Homegrown Magic is a delightful and cozy fantasy that feels like a warm hug. The world is charming, with just the right amount of magic to make it enchanting without being overwhelming. The characters are lovable and relatable, and the pace is gentle, making it perfect for a relaxing read. There’s a quiet, peaceful atmosphere throughout the story, which really adds to its charm. It’s a book that’s easy to get lost in, offering a perfect escape with a touch of whimsy. If you’re looking for a light, feel-good fantasy, this one’s a great choice!

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me at 50% - I found the writing style, particularly the third person present tense across a dual POV that had little differentiation in voice, to be really tricky to connect with. I realised that while I loved the concept, I wasn't attached to anything that was happening, which is a real shame.

This cosy, queer fantasy romance was an absolute joy to read and felt like a warm hug in a book form. The dual POV between Margot, a plant witch running her grandma's greenhouse, and Yael, a runaway heir seeking freedom, creates a delightful blend of magic, self discovery and slow burn romance. The world building is rich and immersive, with enchanting details that make the setting feel alive and welcoming. What stood out is the heart at the center of the story. The themes of found family, personal growth and the courage to forge your own path resonate deeply. The chemistry between Margot and Yael is palpable and their journey from childhood friends to something more is both tender and satisfying.

This was a lovely story featuring a queer friends to lovers romance, and one of the main characters was non-binary. I loved how casually this was treated in the book, and the magic system was really interesting. The characters were really compelling and I found this to be such a cosy read! I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested fans of cosy fantasy.

This was very cute and cosy, but I struggled to stay invested. The characters were really lacking for me, I just couldn't connect to them - and while I'm not Jewish so I can't speak on this, I have seen reviews discussing antisemitism within this story, which is definitely something to bear in mind before you go into this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

This book was interesting enough to hold my attention while I was reading but I didn’t immediately want to keep picking it up!

Overall it was a good read

I fell in love with the gorgeous cover and then I fell in love with the plot.
It's a bit slow burning at the beginning but it grew on me i loved it
Entertaining, cute
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Cosy and comforting, Homegrown Magic is a fantastic tale about two friends falling in love and dealing with issues that are so close to reality that anyone who loves romance can find something to love. A wonderfully sapphic book.

The non-binary protagonist, Yael, is wonderful, but it's Margot I kept being drawn to the most. Her struggle to find a solution to the threat of losing not just her home but the homes of her surrounding community is something I've never read before, not like this. I love that the fight for Bloomfield isn't straightforward either; in the end, the solution combines Yael and Margot's respective talents to find a new way forward.

Can't wait for the sequel!

Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pacton and Rebecca Podos is a charming cozy fantasy featuring flora, family drama, and a queer friends to lovers romance.

Frustrated by the stifling expectations of their powerful and wealthy family, Yael Claunek impulsively flees their university graduation party on a stolen mechanical horse. Stopping to rest at a tavern in the tiny village of Bloomfield, Yael is both surprised and delighted to realise their drinking companion is a childhood friend, Margot Greenwillow.

It’s been years since Margot last saw the object of her teenage crush, her family’s exile from Ashaway society after her parents’ reversal of fortune ensuring little time for anything other than the exhausting tasks of preserving the business, and community, she inherited from her grandmother. Yael’s unexpected appearance is a shock, but she quickly realises they may be exactly who she needs, both professionally and personally, if she is to keep all she is on the verge of losing.

With the narrative of Homegrown Magic alternating between the perspectives of Yael and Margot, the story unfolds at a steady pace as Yael finds refuge with Margot and earns their keep by becoming her assistant at Greenwillow Greenhouses. Margot appreciates the help and the company, while Yael revels in the independence, but Yael can’t hide from his family forever, and with Margot’s deadline almost up, time is running out for both of them.

I enjoyed Margot and Yael’s romance. Their attraction to one another is clear from the start, and their flirting is charming. In the world the authors have created, gender and sexual preference seems fluid by default. We might label Yael as nonbinary, and Margot as bisexual, but the terms are superfluous among this society who use non gendered language, and no one seems bothered by the ambiguity. There are a few spicy scenes between Yael and Margo as their relationship progresses but the authors are quite coy about revealing anything that may label Yael as either gender.

I found the magic system of the novel to be interesting, with some unique elements. Some folk are in possession of natural, somewhat specialised, magical abilities of various strength, like Margot who has an affinity for flora, while others bargain for the patronage of deities, or devils, who channel magic to them in return. There are those among the latter, like Yael’s mother, that resent their dependence on the whims of their patron, and it’s this desire that underpins the plot.

The conflict in Homegrown Magic is mild, though the stakes are quite high. Eventually Margot has to confess the truth of the link between her family’s exile and the Claunek’s to Yael, which creates complications with their relationship. I was sympathetic to both their dilemma’s, though more so with Margot. Family dysfunction, the burden of legacy, grief, and greed, are also themes that contribute to the tension in the story.

I love that there is an epilogue so that there is a satisfying conclusion for the protagonists, however there are threads that suggest that the authors could move onto feature a different relationship in the same world. With its entertaining blend of cozy fantasy and a touch of spice in the romance, Homegrown Magic is a lovely read, which could be the beginning of a flourishing series.

A wonderful heart warming cosy fantasy that is the perfect pick me up for those darker days. Characters you will love are at the heart of this beautiful story.

These are very endearing characters in a slow moving plot that is very cozy. There isn’t much fantasy world building and the plot is very focused on the two characters making it read much like a romance. It does seem like a queer normative society. The romance is very sweet and there are some spicy scenes.

