Pacton and Podos immediately swept me away into Yael and Margot’s world. Cozy and whimsical tied together with some undeniable tension. Bloomfield feels like the place we all want to escape to. Despite all the fun, I did feel some points were just not well explained (e.g. the ties between families). Overall, a fun and mystical time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for- Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a sweet cozy little romantasy this was! The universe the authors built is rich and cozy and comforting. The rules of magic are pretty well structured and followed. The characters are lovable and show fabulous growth over the course of the book. My only real critique would be that somehow the spicy scenes were really explicit but also somehow didn’t feel quite fully fleshed out? Otherwise the book was delightful and I really enjoyed curling up with it (and a mug of tea of course). Now I think I need to make some scones with strawberry jam…

Actual Rating 2.5

Both Yael and Margot were well written characters. It did feel like Margot had more depth/development overall which led to a bit of an unbalanced feeling, but nothing major. But at the same time, Margot definitely cause most of the issues that were included to build tension and add stakes, so it was a little difficult not to be frustrated with her for most of the book. The remainder of the characters had zero development or characterization, though.

I wanted more from the fantasy aspects of this work. There were some fun details included, but I was hoping for more inclusion of the magic. Same with the worldbuilding. It wasn't really included in any meaningful way, aside from details that were absolutely necessary to support the plot. Same with the secondary/tertiary characters, which made the whole setting/world feel pretty flat.

This is certainly more of a romance read than a fantasy read. If you like cozy light romances with fantasy elements, then you'll likely enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This was such a sweet and cozy little book. Childhood friends to lovers is either hit or miss and I was happy that this one was interesting. I did have a few questions. Some plot points just fell off out of nowhere. Did Margot fix her parents? They kind of seemed to be in the background even though their story was important to the plot. Did Margot’s friend and Yael’s cousin ever become something? What was the point of having them together? This is the type of book that makes me wanna run off and live in a cottage in the woods, however. I felt all the best vibes while reading this. I also appreciated the queernormative world. Yael seemed to have identified as nonbinary since they were a child and everyone seemed open to all relationships. If you want a good vibes and low stakes read I recommend this highly!

A cozy, but cute fantasy that brings readers into a universe filled with lovers, gardens, magic, and rivalry. Perfect for a cozy day.

Childhood best friends separated by time and status, Yael and Margot, remeet after Yael runs away from their predetermined future. Margot, a plant witch, indebted due to her parents’ management of her grandmother’s fortune, spends all day in her greenhouses upkeeping the family business and experimenting with potions to free herself from the chains of the Claunecks. One day, an old friend and a child of the Claunecks stumbles into the village pub, and she takes them under her wing. A Clauneck at every turn, will she be able to save herself and the village and find everything that she ever wanted?

This was definitely a cozy romance. From the village to the greenhouses and a world of magic with fantastical creatures mixed with technology, the plot is very low-stakes and runs mostly off of pure comfort. If I could be anything, I definitely would be a plant witch. Having the ability to help make things grow and help others would be hard but rewarding work. It’s no wonder that Yael was so enamored with Margot. I do wish we got to see more of Yael and Margot working together at the beginning, but the author flashforward the story a few months immediately after the first day of work. I feel a lot of bonding and beginning romance developed during that time that we didn’t get to see. Also, any trials and tribulations of a city dweller getting down and dirty with manual labor for the first time in their life is completely missing from the plot.

While a big part of the plot, I wish the magic system was slightly more developed. The basics are there and have some pretty unique concepts with patrons providing magic as very few people are natural magic users with their own magic source. We see a few instances where Margot uses her plant magic, but overall, those are few and far between, and we don’t see anyone else using magic. A main plot point is Margot trying to make a potion to save her village, but we don’t spend any time with her trying to make any potions except one or two times. The focus in this book was definitely more on the romance, but I think the magic could have been played up to move the romance along.

If you are looking for a cozy book to read during the fall, this one could definitely fulfill that need.

#netgalley #homegrownmagic #randomhouse

I enjoyed this so much! It's fun and swoony and cozy and I really enjoyed the setting/worldbuilding. I feel like cozy fantasy has to walk the line when it comes to the conflict- too intense and it loses the cozy vibe, not enough and it's just boring- and I think this did that perfectly. And the resolution was perfect! I also can't not mentiont Yael and Margot because they were just so much fun to read.

