Review by Kayleigh
Favourite Quote:
Thanks to the Library, the faeries now worshiped a demigoddess known as Taylor Swift, the zombie family had been indoctrinated into a cult known as veganism, and Denis and his fellow gnomes had almost rioted after having watched the Disney Channel. It took Maddy days to calm them and promise not turn them into garden decoration before they would even listen to Pax’s plan.
Synopsis
Manager of the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, Pax Nomen has one of the easiest jobs in all the known universes, unless you count the occasional plumbing disaster. When Number Five Wayside gets stranded on a non-magical world, even Pax’s trusty Wayside Handbook can’t help him. How is he going to “reboot” the hotel and keep it on its magical journey?
Josie LaChusia is a single mom experiencing debt, having parenting doubts, and tipping dangerously toward depression when an ad pops up on her phone that an apartment is available in a building she’s never seen before.
Pax needs a new guest to restart his hotel, and Josie needs a nudge to restart her life. In a building occupied by faeries, gargoyles, and a gnome with a bad attitude, two souls from very different places come together to create a home like no other.
Review
This is a fun, cozy fantasy that will have you laughing out loud at the antics of the residents of the Wayside hotel.
Elizabeth Everett is known for her smart and funny historical romances. I was instantly intrigued when I saw that she was launching a modern-day fantasy/romance series. I’m so glad I gave Magic and Mischief a read because it is a delightful romp. The premise is that there is a wide range of worlds out there, and wayside hotels move between them, allowing all manner of fantastical beings to travel. But then, the hotel runs out of energy on the very non magical, human-filled earth.
The beings range from magical soldiers, vampires, gnomes, fairies, zombies and more. How are they going to assimilate into this world while trying to get the hotel to gain magic so it can move? Enter one very non-believing in magic single mom, Josie. She is a widow and down on her luck. The hotel, basically a sentient character in this story, is taken with her as is the hotel manager, Pax: an ex-soldier with a dark past.
Throughout the story we see Josie, who just wants a home for her and her son. She’s trying to make life work after her husband has died and she has a precious small boy, a job that barely pays the bills, and a mother-in-law who seems to wanna find fault with everything Josie does and wants to take her grandson home with her. Josie finds the good in everyone and tries to understand where her mother-in-law’s coming from. Josie has to find a new place to live quickly. She has a list of requirements that will help support her life, keep her on budget and keep her son happy. Surprisingly, it is hard to find, but she stumbles upon a building that she doesn’t really remember seeing before when she’s out on a walk. She’s instantly intrigued when she sees the for sign. The building does seem too good to be true. The people who live there, however, seem a little unusual. Little does she know the building should not be here; it’s actually never stopped on earth before and is filled with very non-human beings who are trying to pass as human so that they don’t cause chaos in her world. Pax, the hotel manager, is instantly charmed by her; the building, which also has some strong opinions, seems to love her as well. He feels it is decided that Josie was meant to find the building and is meant to be a tenant in it.
It becomes difficult rapidly for Pax and his cast of misfits to hide magic from Josie and her son, Amos. Amos is inquisitive and charmed by the building. He’s a very precocious four-year-old, which doesn’t always work for people. I understand some people don’t like kids in romance books, but I really enjoyed having him in the book. I felt like it helped drive Josie’s character development as well as bring in more of the side characters who had to deal with this foreign creature who had lots of questions and opinions and noise.
A ton of delightful shenanigans arise as Pax and his team try to figure out how to get the magic building working again so that they can get where they need to go instead of being stranded on earth. However, the one thing Pax wasn’t counting on was falling for Josie. They have a delightful love story that is just starting to blossom throughout the book. It’s a very slow burn with some very sweet and steamy intimacy. This is obviously the start of a series because the relationship ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but in a good way and you know more of it’s going to develop in book 2. Pax and Josie are two of the sweetest characters I’ve come across and this is just such a cosy romance that you’re just going to be kicking your heels up every time they’re on the page together because they’re both so awkward and unsure of what to do with each other, but also so darn attracted to each other.
This is a lovely cosy fantasy book that is the start of a new series for Elizabeth Everett. I can’t wait for book 2.
Thank you, Berkeley Publishing Group, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
