Homegrown Magic

Brought to you by Penguin.

A delightful queer cottagecore romantasy full of friends-to-lovers romance, found family, rival family drama, and cozy garden magic.

Yael Clauneck might be an indifferent warlock, but they are also the only scion of an obscenely wealthy banking family with its fingers in every pie in the realm. On the precipice of a predetermined life, a loveless political marriage, and eventually, children who’ll be raised exactly as they were, they flee during their own graduation party, in search of the chance to feel like life can still be a grand adventure.

Margot Greenwillow—talented plant witch, tea lover, and stressed greenhouse owner—has never felt further from adventure in her life. After her grandmother died and her parents lost the family fortune, she’s been on her own, desperately trying to keep what remains of the family business afloat. So when her childhood friend—and former crush—gallops back into her life, she’s shocked, to say the least. But when Yael confesses they’ve fled home with no possessions and no plan, Margot, lonely and in need of help, offers Yael a job in the greenhouses. Yael is delighted to accept.

They lay low for a while, harvesting strawberries for heartbreak jam, and flirting with Margot while they figure out what to do next. What Yael doesn't know is that Margot’s been forming a plan of her own - reforge alliances, entice investors, and take back everything that was stolen from her own family by the Clauneck Company.

But plans are notoriously unreliable things, unlikely to survive a swiftly-blooming mutual attraction, not to mention the machinations of a set of parents determined to get their heir back—no matter the cost.

© Jamie Pacton and Rebecca Podos 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025