Brought to you by Penguin.

A whimsical queer romance about two mismatched roommates whose fragile - and definitely not romantic at all - balance is upended by an impending family wedding and an otherworldly danger in the nearby enchanted wood.

There are 100 things wrong with Meredith Schwarzwelder. At least.

#1 He has an absurd name.

#3 He's an irredeemable eccentric who flirts with everyone in his path.

#35 He cries at anything.

#50 He talks to mice, or imagines he does.

For David Carew, keeping track of these things is the only way he's managed to remain living with him for as long as he has.

But when magic starts to seep in from the Midnight Wood and a dark being emerges with a sinister plan involving Meredith, David decides that it’s time to leave the cottage, and his roommate, behind. Then Meredith’s brother gets engaged to the daughter of David’s boss, and he sees the perfect opportunity to advance his career and make his escape.

With wedding bells sounding and the dangers of the Midnight Wood encroaching, David realizes there’s much more hiding beneath the surface of his roommate’s seemingly carefree charm, and that perhaps his own exasperation carries more fondness than he’d like to admit.

There are 100 things wrong with Meredith Schwarzwelder. And David's starting to like them all...

'Absolutely irresistibly charming, with an achingly beautiful heart beneath all the charm!' Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

'The romantic, mist-cloaked fairytale of my dreams. I would take an arrow for David and Meredith' Sydney J. Shields, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Honey Witch

© Alexandra McCollum 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026