⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars for A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

This story is cozy magic at its finest—with a touch of emotional healing, a dose of reluctant romance, and a delightful talking fox.

Let’s start with the heart of the book: the found family element absolutely shone. It’s tender, it’s messy, it’s weird in the best ways, and it reminded me how powerful it is to be loved for exactly who you are—magic or not. Sera’s relationship with her resurrected Aunt Jasmine, her semi-sinister fox sidekick, and the quirky guests at the inn made the story feel warm and deeply human, even in its most magical moments.

The magic system was another high point—intuitive and accessible, it blended seamlessly into the world Mandanna created without requiring tons of explanation. It made the idea of lost magic and ancient spellbooks feel real and grounded, like something you might stumble across in a dusty attic on a rainy day.

That said, the pacing did slow things down more than I’d like. The writing is rich and full of detail, but at times it bordered on dense, and I found myself struggling to stay engaged through the middle chapters. There’s a lot of introspection and world-building, which is lovely, but it does take its time getting where it’s going.

Still, Sera is a compelling protagonist—grumpy, funny, and quietly yearning—and I really enjoyed watching her slowly let people in. And Luke? The emotionally frozen historian with a complicated past and a soft spot for Sera? Yes, please.

In the end, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a gentle, magical hug of a book. It asks what it means to start over and reminds us that even when things don’t go according to plan, we might still end up exactly where we’re meant to be.

Thank you SO so much to Berkley Publishing Group/Berkley Romance for the free eARC!

Ahhhh! This book! It's giving ALL of the feels! I loved it so so much.

This book is a magical, light-hearted tale about a whimsical, mischevious, magical inn and its cast of very irregular residents, in addition to Sera's main tale about restoring the magic she lost. It's a story about inclusion, personal growth, acceptance, found family, and has SO many reps (immigrant, LGBTQIA+, physical disability, mental health, mental disability, etc) that make it all the more touching. The entire cast of characters was delightful, from Clemmie who "aspires to villainy", to the multiple grandmotherly figures in Verity, Jasmine, and Matilda, and even Posy with her stubbornly carefree personality. There's a lot of wonderful banter between all of the characters, not just Sera and Luke (our main characters), and the family dynamic between them all was so heartwarming to read.

The story mainly focuses on Sera's journey to restore her magic, with the romance aspect set as a lovely side-plot almost. There's slow burn and tension, but its on the lighter side of what I was expecting and what I recall Secret Society containing. The main story is straight forward for the most part, with bits and pieces of clues for how one of the issues resolves scattered throughout, and the way that Sangu wrote the ending was very clever, pulling the reader back from Sera and Luke and setting the scene from the side character's perspectives instead, giving us a looking-in-from-the-outside view that was refreshing while not giving everything away and adding to the suspense of the final plot resolution.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and cannot wait for everyone else to be able to read it as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC. I absolutely adored this story. The story is centered around Sera, who was gifted with an abundance of magic. As the story evolves and you are introduced to a whole cast of characters, and when I say characters, I mean quirky, fun, and lovable characters. There is even a once dead rooster and a talking fox. These side characters, along with the main characters, Sera and Luke, all bring the story to life. Overall it's a story of Found Family, one of my favorite book tropes, add in magic and quirky characters and this became a 5 star read for me. Loved the vibes of the book! If you are looking for a fun read that will make you laugh, this is it!

Cozy fantasy isn’t usually my thing (I typically prefer a little stabbing and some morally gray chaos with my magic), but A WITCH’S GUIDE TO MAGICAL INNKEEPING was such a charming, heartwarming read. It’s a beautiful story of found family, quiet magic, and a hint of romance. I especially appreciated the diverse representation, including neurodivergent kiddos.

If you enjoyed THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES by Sangu Mandanna, this one will be right up your alley. I can see it being a cozy favorite this fall!

WHAT YOU’LL FIND:
🏠 Found family
🪄 Magical house
📚 Cozy fantasy vibes
🧒 Adorable kids
🐓 Zombie rooster
🦊 Talking fox

I have been EAGERLY awaiting this release after loving her previous book The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. This was such a delightful read. I loved the entire cast of characters, the love interest was great, and I actually didn’t hate the third act break up! I will definitely be buying a physical copy when it comes out.

4.5 stars, rounded up. The reason I took off half a star is a spoiler at the end of the novel 🤫

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley!

Just as delightful as the first. I love anything witchy but am not one for cozy fantasy, except for the delightful books of Sangu Mandanna. I love my cozy fantasy to be magical realism, aka based in the real world with magic in it, and this ticks all my boxes. Perfect read for any time of the year.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Love a cozy, whimsical witchlit romance. Humorous and comforting.

I knew I would love it before I even started. A heartwarming, whimsical, ridiculous, cozy, love-story set at a magical (with an attitude) inn? Yes! The surprisingly delightful ensemble of diverse and funny side-characters made it that much more wonderful.

