Published: March 31, 2026
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Series: N/A
Genre: Fantasy, Cozy, Young Adult
Pages: 376 (Kindle)
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
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.
The Faraway Inn is one of my now exceedingly rare forays into the world of YA fantasy. I make exception for authors I know I love and Sarah Beth Durst is absolutely on that list. The Faraway Inn is the perfect cozy fantasy for the target audience of teens, but I think it has solid crossover appeal for adults who love cozy fantasy as well. It was a nice throwback to simpler stories of teenage self-discovery and magic hidden in the modern world.
Calisa arrives at her Auntie Zee’s quaint bed and breakfast in rural Vermont with plans to avoid her ex-boyfriend for the summer and help out her elderly great-aunt. She finds an inn that is run-down rather than rustic and a relative that wasn’t actually planning to let her stay for the summer. Calisa is a confident teenager and doesn’t let this stop her from worming her way into Auntie Zee’s good graces. She cleans, makes pancakes, and starts helping out the young and rather handsome gardener’s son. Calisa also quickly realizes that this isn’t just a normal inn. There seem to be portals in some of the closets, the statue outside DEFINITELY moves, and one of the guests might be a vampire and another seems to be talking to the forest animals.
Calisa and Jack are doing their best to clean things up and help Auntie Zee out until Auntie Zee up and disappears. They immediately go into damage control mode and try their best to make sure the guests don’t realize she’s gone. Calisa phones her moms and gets the whole truth about the inn, which is in fact, magical. Obviously. Calisa’s Mom-Kate tells her how Auntie Zee tried to train her to use portal magic when she was young, but she didn’t have the aptitude. Fortunately, she’s able to coach Calisa on the method of opening portals so she and Jack can start looking for Auntie Zee and help one of the guests re-open the one to her home.
Calisa is a wonderful character with lots of determination and self-realization. Jack is an eager puppy-dog of a teenager and he just wants the inn to succeed and for his dad to make his way home somehow. The inn is his home and if it’s not there, where will he go? To the adult readers I think Auntie Zee might also stand out as a favorite. She’s aging and losing out on the stamina and ability that she once had to keep up with things largely on her own. Accepting help, especially from such inexperienced young people is a blow to her pride and self-reliance, but she ultimately does it and finds that trusting the right people to help you is a good thing.
The Faraway Inn is a wonderful story that kept me reading past my bedtime thanks to its compelling characters and engaging plot. Inn settings are very popular in the cozy fantasy sphere and I think this was particularly well done. I love that it’s set in our world, but with a hefty dose of magic added in for plot. I think The Faraway Inn is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re looking for low/no spice cozy fantasy for yourself or your young reader.
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