Hearth of Thorns: A Small-Town Witchcraft Slow Burn Romance
She inherited a haunted magic shop and a grumpy botanist neighbor—and a centuries-old threat only their combined magic can stop.
When Isla Hart abandons her Chicago career to claim the whimsical, half-alive trinket shop her grandmother left her, she lands in Briarwood, a town where objects animate, plants defy botany, and everyone knew Vivian Hart as a witch.
Her chaotic magic immediately collides with Rowan Blackwood, the meticulous botanist next door, and the two prickly opposites are drawn into their grandmothers’ unfinished work: containing a buried magical threat called the Hollowing that is testing its bonds ahead of schedule.
As Isla learns transmutation from her grandmother’s grimoires and Rowan lowers his guarded defenses, their families’ complementary magics—and their feelings—prove to be the key to Briarwood’s survival.
Tropes: small-town paranormal romance, grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, slow burn, the girl next door / literal neighbors, inherited magic shop, prickly first meeting to lovers, fated/complementary magical bond, found family, chosen-one legacy, partners-in-business to partners-in-life
📖 Read the first chapter free
Story promises: Guaranteed HEA · third-limited POV · past tense (what this means)
Content notes: bereavement/grief; magical possession; inherited family sacrifice; fantasy peril; non-graphic magical violence (full index)
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