Sera, our main witch, lost her super powerful magic 15 years ago courtesy of saving her favorite great-aunt's life, and she has been pining away for the magic back every sense, feeling like she is less-than and not whole. But, what if she has been whole from the start and just had to look at magic a different way? Instead of outright power, her magic can be found in her zaney family and the overwhelming love she feels for them and they for her. Throw in a grump bookish male lead, Luke, and now you have all the magic you would ever need.

I very much enjoyed this story.
4 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This follow up to Secret Society was such a cozy and perfect read! I loved the characters, the setting, and I kinda am obsessed with the idea of having a zombie chicken.

This has all the makings of a cute and cozy read: found family, unexpected (to them at least) love, healing, and self-discovery. What impressed me most was how naturally it weaves in diverse representation and thoughtful conversations about societal issues without ever feeling heavy handed.

The characters are delightfully wacky and lovable, even if a little archetypal at times. Honestly, that’s part of the charm. Cozy fantasy often lives in those familiar, comforting shapes, and this book knows exactly what it’s doing.

This was such a delightful and fun cozy fantasy, with a bit of romance thrown in. It was like a warm hug reading this book. I just adored the characters and all of their quirks and the inn was so magical and fun. This will be a book I can read again and find new things to love about it.

Sera is a great main character. She is curmudgeonly and angry and afraid to let others in. But her love for the inn and for the other people who live there is wonderful. I loved her relationship with all of them. Her grief at the loss of her magic was palpable, and made me feel for her. Her slow to blossom love for Luke was also wonderful to watch, and I really appreciated that we got to see Luke’s view point as well. Luke is also very closed off from people. His relationship with his sister was marvelous though and you could tell through that how much he gives his heart to those he loves. It took him awhile to acknowledge his feelings for Sera but once he does he gives his love freely and fully.

The found family trope is strong in this story. Two of the people, Jasmine and Theo are related to Sera, but the others found their way to inn and decided to stay. I loved them all and how they protected each other and loved each other. The inn was a supporting character in the story that at time stole the show. I loved how it only showed itself to those in need, not to those who wished harm to the people who lived there, or even those people that the inn deemed not worthy. There are other themes woven throughout the story, how racist the guild is, how power corrupts if not kept in check, and grief. These are pretty powerful themes for such a cozy fantasy and the author did a marvelous job exploring them.

The overall plot of the story is well done. Sera is finally able to get ahold of the spell that will restore her magic, she just needs to find the ingredients for it. I loved how the magic system worked in this story. There was one thing in the story that I didn’t like and that was the final choice Sera made about her magic. I understand why she did it, but I think another choice could have been made. This didn’t ruin the story for me, but it made the ending a bittersweet.

Overall if you are a fan of this author’s work, this is a must read. If you haven’t read any of her books you can’t go wrong with starting with this one. This a great cozy fantasy with a great cast of characters and a lovely romance.

I loved how hilarious this book was but also just so tender. I loved the family they found in each other and the hot grumpy historian/librarian? (I’m just a girl after all 🤣) but watching Sera heal and grow and see all that she’s made of and how loved she is was just so beautiful to see. She was hilarious and so nurturing and ugh I just loved all of them I wish I could move in. The most perfect book.

The spell to make this book: one quirky inn, a few handfuls of eccentric friends, one troublemaking fox, one dashing man from the past, one zombie chicken, and a big pot of boozy tea. This book is adorable and cozy and feels like a warm hug. Sangu Mandanna has mastered the art of bringing unlikely characters together and melding them into beautiful friendships. The romance is of course, always delectable and fun.

I do feel like there were a few parts of the story I wanted more information about, mainly in regards to the character Clemmie. Otherwise I am very content with this book and look forward to more witchy stories from Sangu!

Read This Book If…you loved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

Genre: cozy fantasy with romance
Spice Level: 2/5🌶, steamy, fade to black
Setting: England
POV: dual, 3rd person, past tense
Tropes: found family, single guardian, grumpy/grumpier

My Thoughts:
This book felt like a warm hug! You get a cozy setting, quirky characters, and a stirring plot! Sera has a magical mystery to solve to get her magic back and there are plenty of obstacles in her way.

The romance between Sera and Luke was so sweet! Sera is a fierce protector, which paired well with Luke as he tried to care for his autistic sister. I loved how they let her be herself throughout the book!

If you loved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, this is set in the same world, but is totally separate. You will still get all the cozy vibes, though!

Memorable Quote: 
“She was the gargoyle of this castle, the caretaker of this inn where light reached even the darkest corners.”

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

This story was full of more magic and love than I could handle. I cried a few times at the overwhelming depth of affection these characters conjured. Not everything magical in this world is made from magic, and I think this is one of my all-time favorite reads of the year. It is a beautifully complex and delicate story that winds its way around your most tender heart strings. I believe that many readers will identify with the emotional journey and grief that Sera carries. The cast of characters in this story are such a deep slice of humanity, that you want to hold onto them and never let them go.
The subtle build of the plot and characters makes the reader unaware of just how potent their journey will be together. I started for the cozy magical element and left in tears, the happiest and most bittersweet of tears. This was masterful storytelling at its finest. I highly recommend this read!

