Thank you so much to Shadow Mountain Publishing for reaching out to me to join their blog tour for Potion Masters: The Seeking Serum! So sorry about the technical difficulties today. Unfortunately I forgot to make sure my review was actually in the post before I wound up in the ER last night. Sorry to those that had to see a blank post for the majority of today. I appreciate your patience.

Mezzarix has stolen the Vessel, the source of power for all potion masters, and is preparing to launch his final attack on the potion-making community—which includes his own family.

Gordy and his family have gone into hiding, but when his mom uncovers some new information, she takes Gordy into the underground network known as the Swigs, a haven for renegade potion masters and black-market potions, to secure support in the fight against Mezzarix. But when Scourges, rebel potion makers acting on orders from Mezzarix, attack the Swigs, Gordy barely escapes with his life and is forced to leave his family behind.

As the fight intensifies between B.R.E.W. and the Scourges, it falls to Gordy and his friends—Max, Sasha, and Adilene—to locate Mezzarix’s hidden headquarters, retrieve the Vessel, save the world, and unite the potion-making community.

The world of Potion Masters is full of fantasy and adventure as Gordy and his friends learn the power of friendship and loyalty, and to trust in their own individual talents.

Frank L. Cole has lived in such exotic places as the Philippines and Kentucky, and currently lives with his wife and three children out west. While he strived for years to earn his publishing credits, Frank considers sharing his message of “Exercising Your Imagination” to over 100,000 kids across the country as his greatest accomplishment. Potion Masters – The Transparency Tonic is Frank’s 11th published book. You can learn more about his writing at frankcolewrites.com

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Oh man this was such a fun adventure. Like, I know this is the third novel in the series and I really should have remembered to read the rest of the books first but I was pulled in to this one from the beginning that I don’t even think I was too worried about it. I think people need to really give some more props to Middle Grade novels, because those ones have been some of my favorite books lately, and I think people just think that “well it’s young.” or whatever, and yet THEY GO THROUGH SOME CRAZY STUFF okay?!

It’s such a bummer that this book is also the final book in this series, but I think that Cole ended it perfectly. The craziness that Gordy and some of the other swigs have to deal with, how Gordy isn’t alone in this and actually has his family – most especially his mom – to be there and guide him during this journey, just really made me feel like this book was wholesome. Yes, things got intense for Gordy and the swigs, and wow, I can’t imagine how stressful this could have been for an eighth-grader to deal with, but man was it a fun ride.

I will say read the first two novels first, especially since this is the final book and a lot of what happened in the first two won’t be explained in detail in this one. You need to know what happened so you aren’t completely lost, but you may be able to infer. Either way, I recommend this one.