I'm really hoping that the next book (the title is at the back promising a preview in finished versions!) is about my babes who were clearly vibing in this book. (If you read it, you'll know who I'm talking about.)

This is definitely a cute, cottagecore, sapphic romance. It feels very slice of life so for me the writing and story feels much more slow-paced than I am used it. Unfortunately, due to that nature, there were many moments in the book where it gave me a bore and I did not want to finish it. I would recommend this book to people if they prefer the cozy genre.

Homegrown Magic kept it cute and cozy! I liked this story more than I thought that I would. The author did a great job from the onset of the story establishing the connection between Yael and Margot. In this story, their attraction made sense because of their history, so it felt like an inst-love situation, but it wasn't because of their mutual past. The chemistry between them was well-developed from the beginning and kept a good pace throughout the story. Because this story has a character leaving the expectations of how their life should be lived in pursuit of what makes them the happiest, it reminded me somewhat of the book Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, so anyone who loved that book will probably enjoy this book too.

The novel is set in a world where magic runs in families, and its influence is seen in everyday life. The protagonist, a young girl, has grown up in a family where magic is a source of pride, but also a heavy responsibility. As she faces the challenges of fitting into her family’s magical legacy, she must also figure out who she truly is and where she belongs in a world filled with expectations.

One of the book’s strengths is how it handles the theme of family dynamics. The protagonist’s relationship with her family is both loving and complex, and the authors capture the struggles of balancing familial expectations with the desire to forge one’s own path. This is especially powerful for middle-grade readers, who may find themselves grappling with similar issues of identity and belonging.

The magical system is another standout feature of Homegrown Magic. It’s woven into the characters’ lives in a way that feels grounded and connected to the themes of the story. The magic feels organic, deeply tied to nature and family heritage, which makes it an integral part of the characters’ identities and struggles.

Pacing in Homegrown Magic is well-balanced, as the plot develops alongside the protagonist’s personal journey. There are plenty of moments of wonder and discovery, but there’s also space for quieter, introspective scenes that allow readers to connect with the characters on a deeper level.
Homegrown Magic is a wonderful and thoughtful middle-grade read that will appeal to fans of magical realism and stories about family and growing up. It combines a magical world with relatable emotional depth, making it an enchanting and meaningful read for young readers, as well as older readers who appreciate stories about personal growth, relationships, and the power of magic in everyday life.

Homegrown Magic is a cute, cozy romance that takes place in a fantasy world — a world inspired by D&D. Margot possesses nature magic and works in a greenhouse, taking over her grandmother’s business. (She also makes magic strawberry jam!) Yael grew up in a wealthy family, with strict parents who want them to take a company job. In the town of Bloomfield, Yael and Margot become reacquainted friends to lovers, and unravel a mystery of grudges and debts between their families.

This is a very cute, lighthearted romance and I found myself enjoying their flirty dialogue. The authors do a great job setting the scene and atmosphere in the town of Bloomfield. Warning there are a few smut scenes in the book!

I think the only issue I had was that the pacing was a bit slow sometimes. I also didn’t care much about Margot’s parents or the folk living in Bloomfield. Story-wise, it’s predictable for the most part, but I think the enjoyability is mostly from the vibes and main character interactions.

Thank you to NetGalley and the authors for allowing me an advanced reader copy!

I loooved this book! I’m not sure why I took me longer than usual to read, but whatever it was, it was not the books fault. This was another cozy read of mine, and the vibes were immaculate. Cozy, whimsical, strawberry jelly and cats, it was such a good read. It feels like a combination of The Spellshop and of Legends and Lattes. The characters were believable and relatable, and I WILL be getting a physical copy when it’s available!

What a delightful fantasy full of queer joy! Loved all the plants and strawberries and growth happening!

I really wanted to enjoy this book based on the premise alone, but this writing made it very hard to do so.

For starters, the character's name does not need to appear as a chapter header if the book is written in the third person. It is completely unnecessary, and it makes me think the authors think I'm an idiot for not understanding whose pov it is.

