Super cute and cosy, loved Posy, she was so sweet. I loved the inn’s little quirks like raining sweet tea. However, I, definitely preferred The Secret Society of Irregular Witches, I think I just gelled with that one better and found I wasn’t connecting with the characters in this one as much.

I absolutely loved The Very Secret Society by Mandanna and was really excited to read this one. It had similar vibes but unfortunately I didn't love it as much as thr first one but still it's worth the read.

It's magical, heartwarming, wholesome, and the right amount of quirky. The story begins when Sera Swan looses her magic and is exiled by the Guild. She is now a little grumpy and runs a magical Inn with hot aunt. The guests are unique in their own way which adds to the whimsical and fun part of the story.

2.7 Stars
One Liner: Nice vibes but tries too hard
Sera Swan went from being one of the most powerful witches in Britain to being exiled from the Guild after resurrecting her great-aunt and losing her magic. She runs an inn in Lancashire, dealing with quirky quests and hoping to get her magic back.
Then Sera finds a book that has the secret to restore her power. However, she needs help from Luke Larsen, the historian she has a history with. As they work together, Sera realizes that magic was with her all along!
The story comes in the third-person POVs of Sera and Luke, with random switches to omnipresent POV.
My Thoughts:
After enjoying The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (adult fic) and loving Vanya and the Wild Hunt (MG fic), I was excited to read this one. While the book has all the vibes you need for a cozy witchy feel-good fiction, they don’t translate to a wholesome novel.
What I Like:
• The setting of the inn, its descriptions, and the magic around it. The place gives safe and homely vibes, which is exactly what it is.
• The collection of misfits who made the inn their home. Quirky, sweet, and a bit OTT, but good people (with a huge gray area in the case of Clemmie).
• Jasmine, the FMC’s great-aunt. A bit surprised by her backstory, but I guess that was the intention.
• Posy and Theo, the two kids, make the book easier to read.
• The concept of the restoration spell and the final ingredients that worked.
• A few scenes here and there with some laughs and the narration that suited the scenes.
What Didn’t Work:
• The slow pacing should have added to the intrigue but failed to create a proper hook. This is not a book where I can say the story started with a bang. It sadly didn’t.
• The loose plot is pretty thin and depends entirely on vibes to create the required impact. I stopped my first day’s reading at 55% and could sum up everything in a single line.
• The romance was supposed to be a slow burn, but ended up lacking chemistry and emotion. All the right words are there, but the feel is missing.
• A book with nice diversity and varied themes like racism, immigration, bias, etc., should have been good. Sadly, it doesn’t feel natural but more like ticking off a checklist to please certain audiences.
• Loads of assurances and ‘you are good as you are’ speeches that don’t do the job. I’d rather they all helped come up with ideas for the spell. That would have been more fun.
• The climax and ending. After all the struggle and everything, you end up doing this? Duh! Come on! There has to be a loophole to fix it.
• The villain is also all vibes and snobbish with little substance. Give him some meat. Even if it is a cozy fantasy, he can play the part better than this.
To summarize, A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping has its moments, but it doesn’t meet my expectations. The best way to mess up something is to try too hard. Looks like that’s what happened here.
Thank you, NetGalley and Hodderscape, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and Sangu Mandanna for the advanced copy of A Witch's Guide To Magical Innkeeping in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and had been waiting so long for Mandanna's next book, which just...didn't live up to my expectations, unfortunately. The book was good and I did enjoy but there was just something missing. The magic, pardon the pun, that Irregular Witches had just wasn't here. I don't know if there was anything specific, it just didn't do it for me.

I loved Mandanna’s first book, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and have been eagerly waiting the release of this book (which kept getting delayed!) so I was so excited to receive the ARC of this from NetGalley.

I struggled to get into the book initially but I’ve also been going through a reading slump so I can’t blame the book. The book has my favourite thing: a sentient house! It’s actually an inn but it has character for sure. The book is full of cosy characters and a found family. Mandanna does cosy fantasy so well.

In a nutshell, this book is about Sera who loses her magic and is a quest story in acquiring objects for a spell to get it back. I felt the book really picked up when Luke appeared at the inn, and then I was hooked and really started to fall for all the characters.

