A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping

I hope you have an umbrella. It rains apple blossom tea in this room every Sunday.

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping

Written by Sangu Mandanna

May I present my final book of 2025. I had started this book a couple months prior, but my library loan ran out before I could conclude it. Then just as I am choosing my final read of 2025, it was my turn once again. I may have been able to complete this book when I first had it checked out, but in keeping with the freshly emerged ‘cozy’ genre, this book lacked the momentum to keep me hooked. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, but when the stakes are low, so too can the desire to find out what happens.

In this book Sera Swan runs an inn that has has picked up a motley of characters who now call it home. It’s a magical place, due in part to Sera being a witch, a previously very powerful witch. However Sera lost her magic when she brought her great-aunt Jasmine back from a premature demise. This prohibited action also exiled her from the magical guild she had belonged too. She has all but given up on ever regaining her magic when she comes to learn about a spell that could bring it all back.

There’s a lot to appreciate about this book: a handsome historian, a skeletal chicken, more than one love story, lovable misfits finding their home together, flashback ghosts, corrupt leadership, a talking fox, a mutiny, and a tea pot. The only thing this story lacks is a ticking clock. You get the sense that it doesn’t matter if the quest to restore Sera’s magic takes months or years, so there’s time to dilly dally. It isn’t until the very end where the pressure is on to act fast, but until then, expect an atmospheric tale with a charm similar to Howl’s Moving Castle or The House in the Cerulean Sea. That’s just my perspective, but I encourage you to try it own and see for yourself. As this book takes care to point out, a new perspective has its own magic.