The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst

TL;DR: This is just me not wanting to read a teenager TBH, but everything else was great.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Calisa is recovering from a breakup and ends up at her Great Aunt’s house (it’s magical!).
Characters: I liked the wide cast of weird characters! They were fun.
Setting: The inn had some character to it and it felt beautiful. I felt like I could see it well.
Fantasy: This was quite strong and I liked it a lot.

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Calisa is desperate for a change of scenery after her lying ex ruins her perfect Brooklyn summer. When her parents suggest she head to rural Vermont to help her great-aunt run her cozy bed and breakfast for a few months, she jumps at the chance.

But when Calisa arrives at the B&B, she’s shocked to find a rundown inn with only a handful of guests. And to make matters worse, upon meeting with her great-aunt it quickly becomes clear that Calisa was not invited. Auntie Zee is determined to keep anyone from messing with her beloved inn…even if it is clear she needs the help.

To earn her keep, Calisa sets to work fixing up the inn, enlisting extra help from the groundskeeper’s (handsome) son. But the longer she stays, the more it becomes evident that there is something strange about the B&B—and its residents. 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 of it, and her aunt, before it’s too late.

Thoughts:

My only issue with this was probably a me thing. But I just kept forgetting the age of the protagonist. I went into this with a vague idea of the synopsis, but I hadn’t refreshed my memory when I started it and based on the writing style I immediately assumed this was adult. Then I was reminded we were reading from a 16 year old and I said ‘Oh damn’. Then… I’d keep reading, it read adult, and bam I’d be reminded again.

That lends itself well to saying, I loved the writing in this. Clearly it was excellent. I liked the setting, the inn was cozy and wonderful! The characters and variety of magic and creatures we got was great. But I kept forgetting and being jerked out of the story by the casual drop of ‘I’m 16’.

If you want a YA novel definitely pick this up. All this has done for me is verify I need to read Sarah Beth Durst more. Her writing is great, the ideas are wonderful. But for some reason the age on this MC was jarring to me at times.