I like that Mandanna features big themes in her book even though it’s a cosy fantasy. There is depth to it. She talks about the displacement of her characters who though they have lived in the UK for a long time will never be claimed by this land because they’re foreign in their ethnicity. This touched me deeply as someone born and raised in England but will always be seen in such a way because I’m not Caucasian. She also shows depression and how Sera has overcome it but how it shames her to look back on her old self. Things that are very real that people grapple with in reality.

There is your typical buildup to some drama that was featured in her previous novel. They’re always dramatic yet quickly and neatly resolved as it’s a low stakes cosy fantasy novel. Mandanna writes wonderful characters and this one snuck up on me and made me fall in love with everyone.

I initially felt like I preferred her debut novel but there is a maturity and depth to this novel which I can definitely see in her growth as a writer. There are some insightful monologues about our society that I particularly resonated with being ethnically not Caucasian even though I am British through and through.

Overall, I give this a much deserved 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sangu and Hoodderscape for the chance to read this book early!

I really enjoyed A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches but I have to say this book? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I did not want to put it down.

The magic, the romance, the found family! This book was magical. I laughed, cried and stayed up until 3am for it.

I could not recommend this enough for lovers of cozy fantasy. I was absolutely in love with Theo and Posy, they were adorable. And the roster, one can not forget the roster.

I can not wait to be able to re-read it when I get my physical copy next month!

If the other book, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, felt very cozy and warm, this made my heart much more cozy and warmer. I definitely enjoyed the story and its diverse and unique characters.

The story was so beautifully written and I absolutely loved the setting. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love. This is a highly entertaining fantasy filled with rich world-building, vivid and original characters, and a captivating magical setting.

This book felt like a warm hug and a mug of piping, steaming hot chocolate. I adored this one so so much and finished it pretty much all in one day (and if you're me, this rarely happens). The found family trope will always be something I adore and the found family in this one was absolutely beautiful to read about and see unfold (I would fight battles for everyone in this book but especially Matilda and Nicholas).

If you want to read about a witch who lost her powers living with a zombified chicken, a resurrected aunt, a mischievous witchy cousin, a medieval fair knight, a kind old lady (who cannot garden to save her life) and a talking fox all whilst running a magical Inn and falling in love with the scholarly historian (and his adorable, heart filled with gold sister) then read this is the book!!! it's heartwarming, it's funny, its sweet. The characters are what make this book and I adored all of them so so much. As someone who has not read the very secret society of irregular witches yet, you bet I am picking that one up next and any future cozy adult romance with unconventional found families that Sangu Mandanna writes next.

I loved the author's first book, and this one is just as magical! With found family, a slow-burn romance, and quirky, lovable characters, I enjoyed every moment. A wonderful, witchy, cosy read that's perfect for losing yourself in another reality for a few hours! Highly recommend.

This is such a heartwarming and delightful book, it’s set in the same world as the previous book but it is a standalone, although I really recommend reading both.
Sera is a very powerful young witch with a tremendous amount of potential, but thanks to a particularly unpleasant “mentor” and the death of her dearest relative, she finds herself with very few stars in her sky. However she still radiates love and compassion, and she draws people to her and her inn.
The characters in this book are wonderful, Nicholas is a favourite of mine, and they are the very best kind of found family. The romance is charming, although as with the last book, I would have preferred a fade to black. I think that the relationship between Sera and Luke is perfection, they are both very deserving of each other in the best possible way.
A definite recommend.

I absolutely adored A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and this book is better! The book follows Sera Swan, who was one of the most powerful witches in England, until she resurrects her dead aunt and loses most of her magic. She spends the next 15 years running a magical inn and trying to find a way to reclaim her magic. But the story is not about her magic, it’s about her inn, which has been spelled to only allow in the people who need a place to rest and recover. And through the inn she meets people and creates her own family, which is its own special kind of magic. There’s a skeletal rooster, a sarcastic fox and a sexy librarian. All of this makes for a highly entertaining story that also touches on classism, racism and the bullying Sera endured from a mentor who was jealous that Sera’s magic was greater than her own. While the magic in this book is great, it’s the inn and the people within that make up the heart of the story.