This book was a pretty good time. I liked Mandanna's previous book and this one has the same vibe although it's in a different world. The story follows a witch after she loses her magic and how she gets it back. The side characters were great and the romance was fun.

SPOILERS My only gripe is in the end she sacrifices her magic. I'm so tired of reading books that have female main characters that end up losing their magic in the end for the greater good. Like, let her keep her magic and find a new way to resolve the story. Women have lost enough in life without it constantly being portrayed in literature.

Sangu Mandanna's The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a near perfect book, in my opinion, so I was cautiously optimistic about this follow up. While I didn't like it *quite* as much as that (see "near perfect"), I still loved it. I'm not sure how she makes these books feel so cozy when there really are pretty high stakes for the people involved. Again we have a 30-something (maybe late 20-something?) witch in England who is a bit of an outcast and who lives in a home full of quirky characters - magical and not. And again, there's a very serious and scholarly male love interest who cares deeply about a young witch for whom he is a guardian. And again, it all just works. The story opens with extremely powerful 15 year old witch Sera Swan breaking some major magical rules by bringing her caregiver, Great Aunt Jasmine, back to life. She is exiled from the Guild, the official magic regulatory board of England, but even worse, she loses almost all of her magic. We meet her again 15 years later, when she is still low-key looking for ways to get it back but is mostly occupied by running an inn that she enchanted as a young girl, and which only appears to people who need it and deserve it. It has become a refuge for a variety of misfits - including Clemmie, another witch banished by the guild who has been stuck in fox form since Sera was a teen and Theo, a young witch whose parents weren't equipped to raise him. Into the fold comes Luke, a scholar who works for the guild, and his young sister Posy, a witch with autism of whom he is extremely protective. Luke and Sera have a great opposites attract/friends to lovers thing going on, and I loved their interactions, but really it was the lovely found family element of all of this that I loved the most. Extra brownie points for good people banding together to fight a pretty egregious bully.

This is really very cute. I absolutely loved the other book the author wrote that is similar to this. Note that this is not part of a series and they have nothing to do with each other. This does not quite meet that other book's level of awesomeness, but it seems unfair to compare the 2.

A girl loses most of her magic while helping her most beloved family member and is banned from magical society by someone that was jealous and looking for a reason to do so. As an adult, she is running an inn for misfit characters. And these characters are all so lovely.

I highly recommend this. If you haven't read the author's other witch book, I would actually recommend reading this one first. This is cozy romantasy. Do not expect anything terribly complex and it's definitely not that spicy. I was entirely entertained.

This is a magical read. Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, found family, and romance.
The book opens with 15 year old Sera, one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Her aunt passes away unexpectedly, and Sera casts a spell to bring her back. This comes at the cost of most of Sera's magic and she's banished from the Witch's Guild, where she had been a promising pupil. Flash forward 15 years, and now Sera is 30, and running a magical inn with her aunt. She can only cast the most basic of spells, and even those tire her. However, she soon comes across a chance to replenish her magic. And the person that is going to help her? The handsome and grumpy Luke, who claims he's only going to stay at the inn for a few days. The reader gets to follow along as Luke and Sera work to restore Sera's magic, while Sera runs the magical inn and tries to stay one step ahead of the guild, all the while managing the little family she's created.
This book was really fun to read. I loved all of the characters in the book. They all had unique personalities, yet they all worked really well together Even the inn itself has its own personality. The sense of family between the characters was so special to read. Sangu Mandanna has a real talent for creating unique characters and creating strong bonds between the characters. I loved the slow-burn romance, as well. And while the ending was pretty predictable, it was still satisfying.
I requested this ARC because I loved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. While I didn't like this book quite as much as it, this was still very enjoyable read!
I'm looking forward to Sangu Mandanna's next work! 4 stars.

I’ve had this book preordered for…maybe a year? Maybe less? Either way, my local indie bookstore has a copy earmarked under my name ever since this book was announced. I know the author has had some bumps along the road with getting it done, but this book was absolutely worth the wait!

Sera is curmudgeonly, and a very different character from the author’s last novel — A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Sera choices, though justified (by her and the reader), have led to struggles in the 15 years since she lost her magic. Over the course of the book, you dive into her acute anger and grief over her lost magic, and all the consequences that this has on her self-worth and her mental health. This book, more than the last, feels glaringly HONEST. I genuinely don’t have another word for it. Her rage and her sadness compete for first place, and it makes her such a multidimensional MC in this book. The commentary on the isolating stuffiness and — let’s just say it, racist — background of the Guild were also fantastic.

I enjoyed every single character in this book. Luke’s relationship with Posy made me slightly misty-eyed, and their unquestioned acceptance by the ragtag team of misfits of Batty Hole made me fall in love with this book even more. I’m glad to have been able to read an advance copy of this much-awaited book, and can’t wait for my own physical copy in July!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.