Work in progress · Currently drafting
Secret Witch Island · Book #1

Lily &
Rune

A Jamaican-born herbalist who built a quiet empire selling remedies, love potions, and scandal in the Louisiana bayou is forced to embrace her family's hidden magic when the grandmother who raised her returns with one impossible mission: save the town from turning misogyny into law before it's too late.

Lily, Jamaican-born herbalist and protagonist of Lily & Rune
The herbalist
A lush apothecary filled with herbs and remedies, representing Lily's empire in the Louisiana bayou
Her empire
Herbalist craft and remedy-making, evoking the bayou magic of Lily & Rune
The craft
Rune, the magnetic male lead of Lily & Rune
The man
The lush, mystical world of Secret Witch Island — Louisiana bayou magic and hidden power
The world

Magic, misogyny, and a very inconvenient love

Lily left Jamaica a decade ago and has built exactly the life she wanted — a little scandalous, deeply rooted, entirely hers. Her remedies move quietly through the bayou. Her love potions are the worst-kept secret in town and all the men of misogyny hate her for it. Her grandmother's revelation of their lineage should feel like a blessing.

It doesn't. It feels like unleashed rage.

Because she has to work with the most gorgeous, pompous town hero who gets all the grace she feels she deserves. With the town on the edge of legalizing movement against women, she'll take all the help willingly offered. Which he does, because he has secrets of his own he wants to uncover.

A baby witch with powers of poison and a quiet man that grows claws — the town isn't ready.

A world that smells like rain and old spells

  • Jamaican heritage & Louisiana bayou magic
  • Hidden matriarchal power structures
  • Small-town secrets with very big stakes
  • Botanical worldbuilding — every plant means something
  • Historical origin chapters woven through the present
  • Feminine rage dressed up as healing
  • A sassy, talking familiar stuffed in the body of a tiny pooch
  • A love story that shouldn't be possible but insists on being real
Lily, herbalist and protagonist of Lily & Rune — portrait
Lily
Herbalist · Empire builder · Reluctant witch

She sells herbal medicinal remedies and love potions and has told herself she doesn't care that most of the town holds her at arms length. And that she doesn't need love. She's about to be wrong on both counts.

Rune, magnetic male lead of Lily & Rune — portrait
Rune
The complication · The obsession

He didn't believe she had cause for her rage. He helped her for a look at the life he might have had. And now he's letting his inner demon out on her behalf, though he can't explain how her rage, and passion, transferred to him.

Currently in draft

Lily & Rune is Aleia's current work in progress. Full details — genre, word count, and pitch materials — coming as the manuscript develops.

more to come
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