This was a bit of a rollercoaster. Ultimately it is a 4 because I love Sangu Mandanna writing, her characterization and representation, and the ending of this book.
I didn't know when I picked this book that there would be autism representation in it and it was really well done. I love Posy with all my heart and partially related to her.
If you like slow burn, you will probably like the relationship between Sera and Luke.
Another thing I love in this book is the Found family part. Different characters in ages, in social rank, in ability who find shelter and home in the same inn, by being together and helping each other. There was not a single characters (living in the inn) I did not like.

My main and only problem with this book was the pace. It was not balance, all over the place and like all or nothing. The first 1/4 and the last 20% were well paced and really interesting, the dynamic and action were balanced but the in between ? too long for nothing. It is a 330-ish pages book but it took me so long to read it because of that.

Oh, the love I have for this book! I also adored The Secret Society of Irregular Witches so this wasn’t a surprise, I knew this would be the diamond it was.

I firstly want to talk about Posy. Posy is the little sister of Luke, the love interest. She’s autistic and mostly non-verbal with high needs when it comes to education. The way she was spoken about within the book was done with so much love and care. She was so, so loved and this is something I wish all autistic people had. She was truly accepted, she has been failed and hurt in the past and Luke (alongside the rest of the inn residents) were determined this wouldn’t be part of her future.

Disability in general is all throughout this book, including Jasmine who has a clubfoot. The inn was full of ‘misfits’ who had been rejected from the world for one reason or another but had found home and family with one another. They made an effort to include each other and make sure everyone felt safe and cared for. It was such a utopia and I never wanted the book to end, I loved being in there so much.

There’s also a storyline about accepting you, including flaws and imperfections, because all of you deserves to be loved and I adooored this message. The way Luke and Sera loved each other and helped each other achieve this, as well, was heartwarming. I loved them together. The slow burn and the yearning was exactly what I was looking for right now, too.

Jasmine and Matilda were older queer women, also, that you don’t often see in love stories and I have so much love for them both.

The writing in general was so funny, entertaining and it played like a film in my head. Sangu Mandanna may have only published two books I’ve read so far, but I’m pretty sure I can count her as one of my favourite authors. I love her and her books so much, I could go on and on about why I loved this book but I think you should just read it instead. I just finished it and I already can’t wait to re-read it.

This is a cozy book filled with a magical house and such a beautiful diverse cast of characters that I mostly enjoyed… the romance didn’t grab me much but I there was still enough there that I found charming so I kept reading.

Until the end which made me want to throw a shoe right through a concrete wall.

We spend the whole book knowing that Sera used to be one of the most powerful witches in the world but she lost her magic as a teen when she brought her aunt back to life. She works the entire book to get her magic back and it’s all very endearing— and the moment Sera gets her magic back I wanted to cheer because I thought we were about to subvert the “woman loses all her power for ✨reasons✨” trope that is somehow a VERY popular trope in fantasy books written by women.

It honestly felt cathartic to read about a woman coming into her power.

But at the very end, Sera, like apparently every other female character who has an immense amount of power… has to give up almost all her power for reasons created by the plot. Honestly— having this be a part of your story is unforgivable to me at this point. There is no reason this trope should exist and it feels so upsetting that I have to keep reading about women giving up their power over and over and over again.

I liked this book until I hated it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for granting my request to read this e-ARC and provide my honest thoughts.

Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches, until she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine, lost most of her magic, and got exiled from her Guild. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her magic…Enter Luke Larsen.

I like the way Sangu writes her books, her characters always find a way into your heart. Quirky, warm, and impossible not to root for. And the found family trope? 😘 I really enjoyed how fiercely Sera fought for her family, it made me love her even more.

But I can’t lie: the romance between Luke and Sera felt underdeveloped. It skipped too many steps and suddenly jumped to proclamations of love. I get that it was meant to be fluffy and slow-burn, but it dragged for too long and left me wanting more depth..

Overall, if you love whimsical novels with heart, this one will probably win you over.

📚review 📚
The witch’s guide to magical innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna

After a couple of disappointing reads, I was heading into dangerous slump territory. Thank the heavens for Sangu Mandanna who is out here truly doing the lord’s work, with her whimsical books about eccentric witches who find themselves in everyday situations, like running an inn.
I read 'The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches' last year and had such a good time that I knew this follow-up would be exactly what I needed, and I was right. I mean, what else can you expect from a book with a manipulative cursed fox and a zombie chicken?