These authors do not know how to properly allocate page space. The first kiss between the main couple was given just a few lines and was interrupted by a chapter break. There were also no details. They kissed, and that was that. The romance in general was relegated as a subplot despite it being the supposed main plot. I was not rooting for the main characters to end up together purely because they had so few scenes together.

Alternatively, the description for a single dress was given a whole paragraph. Twice as much page space was dedicated to a dress rather than the main couple's first kiss. There were so many other unnecessarily long descriptions for tiny things; it was infuriating. I do not want multiple paragraphs detailing the decoration of a market stall, ESPECIALLY when actually important things are skipped over. There were so many scenes I would have loved to see that I did not because the authors had to spend time listing potion ingredients and their purposes rather than showing the main characters becoming friends and coworkers after their first meeting in a decade. Absolutely ridiculous.

The epilogue was cute, but it was very rushed. There were multiple plot points resolved in the epilogue, and by resolved, I mean they were summarized. The resolution of multiple plot points were given less time than the side characters' romantic exploits.

Overall, this is a cute, cottagecore romance, but it was an absolute slog to get through thanks to an inability to pace a plot or dedicate appropriate page space to plot points and descriptions.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was an interesting read. It claims to be a YA read, but the two MCs were 23 and 24 years old. There were also plot holes that I thought would have been explained, but they weren't.

Margot is a plant witch, she was born with magic. When her parents irresponsibly blew through her grandmother's fortune, they made a deal with the rich Clauneck family that indebted Margot to them without her knowledge. Now she needs to develop the one remedy that her grandmother started before she died to save her cottage, her plants, and the town.

Yael Clauneck is the heir to the banking family, one born without magic. They've lived a charmed, spoiled life never worrying about the consequences. But after they graduate school, their reality is very clear. Working in a job they will forever hate. During the party, they take off on a horse for an adventure anywhere but home. They never expected to end up in the small town of their old childhood best friend.

Margot doesn't tell Yael that her parents bound her to his family right away. And soon the friends start to develop feelings for each other. But reality arrives four months later in the mail from his family.

When they return to the city, what will Yael do? Go back and act like a Clauneck or try to help break Margot from his family's clutches for good?

*I received a complimentary copy of this ARC via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Homegrown Magic is a cozy, small-town romance with the right touch of magic. This book follows Flora, a kitchen witch trying to save her family's struggling café, and Eli, a journalist who falls into her world while chasing a story. Their chemistry is sweet, the setting is warm and inviting, and the magic adds a fun, whimsical layer without overpowering the romance. It’s a feel-good read perfect for anyone who loves charming love stories, found family, and a bit of everyday enchantment. I really enjoyed this book and think everyone should pick it up!

Homegrown Magic is every bit as sweet and cosy as the cover implies – I’d actually rank it above most of the cosy fantasy I’ve tried in a lot of ways. It’s soft, and sugary, and pretty delightful, and wonderfully easy to read.

That’s probably the book’s best quality: how fluffy it is for the brain. When I wasn’t up to handling anything complicated, I could pick up Homegrown Magic – and still enjoy myself. The prose is a level or two above what I’m used to from cosy fantasy; a little more descriptive, a little less simplistic, and I thought it elevated the book nicely. The worldbuilding reminded me a bit of Spellshop, not because the settings are similar (they’re not) but in aesthetic and vibe: pixies being chased by swallows, rainbow bees, enchanted pocket mirrors for talking to friends long-distance. It’s all very candy-flossy, but with enough depth to stop it from hurting your teeth: details like the gender-neutral term of address ‘sir’am’ delighted me, but also made the setting feel simultaneously more real and more unique, like a place with its own culture and history – and we have the Clauneks and their cut-throat business empire, and enough fantasy capitalism, to make it clear that not everything is pastel-perfect.

The biggest fly in the ointment is poor Margot’s business worries. Her parents left her with a ton of debts, one of which means that if she can’t create an impossible potion by year’s end, the village-slash-commune created by her grandmother will be repossessed. This is, of course, something Margot has (inexplicably) kept to herself, rather than inform the villagers of the threat to their homes and give them the opportunity to help, and the fear and worry and dread form a strong undercurrent throughout most of the book. It doesn’t stop Homegrown Magic from being wonderful wish-fulfilment, but it does make it feel a bit more relatable, a bit less fairy-tale-perfect – and I thought that was a good thing! It adds a dash of – realism doesn’t seem like the right word? – that I haven’t seen in anything cosy before.

