Review: The Potion Dealers by Lidiya Foxglove

Posted May 19, 2025 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 4 Comments

The Potion Dealers (The Potion Dealers #1)
by Lidiya Foxglove

My Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Alfred Bravider is the heir to a powerful family of potion dealers. His passion for magical history has helped him talk his way into the cottages, lairs, and penthouse apartments of sorcerers who usually shun visitors—only to lose clients because they don’t want to work for his greedy, bureaucratic father.

But Alfred’s position has always been in doubt since he was bllnded as an infant by an unfortunate curse. No matter—Alfred’s father has finally found the cure: Livonya Orlestin, the daughter of the sorceress who cast the curse.

Livonya has never left her tiny village to the far north—never had an adventure. After all, her parents had adventures and got themselves killed. But now adventure has appeared at her door. Compared to the local farm boys, Alfred has tales of travel and treasure hunting.

She wonders why he wants the curse lifted when he’s been blind all his life and seems so confident. He’s insulted that his parents are so fixated on curing him. He knows what they really care about—preserving their image. Does he need to work for his father at all? Alfred has never met anyone who barely knows what the rules should be and questions them so freely, but maybe it’s time to break them—and deal with the misfits, outsiders, and eccentrics of the magical world to build his own potion-dealing empire.

THE POTION DEALERS is the first book in a cozy-adjacent series that mingles slice of life and magical adventures. It has romance, but is more of a found family/team story. This series stands entirely alone but is part of my Hidden Lands series, a magical world dealing with modernization (think Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra) and has 1960s vibes.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

I was so excited to start reading this book. As soon as I finished my current read I dived into this book. I had a stressful week coming up and knew this would be the perfect escape. I was so happy to spend some time in Lidiya Foxglove’s Hidden Lands world again, I love the world she created and this book was such a fun read.

My introduction to this book has been a bit different from most books I read. I like watching Lidiya Foxglove’s Youtube videos that she posts there as The Cozy Creative and already heard quite a bit about The Potion Dealers there. It was interesting how it felt like I already knew some of the characters before I even started reading and I was so excited to start reading and actually get their whole story. I felt like this helped me get into the book easily as I already knew the premise and the characters. It was an unique experience to have the characters already feel familiar even though this was the first time reading about them. And it was awesome how well the vibes I had gotten for the characters through the videos fit how the characters are in the book.

The Potion Dealers is a cozy fantasy story with a romantic subplot. It follows this group of characters that slowly expand throughout the book as they try to figure some things out about what they want to do with their lives mostly. It has this found family and creating a team type vibes that I really liked. There are adventures and some danger, but there are also plenty of cute and cozy scenes. I also liked seeing the romance between Alfred and Livonya play out as well as some hints of romances between between side characters. All the characters feel so real and I loved reading about them all and seeing what they went through. This is only book 1 in the series and it’s clear there’s more to come to these characters and I can’t wait for book 2!

I have to admit I wasn’t quite sure I would like Alfred at first, from the descriptions I got I knew he would the heir to a magical organized crime family. And he is that, but he’s also very likable and interesting characters. From the first chapter from his point of view I knew I shouldn’t have worried as I really liked him. And he’s such an interesting character. He’s blind because of a curse, but he manages to get through his life and doesn’t know what it is to not be blind. In fact gets quite upset with his parents when he finds out they’ve been looking for a cure all this time and don’t value him as he is until he’s no longer blind. I thought it was interesting reading about a blind character and how he experience the world, there are more descriptions of sounds and smells from his point of view. I liked how charming he was, but not in a fake way, he really was just so interested in all the people he meets and his passion for magic is obvious.

Livonya is from a small town and then gets invited by Alfred to visit to Atlantis, a bit city in this world. Her story has a bit fish-out-of-water vibes at first as she adjusts to the city, but most of all it felt like she finally gets the adventure and excitement she’s been longing for her whole life. I liked experiencing Atlantis from her point of view and seeing her develop and change as she lives the life she always dreamed of. There are some big changes she goes through and another big one that happens at the end of the book and I am curious to see what happens next. Her banter and interactions with Alfred are so fun to read and I liked reading about them.

Plot wise this book has a lot going on. I liked how there are some big events and development quite early in the book. I liked how a certain event happened early on so I wouldn’t be in suspense for the whole book how that would play out. And there are plenty of plot lines that do continue throughout the whole book and some that get resolved or have some big developments late in the book. And other plot lines that are still going on. I was so invested in seeing everything play out.

The world building for this world is amazing. I’ve read everything Lidiay Foxglove has written so far set in this world and while I like reading them in order as she publishes them, each book or series can be read as a standalone I think. This one takes place 40 years after Doll Girl Meets Dead Guy and I have to admit it was quite the adjustment for me with how much the world has changed, but I also really liked seeing the changes. It’s so awesome actually seeing the world change throughout these books. It’s getting more modern now and there are political unrest as well. It really is fascinating seeing it all. There are mentions to some of the characters from previous books and I loved seeing Grau and Velsa again and seeing how they are doing all these years later.

This was a book that kept me reading. I just love reading about this world and these characters and I couldn’t get enough. Luckily it is a long book and took me a while to get through it, but I was still sad when it was over and wished I had book 2 to start right after it. It’s also one of those books I know I’ll re-read. I feel like I almost read it too quickly, not really taking the time to let some events settle and really feel the emotions. I wish sometimes there was more time to deal with certain releveation, but from reading her previous books, I know once I re-read it I can experience those better. I barely finished this book and am already planning my re-read that’s how good it was.

To summarize: I loved this book and enjoyed every moment spent reading it. I love this fantasy world Lidiya Foxglove has created and it’s a joy to return to it for another story. I already knew a bit of the premise and characters from watching her Youtube videos which made it easy to get into this book and the characters already felt familiar to me. I really liked both Alfred and Livonya and seeing their romance slow grow was great. I liked the found family/ team coming together vibes of this book and I can’t wait to read more about them. All the characters feel so real and I enjoyed reading about them all and seeing them interact with one another. I wasn’t sure at first whether I would like Alfred, but from the first chapter I read about him I knew I would. He’s such a likable and interesting character being the charming blind heir to an organized crime family, but wanting to go his own direction and actually caring about the work he does and having a true passion for magic. Livonya is easy to like and I liked seeing her get the chance to finally get the adventure she always dreamed of and grow into her own. She has some big things she has to deal with and I enjoyed seeing it all play out. I really loved this book and wanted to keep reading. I love the world the author has created and I’ve read every book set there so far. Seeing this world get more modern was quite the difference with previous books, but it also was so fascinating to see the world change. The story has a lot of interesting plot lines going on and I wanted to keep reading. There are plenty of exciting things going on and plenty sweeter cozies scenes as well. The ending is at a good stopping point and makes me eager for the next book.