Hannah’s Pick of the Week: A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

‘”I walked into that one, didn’t I?” Matilda said regretfully to Luke, and then, like she’d only just taken proper notice of him, did a comical double take. “Well. Well. Did it hurt? When you fell out of whichever Norse myth you came from?”

And with that, she was gone, trotting up the stairs and vanishing out of sight. Luke gave Sera a look that suggested he thought she had not adequately prepared him for the trifecta of Nicholas, Matilda, and an undead rooster, but really, who could?’

Sangu Mandanna, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, pg. 98

It’s hard to feel like the witching hour is nigh when it’s still 80 degrees outside. However, the time for cozy fantasy is nearer than you think! I don’t know about you, but I’m incredibly excited about cozy sweaters (half my wardrobe) and a little bit of madcap magic stirred into my reading. Enter, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping.

This sophomore witchy escapade by Mandanna features one Sera Swan: previously one of the most talented witches in Britain, now banished from the British Guild of Sorcery due to a little bit of necromancy (it was for a very good reason!) and the small fact that most of her magic is gone. As in, poof.

Sera now spends her days helping her not-so-deceased great-aunt run the enchanted Batty Hole Inn in Lancashire. She’s totally not bitter about the whole losing-most-of-your-magic thing, she swears. That is, until magical historian Luke Larsen enters the scene on a dark night with his sister Posy in tow; Luke, who’s able to translate the spell that might bring Sera’s magic back.

Also, did we mention a chaotic-neutral witch-turned-talking fox, a knight, and a skeletal rooster are involved?

This cozy fantasy goes down like a warm cup of apple blossom tea (which just so happens to rain down in one of the guest rooms every Sunday). It’s sweet, full of quirky characters, atmospheric, and keeps you wanting to read until the very last drop of magic has slid off the page. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping’s magical mishaps and cozy world-building fit for lovers of Howl’s Moving Castle (Theo feels like a Michael in the making) and is a great spiritual successor to Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Other great read-alikes include Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries and Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne!