The Faraway Inn / Sarah Beth Durst / Book Review

THE FARAWAY INN

When Calisa catches her boyfriend with his hands up another girl's shirt, her perfect summer goes out the window. Desperate to escape the city and all the plans she had this summer, she hops on a bus to go visit her great aunt at the B&B she runs in Vermont. Time and space away will help heal the wound. Plus her great-aunt is old. Like, old old. No doubt she could use some help this summer.

But when Calisa arrives at the inn, she find it more rundown than she anticipated. And it turns out her Auntie Zee doesn't want her there. Not all summer. Not even for the day, though Calisa talks her into letting her stay for three.

With only three days to convince Auntie Zee that she can be useful, Calisa sets to work. But there's a lot to be done at the Faraway Inn to get it back in working order. The garden's overgrown. The sitting room is full of dust dusty. The roof and front porch are ready to cave in. Worse, the guests are... strange. In fact, everything at the inn seems rather strange. And the more questions Calisa asks, the more her Auntie Zee seems to want her gone.

THOUGHTS

This book is cozy without being fluff. It's family and support systems and growing up and growing old. It's magic and whimsy and heartbreak and new love. It's just the perfect bit of escapism while capturing real world heart and heartbreak. So what's not to like?

PROS

Cozy	Cozy fantasy is really having a moment, and I'm not complaining. But I do feel that a lot of cozy fantasy is just fluff. And there's a place for fluff. There's a place for escapism that is just escapism. This book isn't that. There are really strong and poignant themes in this book, of aging and acceptance and finding yourself, that aren't necessarily so common in this niche subgenre. This book is undeniably cozy, and it is also really well balanced with plot, characters, and purpose. It's cozy, but it isn't just kitsch.
Coming-of-Age	Calisa arrives at this inn adrift, her plans for the summer, her senior year, and her future all untethered. And this book is, at its core, about Calisa finding herself (without getting strapped into one definite future). It's about looking for non-traditional options. It's about investing in family and legacy and relationships. It's about the little tasks and the people you meet along the way. It's about seeking an education but not being confined to just one future. It's about wanting more and having pride in what you do, whatever that may be. Calisa wrestles with who and what she wants to be, and I loved all of that.
Magical	This book is really just full of magic, the kind of whimsical fantasy world that makes you really fall in love with fantasy as a genre. The inn is a nexus, a convergence of fantasy realms, and it makes for a really fun sort of portal fantasy (where the characters aren't always going through the portals, but, you know, they can). The guests are odd in the best way. The inn is persnickety in its own manner. And overall, it's just a lot of good, cozy, escapist fun.

CONS

This book isn't a romance, but it does have a major romantic subplot. And I like that subplot. I do. But I'm not sure I like the inadvertent messaging it provides. This book isn't saying that the way to be fulfilled is to find a good partner, but there could certainly be people who read it that way. Calisa is fleeing a bad ex situation, and so the fact that she finds a good partner here as part of her coming-of-age self-fulfillment arc might be read as "a girl needs a boy to be fulfilled." Do I think that's what Sarah Beth Durst is positing? Absolutely not. But that messaging could still come through, regardless of intent.	Rebound
This book does it's best. It really does. It's a feel-good book at it's core, and so it has its happy (if somewhat messy) ending. But the realist in me, the absolute cynic, does say that none of these compromises are actually sustainable. Did we find a workable solution for now? Absolutely. But it's all balanced on a hairpin, and anything could change the happy ending. It is a happy-for-now that doesn't feel sustainable in any sort of long-term, and so I don't know that I fell in love with this happy ending as much as I was meant to. I resolution I can trust, and the cynic in me wouldn't let me trust this happily-ever-after.	Can't Have It All
We don't spend nearly as much time in these fantastical portal realms as my fantasy-loving self would like. Was I sad with what we got? Absolutely not. But there's so much of this world unexplored, so many lavish locations we could have spent an eternity in, that I was left craving more through no fault of the author or the plot. Is this really a problem with the book? No. It's just something I would have wanted more of, in a world where every good book could last as long as we want it to.	Too Much Potential

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Fans of Brandon Mull's Fablehaven will like escaping into this little retreat lost in the wild ramblings of Vermont. Those who liked Greg Weisman's Rain of Ghosts will enjoy life inside this inn full of just enough magic.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Press Date: March 31, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.