The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst

Blurb:

A teen girl decides to spend her summer helping her eccentric great aunt manage her quaint Vermont inn—only to discover that the fixer-upper is hiding a magical secret—in this cozy and irresistible new young adult fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop.

When sixteen-year-old Calisa arrives at her great-aunt’s B&B in rural Vermont for the summer, she’s shocked to find a rundown inn rather than the cozy bed-and-breakfast she was expecting. Grumpy and eccentric, Auntie Zee is determined to keep anyone from messing with her beloved inn . . . even though she clearly needs the help.

To convince her great-aunt to keep her around, Calisa sets to work fixing up the inn, enlisting extra help from the groundskeeper’s (handsome) son. But the longer she stays, the surer she is that there’s something strange about the B&B—and its guests. Something almost . . . otherworldly.

The inn is keeping a magical secret—but to protect the place she’s come to love, Calisa must unravel the truth before it’s too late.

Review:

Sixteen-year-old Calisa takes up residence at her great-aunt’s B&B (Bed and Breakfast) in rural Vermont for the summer, and she’s determined to forget what brought her there. But rather than the cozy bed and breakfast she was expecting to spend a few months helping upkeep, she discovers a beloved inn that is brimming with magical eccentricities. Alongside it comes her great-aunt, Zee, who’s determined to keep anyone from messing with the place she’s come to love and protect. She’s hesitant to trust others, but in desperation for help, she trusts Calisa to assist her in running the inn.

In order to stay at the inn for the summer, Calisa sets out to prove herself. She takes up tasks of fixing up the inn, even going so far as to enlist the help of the groundkeeper’s charismatic and haunted son in order to accentuate her worth and capabilities. The longer she stays, however, the more magical and odd the inn becomes. The inn is keeping magical secrets, even from her. If Calisa wants to save the place she’s come to adore and dote over, she must unravel them no matter the cost.

After reading The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop consuming the stories she puts out into the world. Just like The Spellshop, The Faraway Inn is a story focusing on a magical environment filled with intrinsic conflict and a small setting that makes cozy fantasy so memorable. What makes Durst’s novels memorable, however, revolves around the authenticity and diversity of the characters and relationships in each of her publications.

Sarah Beth Durst is the upcoming Queen of Cozy Fantasy, and all of her stories are delightfully unique. Reading each of her novels feels like wrapping myself in a blanket before a fireplace in the dead of winter—in the best way possible. 

These books, and The Faraway Inn in particular, are what gives cozy fantasy its name. It’s truly a classical example of well-written but low-stakes literature in a world that feels close to home.

One of my favorite things about The Faraway Inn is that although it is similar to The Spellshop in various ways (like the niche occupations, the small-town settings, the magical buildings, the working-class characters), it’s extremely relatable to readers at a fundamental level. Both the protagonist and the love interest are phenomenally flawed, and the way they grow and come to rely on each other throughout the narrative is truly magical.

Sweet and short yet impactful and dazzling, The Faraway Inn is solace to those who are seeking to relieve their worries and rest—readers and characters alike. Both the inn itself, the eccentric cast, and the overall story-world is charming and alluring in the way a romance is. It’s so easy to become obsessed with the world and the conflicts that Calisa faces, despite the magical elements threaded throughout.

I especially love the emphasis on working class professions and how it allows those who don’t necessarily relate to billionaire romances to see themselves in fiction. Especially in fiction where romance, magic, and tension is just as real as in other stories that may be more intense. I can’t wait to see what else Durst puts into the world!