Madly

Gr 7 Up—Samantha Kemi is destined to a life mixing potions in her family's famous but failing potion shop, until the royal princess swallows poison and Sam must compete in a Wilde Hunt to save her life. The Hunt challenges the best Mixers and Finders in the kingdom to create an antidote for a chance at a huge cash prize. Sam joins the tournament against her granddad's wishes, hoping to save the family business. She travels the globe and faces dangerous creatures to secure the necessary ingredients. Along the way, Emilia Thoth, exiled sister of the king, does her best to thwart the battling teams so she can claim the throne, but Sam soon finds out that her real competition is Zain Aster, heir to the Zoro Aster synthetic potion corporation. Zain reveals he has feelings for Sam, but she struggles to trust him as her family's business hangs in the balance. With so many plot elements to introduce, this work gets off to a clunky start, but Alward (pen name for Amy McCulloch) soon wins readers over with fast-paced adventure, high stakes, and just the right mixture of action, romance, and humor. Princess Evelyn, who has fallen in love with herself through some sloppy potion handling, steals the show with a series of hilariously perverse love scenes. The lighthearted fantasy universe mingles the contemporary and the classic, and teens will gladly suspend disbelief long enough to follow Sam on this journey and the sequels that are sure to come.