Things you’ll find with this:

🧙 cute, cosy romance
🧙endearingly British
🧙the cutest of found families - seriously, I would die for Nicholas. And Posy. And Luke. And Sera…. You get the idea.

I love eccentric characters with hearts of gold, I love when two lost souls find each other and make each other better, I love a chosen family. There was one trope towards the end which was a bit disappointing but by then I was ALL IN with Sera and her companions, so I can let it go.

Thank you @netgalley for the early copy, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is out later this year - I’m preordering a finished copy now!

this book was an utter delight from start to finish. With just the right balance of charm, wit, and warmth, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping felt like being wrapped in a beloved patchwork quilt—soft, comforting, and quietly magical.

The found family element tugged at all the right heartstrings, weaving bonds that felt as real and tender as a cup of tea shared on a rainy afternoon. The queer and autistic representation was especially lovely—present, meaningful, and effortlessly folded into the world in a way that felt both affirming and natural.

There’s a quiet joy in the story’s pace, in its attention to gentle magic and everyday kindness. It’s a book I didn’t want to leave, a place I wished I could linger in just a little longer

Reading this book felt like receiving the perfect hug—comforting, warm, and filled with heart. It beautifully weaves themes of found family and everyday magic, reminding us that enchantment often lies in the little moments.

I absolutely adored Sera as the main character, and the quirky, lovable residents of the inn quickly found a place in my heart. The inn itself was so charming and vivid that I genuinely wish I could book a stay there!

This story is like sipping hot chocolate on a chilly winter’s day—a soothing balm for the soul. It’s a gentle yet powerful reminder that we are capable of facing hard things and that support and community can be found when we need them most.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5 stars - cosy fantasy

Sera, a powerful young witch, finds her great Aunt Jasmine dead and uses her magic to resurrect her. In doing so, she loses the majority of her magic and is exiled from the magic community. Years later, Sera is running an Inn with Jasmine and their long term quirky guests, whilst searching for a spell to restore her magic.

I squealed when I received the arc for this as the secret society has remained my favourite cosy fantasy of all time, and this one probably takes second place. Both books are like sitting down with a cosy blanket and a big mug of hot chocolate. A story full of found family, learning to love yourself and a sprinkling of fairy tale magic.

The inns guests made the story for me and I would love a stay there even in the tea raining room! I loved and cared about them all equally but I especially loved Clemmie a witch cursed to live as a fox.

I loved how the restoration spell made Sera realise she was just as special and loved with or without her magic. The romance between her and Luke was sweet and I loved the side story with Posy.

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a warm, whimsical hug of a book that delivers on its promise of cosy fantasy, although it may not cast a lasting spell.

The story follows a young witch named Sera who loses her magical powers after casting a spell to bring a loved one back to life. What follows is fifteen years of exile from the magical world, largely left devoid of any magical powers. The majority of the story is set in her great-aunt’s magical inn—a charming, almost sentient house that caters to magical guests. It’s a comforting premise, rich with potential, and Mandanna leans into the cosiness: enchanted rooms, old secrets, magical creatures, and a strong sense of found family. The worldbuilding is light but enjoyable, and the inn itself is a highlight— something along the lines of if Howl’s Moving Castle and Gilmore Girls had a magical B&B baby.

Where the novel shines is in its atmosphere. This is a book best read under a blanket with a cup of tea nearby. There’s grief and healing woven through Sera’s journey, and those emotional beats feel sincere, even if they occasionally lack depth.

The plot might meander a little—especially in the middle—and some of the conflicts resolve a bit too easily to feel fully satisfying. The romance subplot is sweet but maybe a tad underdeveloped, and certain characters could have used more fleshing out. It felt like the book wasn’t quite sure if it wanted to be low-stakes comfort or something more emotionally weighty.

This is also a novel that shows precisely how to include meaningful representation within a story without it seeming like tokenism. Misogyny, race, queerness, mixed families, neurodivergence—you can expect the lot.

If you’re in the mood for something gentle, escapist, and full of magical hospitality, this novel will likely leave you smiling. It’s not a perfect stay, but it’s a pleasant one—and sometimes, that’s all you need.