A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a cozy fantasy with romance elements by Sangu Mandanna (5/5 stars)

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a cozy fantasy with romance elements by Sangu Mandanna.

The publication date for this book got pushed a few times, but I’m so glad the author was able to take as much time as she needed to write it. I loved it!

I followed along in my physical review copy while listening to the audiobook via my Spotify Premium subscription. (Remember, if you have Spotify Premium you have 15 hours of audiobook listening time per billing cycle!) The Narrator does a phenomenal job, especially with character voices.

Similar to her previous book that I’ve read, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, I adored this one. I teared up several times throughout. Mandanna has such a way with words, and both of these books felt like a warm hug for me. The publisher blurb is correct in calling it “whimsical and heartwarming.”

There’s so much diverse representation in this book. Sera is British-Indian/Icelandic and Luke is Scottish. Both feel “othered” within the magic guild, which is majority older cis-het white men who are stuck in their ways. They both have strained (to put it lightly) relationships with their parents for various reasons. There’s several queer side characters, one with a limb difference, and another character that has autism (and is nearly non-verbal).

As a neurodiverse person, I think Mandanna did a great job, especially with the descriptions and portrayals of depression in this book.

I love a good found family trope, and this book has it in spades. The inn will only allow people who really need a room/safe place rest to find it. There are also a few lodgers who basically end up staying there indefinitely for various reasons, including:

• Sera’s great-aunt Jasmine (who basically raised her, and whom she resurrected)
• Clemmie (a witch who accidentally transformed herself into a fox)
• Matilda (a middle-aged lady who loves gardening, chickens, and goats)
• Nicholas of Mayfair (who works as a knight at a medieval faire and really leans into it)
• Theo (Sera’s young cousin from Reykjavik)
• and Roo-Roo (a zombie rooster that Sera accidentally called into being)

Rep: sapphic and gay side characters, autistic side character (+ their caregiver), side character with a limb difference (club foot)

CW: realistic descriptions of depression and identity crisis, parental abandonment (mostly prior to book, but mentioned throughout), hazing/bullying, verbal and magical abuse, casual sexism and racism, misogyny, ablism, classism

I received a complimentary review copy from Berkley. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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