Caffeinated Reviewer

In Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett, readers find themselves in the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, and it’s stuck on Earth with supernatural traveler from fairies to dragons. The hotel’s magical gas tank is empty, and it’s the job of Pax Nomen, the manager, to fix it.

When a magical hotel appears smack-dab in the middle of the most unmagical of worlds, the last thing the residents expect is to fall in love.

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.

Number Five Wayside Inn runs out of magic “gas” and the manager finds himself perplex as do the angry travelers who expected to be at their destination and not trapped in a non-magical place. Pax, looks to the Wayside Handbook and decides what the hotel needs is a reboot.

Josie LaChusia is a widowed mother of a five-year-old and looking for a new apartment when an ad pops up about a vacancy near the college where she works. Josie thinks the two-bedroom apartment is the perfect fit, even if the residents seem a little strange.

The Wayside Hotel, now pretending to be an apartment complex, is a magical living thing. It has to be to accommodate all of its guests, from gargoyles to sea creatures. It senses what Josie and her son need, from the color of the walls to the furnishings… all interesting when you are trying to keep its true nature secret. I loved figuring out what the hotel needed to reboot and seeing it give the residents nudges.

I loved how the story unfolded from the rule-following hotel assistant to the relationship that slowly developed between Pax and Josie. The residents try to appear human as they learn their ways, and I laughed at their antics.

This is a story of new beginnings, found family, magic, and the power of love. We get side threads involving some residents. We also have some trouble from Josie’s mother-in-law, who thinks their grandson would do better living with them. The hotel itself was fascinating and reminded me a little of Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper series, but on a cozy level. Character growth, trust, and allowing oneself happiness are all themes in this magical tale.

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About Elizabeth Everett

Elizabeth Everett lives in upstate New York with her family. She likes going for long walks or (very) short runs to nearby sites that figure prominently in the history of civil rights and women's suffrage. Her Secret Scientists of London series is inspired by her admiration for rule breakers and belief in the power of love to change the world.

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About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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