Yael is a cinnamon roll who doesn’t know what to do with themself, and through pure luck ends up on Margot’s doorstep, which turns out to be the best thing for them. Learning to be less of a brat, and how to use their connections to benefit others, allowed them a fair bit of growth, but they did still feel a little one-note to me: pure sunshine, most of the time, which fit the book’s vibe but did make them feel a bit less developed. That being said, I’m not sure that wasn’t on purpose: Yael runs away from their family because they don’t know who the hell they are underneath the role of heir, and their arc in Homegrown Magic is as much about figuring that out as it is anything else. So their feeling like an under-developed person may have been on purpose – they definitely felt more fleshed-out by the end of the book.

I liked the romance between Margot and Yale, and I appreciated that it took more than a week for the characters to get together – the story takes place over at least six months, and although that does necessitate a few time-skips, I didn’t find them jarring (high praise, given how much I typically hate time-skips!) The romance actually stood out a bit for me, because Homegrown Magic is the first cosy fantasy I’ve come across that isn’t fade-to-black: the sex scenes are on-page and explicit, and Margot and Yael are both allowed to be sexual beings who feel desire and enjoy having sex. It’s refreshing! (Although I remain surprised and kind of appalled that they repeatedly ruin incredibly expensive-and-beautiful dresses in the process!)

Unfortunately, Pacton and Podos utilise some of my most-hated romance tropes towards the climax of the story – namely View Spoiler » – which were not just stupid and unpleasant to read, but were also wildly unnecessary (things were already complicated and tragic enough, the extra drama added nothing). I’m also not really a fan of keeping dumb secrets, and eventually Margot’s refusal to explain about the debts and mortgages started to annoy me. View Spoiler » Pretty much the entire last quarter (or maybe fifth?) of the book drove me up the wall – I almost DNFed, but was genuinely curious about how The Debts and Family Responsibilities (Margot and Yael’s issues, respectively) were going to be resolved, and knew I could finish the rest in about an hour.

Well, it was a wasted hour: the resolution was rushed, easy, and all-too-simple for me. I was hoping for something clever, or for Margot and Yael to work out a brilliant compromise, or something; but no, it was practically hand-waved – and down to luck, basically, at that. It was such a let-down!

The sub-plots of the potion Margot was trying to create, and Yael’s relationship to the Claunek’s source of magic, also ended up being really underwhelming: I genuinely don’t know why we had either one, because they didn’t end up adding anything to the story. But mostly, it was the terrible romance tropes that ruined Homegrown Magic for me – all that nonsense felt incredibly out of character, wasn’t necessary, and was just lazy writing. Up until that, it was almost a five-star read, but wow did that leave a bad taste in my mouth. And then the extremely lame ending, like a souffle that failed to rise. Because someone put in MAYONNAISE instead of egg whites…!

Which leaves me…really unsure as to whether or not to recommend this. Or who to recommend it to. Most of the book was wonderful! I really, REALLY liked it! But the last chunk was a kick in the teeth, and why would you want to read that kind of disappointment?

If you don’t mind completely manufactured relationship drama, and convenient magic-wand endings, then Homegrown Magic is genuinely lovely! But if you do mind those things, then this is probably not the book for you.

The cover is cute, and I love the premise, but I can't read third person present tense. That POV just doesn't agree with my brain, so I DNF at 2%.

I won't be leaving reviews on Goodreads or Amazon for this book since I DNF so quickly.

A Whimsical story full of whimsy, laughter, and fun.

I thought it was a sweet friends to lovers, and some ways second chance romance. The detail into the world was so specific, it was as if I was there in the story.

It’s the Queer cozy fantasy you’ve been waiting for even if you didn’t know that you needed it.

DNF @ 10%

I tried starting this book three times and failed three times. I think the present tense really threw me off, which is definitely a me problem rather than a book problem. That, coupled with trying to wrap my head around the world building was just not doing me any favors, so unfortunately this became a DNF.

I think this will really appeal to a lot of people -- cozy fantasy is really popular right now, and this book promises all the right vibes. I love the queer-normative society, and think others will too.