In a desperate bid to embrace freedom while they still can, Yael flees their upper echelon family and stumbles upon an old friend, now the head of her family's greenhouses. It feels like the right choice to stay and learn to be useful, learn something that their family has never touched. And the fact that Margot's still as cute as they remember is really just a bonus. But Margot has ideas of her own. Having leverage over Yael's family might just help her win back her fortune, even if it will break her heart to do it. But it would definitely be worth it, right?

'Homegrown Magic' is a cozy fantasy about finding your roots and balancing the expectations of others with your own morals. Flirtatious Yael and anxious Margot are both decently likable characters, and the worldbuilding is interesting, leaning on political intrigue and various forms of magic. If you're familiar with TTRPGs, you'll find a few jokes and references in this one, as well. (Guess their classes, folks.)

Despite this, however, I felt the pacing didn't always work for me. Some of the themes in this book were slightly heavier than for the average cozy fantasy, but didn't always feel as well explored as they perhaps could or should have been, even in a cozy, cottage-core arena.

I enjoyed this a lot and it was certainly a good story with a lot of good world building. It didn’t hit the cosy vibes as much as other cosy fantasy have, which I think was partly due to the amount of depression surrounding both Margot and Yael in the first few chapters, but it made me want to run away to a greenhouse to grow strawberries, so I think it had the desired effect.

I enjoyed the queer representation in this book and I’m really glad that queer themes are so common in the cosy fantasy genre. I loved how Yael was so comfortable with who they were and that it seemed being non-binary was so normalised in this world. It’s really nice, with the way things are at the moment, to lose myself in a fantasy world where queer people just are and no one complains.

Overall, though as cosy as the greenhouses were, the background with Yael’s family controlling everything and the rampant capitalism kind of threw off the vibe a bit. It is a cosy fantasy book, but it’s also got some very bleak moments. I think I would have enjoyed it more without them, but at the same time they added a lot to the story and it would have been a very different novel without them. So if you’re reading this for the cosy vibes, just be warned there’s that in there too.

I would love to live in a town like Greenfield though. It sounds like the ultimate dream.

This was so so so GOOD!! I absolutely adore Romantasy in general, but this is my favourite this year! It was utterly addictive, sweet and perfectly paced. I adored the characters, and had so much fun getting to know them! If you enjoyed the Romantasy, then this absolutely must be on your TBR! Welcome to my mew Romantasy obsession of ‘25!!

This was a cute cosy fantasy,Margot was such an adorable character and I could have followed her around forever!

I was so excited for this book and ended up being so disappointed.

First, the antisemitism in this book was not it. One of the main characters is named Yael Clauneck, and they're from the evil banking family that secretly run the world. Honestly I'm not sure how this got published.

Aside from that, the rest of the book was very mid. The characters were bland and forgettable, there was no actual plot, the writing was clunky (a lot of telling and not showing) and it included a very ridiculous third act break up that made me so mad I almost rage quit.

No thanks.

Thank you so much to the publisher & NetGalley for my ARC!

I was really looking forward to reading this as I love the sound of a queer cottagecore fantasy but unfortunately this just wasn’t for me. I found it quite hard to get into the story and I struggled with getting through it but I did like the queer normative world and the language fitting non-binary terms was really clever!

I absolutely loved this queer, cosy, magical read! I don't know enough about fantasy to categorise but I'd say this was light fantasy which is perfect for me as it makes it nice and easy to follow, there's not loads of lore I need to keep track of to work out what's going on. Just a new map and some magic, a coupe of demons and some creatures mentioned. I loved the world it's set in, with a cute map, and not too many places involved in the story so it was easy to keep track of between the City of Ashaway and the lovely little village of Bloomfield which I would LOVE to visit!
Yael and Margot were such excellent characters. I loved their childhood friends-to-lovers romance as well as their own individual but interlinked storylines. I loved seeing Yael trying to escape the clutches of their awful family and enjoy a life they actually want for themself. And Margot had seemingly the perfect cosy life as a plant witch living in a beautiful cottage in a charming little village tending to her many plants and greenhouses. But she has troubles too (that I don't think are mentioned in the blurb so I won't spoil) and it's sad to see her trying to manage all of that on top of the day-to-day running of the whole gardening business. I wasn't sure throughout how the ending was going to go as there was no obvious outcome, it could have gone many different ways. Some aspects I wasn't surprised by but I still somehow was in little ways, and some I wasn't expecting at all, but it was perfect!
I've never played D&D myself but my husband has and they really seemed like D&D characters, I can so imagine someone playing as a little plant witch Margot. The writing was also excellent. I think the characters actually are Jamie and Becca's D&D characters so I don't know whether they each wrote their own character's chapters or whether they mix-and-matched but the writing flowed really well, you couldn't tell it was written by two different people. It was excellently done, I loved it so much and can't wait for book 2!

A wholesome story of women loving women. As always Jamie Paxton (and Rebecca Podos) writing style is amazing and makes you feel so immersed!

I love a cosy, queer fantasy tale as much as the next person, but this was not the one for me.

The cottage-core vibes were definitely there, but that was… basically all that was there. It was like a Pinterest board in book form. The aesthetics (as much as you can have aesthetics in a written-word format) were there, and the atmosphere, but not much else. The plot was flimsy at best, with a romance that was enjoyable but a bit too formulaic.

I’m not of the opinion that trope-based marketing is an inherently bad thing, but looking back at the marketing having read the book, it feels like the whole book was written to tick boxes on a trope bingo board. It’s cottage-core! It’s cosy fantasy! It’s found family! It’s friends to lovers! But beyond those descriptions there isn’t much else. It was hard to get really invested when it often felt very superficial.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, and there were elements that I did enjoy, but the book as a whole was a disappointment for me.

I received a free copy for an honest review.