{"id":46277,"date":"2026-03-10T22:21:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T02:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46277"},"modified":"2026-03-10T22:21:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T02:21:57","slug":"review-of-a-witchs-guide-to-magical-innkeeping-by-sangu-mandanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46277","title":{"rendered":"Review of A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, by Sangu Mandanna"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping<\/em><\/p>\n

by Sangu Mandanna
\nread by Samara MacLaren<\/p>\n

Books on Tape, 2025. 9 hours, 53 minutes.
\nReview written February 23, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

I think this audiobook was suggested to me after I finished Sarah Beth Durst’s latest<\/a>. If so, the recommendation was spot-on. This is also a cozy fantasy story with all kinds of feel-good vibes.<\/p>\n

At 15 years old, Sera Swan was one of the two most powerful witches in Britain. But she was an outsider because she wasn’t from a long-standing British magical family. So when she uses up her magic to bring her great-aunt back from death, instead of other witches helping her get it back, she’s put in exile from all magic society.<\/p>\n

Fifteen years later, Sera is making do with only a tiny bit of magic. She’s running the inn with her great-aunt, protected by the spell she performed as a child – only allowing those who truly need the inn to find it. They’ve assembled a hodge-podge family of sorts – an overeager elderly lady, a young man who works at the Renaissance Fair and calls himself her knight, and Sera’s young cousin Theo who is learning the fundamentals of magic – and letting Sera read the more advanced texts he checks out. And then there’s Clemmie, the witch who turned herself into a fox when a curse backfired. She wants Sera to regain her power and restore her as well.<\/p>\n

And now it looks like Sera may be able to restore her power. With the help of the powerful Restoration spell – and the handsome librarian who has shown up at the inn, needing a place for his young sister, who is a witch but is also autistic and doesn’t always follow the rules. But then there’s the matter of figuring out the ingredients of the spell.<\/p>\n

This is a delightfully cozy story with a clear progression of tasks for Sera, but some setbacks and plot twists along the way. I found myself loving the assortment of characters at the inn – while hating the villain who is indeed despicable but powerful. I wish I could find my way to this magical inn, but enjoying through the book was perfect.<\/p>\n

sangumandanna.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/witchs_guide_to_magical_innkeeping.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna read by Samara MacLaren Books on Tape, 2025. 9 hours, 53 minutes. Review written February 23, 2026, from a library eaudiobook. Starred Review I think this audiobook was suggested to me after I finished Sarah Beth Durst’s latest. If so, the recommendation was spot-on. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,9,5,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiobooks","category-fantasy","category-fiction-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46321,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46277\/revisions\/46321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}