Rating: 4🌈

Whenever Arden Powell decides to dive back into the Flos Magicae universe they created, the results are always going to be narratively interesting, full of unexpected surprises, magical elements, and incredible moments of emotional growth. Whether the person’s thoughts are turned inward towards self examination, or outside towards their new surroundings and the possibilities that may arise from their new situation, we see clearly what they are thinking and feeling. And then it’s reality intruding, in a magical world, and hard choices to make.

The story and its elements has a natural flow to it, however fantastical the nature of the world and wild some of the aspects to the details.

In this case, Arden Powell’s magical world follows the story of the idle, wealthy young person, Flora Mulberry. Flora, who’d announced to the family at a very young age that they were a boy (it had been ignored), was fleeing London and a two romantic involvements.

This is the story of how Flora found he was or always had been Florian Mulberry on his magical journey to fulfillment and a new future. That Florian finds it stranded on a farm owned by an Irish potion witch in Hertfordshire is a fantastic element. Kells and her grumpy little dog, Grim,are my favorite characters of the story. Kells is beautifully straight forward, a great character who can be so easily visualized, with Grim by her side, working in her lab and potions or in her sheds in the gardens. She’s real and grounded in her natural world.

It’s Florian I often find myself having issues with. One of the reasons, many reasons, Florian is fleeing their old life is because Florian has become romantically involved their two best friends. One a woman and the other a man. The three of them are longtime friends and Florian has been, sort of, having romantic relations with both to the point that their families are expecting engagements. So Florian was supposed to choose and it would have hurt the other, not that that person would know. So, knowing that they’ve disappeared before for a time and no one, meaning family, has had cause to raise alarm, Florian flees.

Powell does a sensitive, and layered job of letting the reader understand the jumbled inner thoughts and emotions that the person who becomes Florian has before they embark upon their journey that sees them end up in a shed.

We absolutely get their state of mind, and the impetuous decisions that see them asking Kell to let them stay and learn about farming and hard manual labor. Something they’ve never done before. This physical and mental (and emotional) adjustment to their state of mind as well as the magical one to their body, is a terrific aspect of the book. Love it and the slowly growing relationship between Florian and Kells.

But what of those other friends? While all this is going on, those were abandoned to their fears and absolutely not knowing what happened to the person who, at the very least, was supposed to be their best friend . This is addressed in a few inadequate sentences towards the end and then they are dismissed.

It makes me think less of the character and the plot overall. Why have them there if this is how they are going to be treated? The friends and that history isn’t explained or fully understood. It’s a few sentences at the beginning. And the same at the end. And only serves to make Florian look a tad selfish.

So The Potion Gardener (Flos Magicae) by Arden Powell isn’t my favorite of the intriguing Flos Magicae series but it’s always an interesting and thoughtful read.

Include this on your TBR list.

Flos Magicae series and related universe books:

◦ The Bachelor’s Valet

◦ A Novel Arrangement

◦ A Thief and a Gentleman

◦ Of Socialites and Prizefights

✓ The Potion Gardener

✓ The Botanist’s Apprentice

✓ Winter’s Dawn

✓ The Solstice Cabin

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Potion…The Potion Gardener (Flos Magicae) – Kindle

Blurb

Desperate to escape a messy romance, Florian Mulberry flees London: tipsy, panicked, and without a plan. It’s while hiding in a rural garden shed that he meets Kells, a potion witch, who agrees to shelter him in exchange for manual labor until he gets his life together. Leaving his pampered London existence to work on a secluded cottage farm is a shock, but Florian throws himself into it with passionate determination.

And it’s not just gardening he’s passionate about. In no time, Florian falls head over heels for his skillful, hardworking mentor.

There’s just one problem. Florian is only disguised as a boy, and the enchantment hiding his real body is going to wear off. Florian’s main concern is how to explain himself when it happens. He’s definitely not a girl, but he’s not entirely a boy, either. With all the magic in Kells’ garden, there must be a way to achieve his ideal androgyny.

However he looks, Florian will have to face his past if he wants a future with Kells. Even if he avoids London forever, eventually his past is going to come looking for the girl he used to be.

The Potion Gardener is a low-stakes, low-angst cozy fantasy novella in the Flos Magicae series, a collection of queer romances set in an alternate 1920s world with magic. Featuring a trans, nonbinary lead, a butch cis lesbian love interest, a scruffy terrier with anxiety, and a great deal of gardening. All the Flos Magicae stories are standalones, and can be read in any order.