Pages & Potions | A Harry Potter Book Tag [Original]

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’ve been in a very Harry Potter-ish mood lately! I’ve given Hogwarts house booktube recommendations for Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff (with Gryffindor coming soon, y’all 😉), but, nevertheless, my Very Harry Potter Mood™ has persisted! So, inspired by the lovely Trang and Lashaan of Bookidote and their wonderful original Harry Potter book tag, I took action and created The Pages & Potions Book Tag: A Harry Potter Book Tag! I know, it’s a long title, but I’m hoping that, in this case, long title equals lots of fun!

R U L E S

• NO using Harry Potter books as your answer
• Link back to the creator (me, Lila @ Hardcover Haven)
• Link back to the person who tagged you
• Have fun!

T H E   P A G E S   &   P O T I O N S   B O O K   T A G

Amortentia // Causes the drinker to fall head over heels in love with the person serving the potion // A book that’s your problematic fave

Ooooooh, y’all, I’m bouta spill some tea—about myself, that is! One of my favorite books is Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones—but I recognize that it’s superproblematic! I wrote huge half rave, half rant review of the book discussing how incredibly misogynistic, unhealthy, and toxic many of the thoughts, words, actions, and situations depicted in Wintersong are….but, like, I also kinda loved the book too? If you want to see more of my tortured, conflicted thoughts on the book, definitely check that review out.

Polyjuice Potion // Transforms the drinker’s appearance into someone else’s // A diverse book that let you stand in someone else’s shoes

I really loved Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao, which is an East Asian inspired retelling of the origin story of the evil queen from Snow White. It’s an underrated but super incredible book overall and one of the things I loved was how steeped in East Asian culture it was! I feel like I really got a feel for the cultures it drew inspiration from and it made me want to learn more.

Draught of Living Death // A sleeping potion so strong that some who have consumed it appear dead // A book that bored you to death sleep
Okay sooooooo….don’t kill me but….I was MASSIVELY bored by Three Dark Crownsby Kendare Blake. I know, I know! Everybody loves that book/series, but I just couldn’t stand it. I’m surprised I made it all the way through cause I nearly DNFed it so. many. times! I just felt like nothing really happens in the book except for bland romance, which is even more disappointing when you consider the book was marketed as a fight to the death for the crown fought by three sisters. Idk, to each their own I guess?

Draught of Peace // Calms, comforts, and eases anxiety // A book or genre that always brings you comfort
My go-to genre is always fantasy. Nothing brings me more comfort than escaping into a new world and learning everything about it while going on an immersive adventure!

The thing about fantasy is that it indulges my curiosity, my sense of adventure, and my desire to explore everything I can! As nerdy as it sounds, nothing is as relaxing to me as letting my imagination roam around a new world. What can I say? I’m a Ravenclaw to my core, I guess!

Veritaserum // Forces those who have consumed it to tell the truth // An unpopular bookish opinion you hold
Truth be told, I have plenty of “unpopular” bookish opinions, but the bookish community is so nice that I rarely feel bad about them! Like, I dogear pages of my own books and MASSIVELY prefer audiobooks to any other format. I also was not a fan of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo? Lord knows, I never thought that the most “controversial” opinions I’d have would pertain to books, of all things!

Confusing Concoction // Confuses those who have consumed it // A book that was confusing

Ummm…Okay, confession time here but was anyone else super confused at the ending of Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan??? It’s a recent release and the ARC got stellar pre-release reviews but when I read it I just…could not for the life of me figure out what was going on during the last, like, 25%???? I don’t want to go into it for fear of, ya know, accidental spoilers (dun, dUN, DUN!) but, um, yeah, if anyone actually understood what was happening, please feel free to DM me on Twitter and fill me in…

Felix Felicis // Brings luck to those who have consumed it // An author who’s lucky enough to be on your “auto-buy authors” list
I have a lot of trouble believing that I won’t buy any and all of S.A. Chakraborty’s future books. Like, if you told me that I won’t, I would probably laugh. A lot. Cause that would be a ridiculous and outlandish statement! Chakraborty shot to the top of my auto-buy authors list in 2017 with her debut novel, The City of Brass and this year she solidified her place as number one with her release of the sequel, The Kingdom of Copper. Her books were so intricately plotted and feature such compelling and complex characters that I’ve become a big fan of hers!

Skele-Gro // Regrows bones // A book that made your love of reading grow
I gotta give credit where it’s due and answer this one with Divergent by Veronica Roth. See, in my first year of college, Divergent not only helped me get back into my reading groove (after my junior and senior year of high school sucked away all my spare time and thus my ability to read a lot other than required reading), but it also helped me rediscover my love of audiobooks, which I hadn’t listened listened to since eighth grade! Five years later today and I almost exclusively listen to audiobooks and am still consuming books like a maniac!

So, friends, that’s all for today! I had so much fun making this tag and I hope you had just as much fun reading my answers! I hope you’ll participate too and I can’t wait to see all of your answers.

I   T A G

• Trang and/or Lashaan @ Bookidote
• Marie @ Drizzle And Hurricane Books
• Kaely @ Spoilers May Apply
• Dani @ Perspective of a Writer
• Avery @ The Book Deviant
• Krysti @ YA Y& Wine
• Marija @ Inside My Library Mind
• Shealea @ Shut Up, Shealea
• Julianna @ Paper Blots
• The ladies @ The Quiet Pond
• Nandini @ Unputdownable Books
• Melanie @ Mel To The Any
• and anyone who’d like to join in, feel free to join the fun and say I tagged you!