Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos
Published: March 11th, 2025 by Del Ray
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+, Cozy
Pages: 368
My Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)
“Margot Greenwillow, I have been choosing you every day for four months now. And if I haven’t made that obvious – if you haven’t felt chosen – then clearly I’ve work to do yet.”
About the Book
Homegrown Magic is a cozy fantasy romance centered around two childhood friends reconnecting, plenty of plant magic, and a mechanical steed or two. Yael Clauneck is the heir to a powerful banking family with arguably more power than the reigning monarchs. Their whole life has been planned out before they were born. They went to the finest schools, received a degree in law, and were primed to be the next shiny asset in the Clauneck Corporation. However, on the night of Yael’s university graduation celebration, the weight of all those expectations sends Yael running. They have no plan, but anywhere away from their family is good enough.
Riding off into the night with no direction is a bit of a folly. Luckily for Yael, they wander into a small familiar town. Bloomfield is the home of their childhood friend and plant witch Margot Greenwillow. It has been nearly a decade since they last saw her, and Yael can only hope she’s in town. However, it is quite a shock for Margot to see her childhood friend and former crush riding into town out of the blue.
Surprising though it is, Yael’s arrival seems serendipitous to Margot. She could certainly use some help in her greenhouses and Yael has no intention of returning to their family’s clutches. The pair are tangled up in responsibilities and expectations beyond their control. However, their feelings for one another bloom just as fair as Margot’s flowers.
My Thoughts
What a wonderful time this book was. After reading an obscene amount of horror novels in the first three months of the year, I needed something different. Homegrown Magic was just that. The book promises a cozy, magical atmosphere and it delivers. There are stakes in this story but no white-knuckled tension. The threads of magic and world-building are light, giving the reader enough to paint a picture of this enchanting landscape. I loved imagining the storybook-like town of Bloomfield with its warm community. It makes sense why Margot is desperate to preserve her grandmother’s legacy and save her home.
I find Margot to be painfully relatable. I too am the kind of girl who feels like it’s on me alone to solve everyone’s problems and hold it all together. Margot also has a healthy dose of imposter syndrome that hits home. Yael, however, sees Margot in a totally different light. To them, she is smart, talented, and capable. Yael doesn’t have the highest opinion of themselves either and feels unremarkable and uncomfortable with the privilege they were born into. What delighted me the most about their relationship was how they saw something precious in one another. Yael and Margot have a gentle encouraging friendship that becomes a tenderly dedicated love.
I think Homegrown Magic shines in its queer representation. Both authors have created a world where there may still be injustices but who people intrinsically are is not one of them. If you are a fan of cozy fantasy this will be up your alley. The steam in this romance is more of a simmer but no less butterfly-inducing. As a first foray into adult fiction for both Pacton and Podos this novel is an enchanting debut.