Violet Thistlewaite was once, yes, a villain. OK, technically, she was just the assistant to a dangerous villain, Guy Shadowfade, but still. When she lived at his castle, she was known there as the Thornwitch and she used magic to grow dangerous poisonous plants. However, upon his death, she is ready to turn over a new leaf. She wants to be good and she hopes to do that in the town of Dragon’s Rest. She decides she wants to grow beautiful flowers to sell in a flower shop there and rents half of a greenhouse from twins, Prudence (Pru) and Nathaniel.

She works to become a new woman witch. She works on smiling and always being friendly to her customers. (This is made somewhat harder by her pet plant Bartel that tries to stab people.) She is excited to grow flowers and surround herself with blooms, but, wouldn’t you know it, her past rears its ugly head.

It turns out Violet isn’t the only one who’s come to Dragon’s Rest. Tristan Sedgwick, an old enemy of Violet’s, has arrived and is pushing her to work with him to find a treasure. When she refuses, he threatens to harm the village. She’s not exactly sure what treasure he is talking about, but she is sure she needs to find the treasure before he does in order to protect the village.

Nathaniel is a grumpy alchemist who has returned to Dragon’s Rest to help his sister with his family’s apothecary shop. The siblings are quite upset to find they inherited bank debts from their parents. Now Nathaniel is trying to find a way to make the shop profitable (which is why they were renting out half of the greenhouse to Violet.) He and Violet bicker with each other about clearing out clutter and sharing their space in the greenhouse. Nathaniel uses his half of the greenhouse to grow his herbs and plants. But their bickering quickly turns to attraction and they end up sharing a kiss.

The townspeople are friendly and quirky and I loved that they welcomed Violet into their found family. There are delightful characters like Pru, who plays the violin and shares stories about old legends, and Peri, a dog-like rock goblin who is obsessed with Pru and her music.

When Violet and Nathaniel realize a blight is threatening their village, they decide to work together to uncover the mystery of what evil magic is causing it and, of course, to find the treasure. As they work together, they grow closer and there is a steamy scene amid the potting soil.

There were a few times, towards the end, when I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening (with the magic), but I went along with it. I cheered for Violet as she tried so hard to become someone kind while at the same time worrying about what her new friends will think if they find out she is the Thornwitch. There are some surprising twists and turns as they try and save Dragon’s Rest.