The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst - Cosy Romantasy Book Review

This was such a gorgeous, cosy read – I want to do it all over again!

The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst is now available to buy, click below:

Calisa has been sent to her great aunt’s inn to stay for a little while to get over a bad break up. On arrival, she promptly falls through the porch and is spotted by the caretaker’s son, Jack. This is her introduction to an inn that’s falling apart, and an aunt who clearly doesn’t want her there. Nevertheless, she sets to work with Jack fixing up the old place and trying to earn herself a place to stay. But when Auntie Zee goes missing on an “errand”, and the strange things that Calisa has noticed around the inn start to escalate, Jack and Calisa need to set out on a rescue mission to save her aunt and the inn.

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The author explains in the notes at the end how this is written for teens who want an escape from their busy lives – but also for everyone else, so don’t worry if you’re a grown up like me (apparently!) and enjoyed it too! I love this – I have a couple of young teenage cousins who are quite into reading, and you’d better believe that they’re going to be getting a copy each of this soon!

It’s such a wonderful, well-imagined world, with pretty low-stakes drama in it, and adventures worthy of your favourite childhood books (I’m thinking The Enchanted Wood) but just a little bit more grown up and with a dash of romance too. I’d call it a gentle introduction into romantasy, or paranormal romance maybe, where magic sits alongside the real world in a fairytale-esque story but set in the modern world.

The relationship between Carisa and Jack was sweet – it was nice that he wasn’t like every other boy and had a lot of vulnerabilities. The rest of the motley crew of characters were beautifully written too – so quirky, but also so sensitive and cranky and kind and just plain old fun. I was sad to leave them behind!

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It’s joyfully whimsical and not-so-quietly magical. I loved Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, but I loved this one even more!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.