two leads and their relationship. Plus, the rest of the cast, which is really only two or three side characters, with a teacher and some momentary love rivals thrown in, is similarly underdeveloped. 

 

Likewise, the world-building is practically non-existent. All I can tell you about the world of Potions, Poisons, and Policies is that the magic school’s name is Forrestbriar and features different majors, like Masters of Potions or Masters of Policies. The only other factors of note are that cars and cell phones work fine in conjunction with magic, there are powerful magical families which hold important jobs (which in turn, give their children a higher chance at success in the school), and that the school enjoys football. One can insinuate that there must be other magical schools, as Noah and Henri encounter a student from an opposing football team, but there’s no outright mention of them. There is not much time or page space dedicated to any of these factors, sadly. This will be fine for readers wanting the focus on the romance and not the fantasy, but it was a little hard for me to ignore, personally.

 

Potions, Poisons, and Policies has a great idea, but its execution just didn’t work for me. I think readers who want to read something light and fun that isn’t bogged down with a whole lot of other stuff outside of the main romance, will enjoy this book. Fans of forced proximity, fake dating, and Dramione will also find plenty to love, but as someone who is all about the build up and the tension in romance novels, Potions, Poisons, and Policies just wasn’t to my personal taste. 

 

 

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