A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Sangu Mandanna

GENRE: Cozy Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A cozy fantasy about a witch who tries to grab a second chance at getting her powers back. Wonderful and mostly whimsical characters, funky magic, great diversity, good storyline, and a satisfying ending. BUT the “cutesy-ness” feels a bit forced this time and the book contains two things that I don’t prefer in cozies: cursing and spice. Still, a good option for fans of the genre, especially if they enjoy twee adult stories. I liked this, but I loved the author’s earlier novel much more.

Plot Preview:

Lancashire, England. Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in the country. But when she resurrected the only parent-figure in her life, her great-aunt Jasmine, immediately after her death, Sera lost almost all her powers and was exiled from the Guild for indulging in illegal magic. Now, fifteen years later, thirty-year-old Sera, grumpy and frustrated at the loss of her potential future, still stays with Jasmine, Sera’s young cousin Theo, and a talking fox (Long story!) named Clemmie at an enchanted inn that Sera helps Jasmine run. This inn magically attracts only those who need it. (And it seems like only quirky characters ever need it!)

When Sera hears of an old magical compendium containing a spell that could restore her powers, she wonders how she can get her hands on it, considering her banned access to all magical resources and her status as an outcast among witches. Around the same time, the inn fortuitously brings magical historian Luke and his autistic sister Poppy to its doorstep. Tada!

The book comes to us in the third-person perspective of Sera, with some chapters coming from Luke’s third-person POV.

When I read this author’s debut adult cozy fantasy, ‘The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches’, I was utterly enchanted and knew I would read everything she wrote. My expectations from this second cozy fantasy were hence quite high. It does deliver on most counts, but a couple of the plot inclusions and a part of the approach weren’t to my taste.

The author clearly knows what ingredients clicked in the earlier book and retains the same here. Unfortunately, the shortcomings also make a reappearance.

Bookish Yays:

🐓 Sera. A complicated character who isn't picture-perfect and hence the perfect lead. I loved her coconutty portrayal – grumpy outside, gooey inside.

🐓 Sera’s ethnic heritage being half Indian and half Icelandic – What a combo! Love how both these factors weren’t forced into the narrative and used just as much as necessary without making the book seem like a clichéd advert for India or Iceland.

🐓 A strong plot where characters and storyline and magic get equal weightage.

🐓 Great use of the found family trope, but oh my, what a family! 😅 All the secondary characters are utterly quirky, the likes of which we might never encounter in real life. I loved almost all of them, but Great-Auntie Jasmine is probably my favourite.

🐓 A nice range of characters, going in age from child to senior citizen. There is one cute geriatric same-sex couple. Oh, can't forget the talking fox! AND a rooster who isn't exactly a rooster! (Also a long story! Read the book to know more.)

🐓 The magic – the perfect balance of nature and fantasy. Loved its use in the plot!

🐓 Ever since I read Charlie Holmberg’s Whimbrel House series, I have a soft spot for magical houses. You get a touch of that in this book. That’s all I’ll say.

🐓 A cute, slowburn romance track that mostly doesn’t overpower the core plot. It’s a grumpy vs grumpy trope this time, so quite fun to read.

🐓 Excellent exploration of the theme of power vs responsibility, and also of talent vs. maturity.

🐓 A satisfying finale – realistic, sweet, action-packed, a bit reflective. To be honest, I don’t think it will be a satisfying finale for everyone, but I loved it for its unexpectedness.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🦊 For some reason I cannot pinpoint, I got the feeling that the book was trying too hard to be cutesy. ‘The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches’ was also a bit twee, so I was prepared for a sugary sweet story to some extent. But the cuteness doesn’t feel genuine this time around. Of course, it’s not badly written, and it is a cozy read, so it might just be my mood that was grumpier than needed for such a story.

🦊 There are quite a few characters to keep track of and most are defined fairly well. Some of them needed a bit more detailing. For instance, the big age gap between thirty-four-year-old Luke and his nine-year-old sister Posy isn't clarified, nor does any character remark on it, which felt strange to me, especially considering there were no other siblings in between and both have the same parents. (not impossible in real life, but definitely unusual enough to need at least one clarifying/querying remark from someone.) The depiction of Posy’s autism is not as usually shown in fiction, which I appreciate. However, the tougher challenges of dealing with this level of the spectrum are glossed over.

Bookish Nays: (Both these points stem from my preferences for cozy fiction. YMMV.)

🐐 Way too much cursing. F-bombs spoil the fun of cozies.

🐐 Some steamy content, with one scene being totally superfluous. That scene could have safely been kept close door without any damage to the plot.

All in all, though this didn’t match the high I had after reading, ‘The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches’, I still enjoyed it quite a lot. The characters, the storyline, the magic, the pacing, the writing and the ending all were strong enough to make me mostly forgive the F-bombs.

Recommended to those who enjoy Twee-with-a-capital-T cozy fantasies with whimsical characters and are okay with profanities (and some spice) in this genre.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Hodderscape for providing the DRC of “A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.