What do you think?
The Inn at Thistledown Hollow
The Inn at Thistledown A Cozy Fantasy of Tea, Magic, and Found Family
When burned-out city herbalist Wren Alderidge inherits her estranged aunt's mysterious inn in the magical village of Thistledown Hollow, she plans to sell it and return to her failing urban life. But the Lavender Fox Inn has other ideas—and so does Kip, the sharp-tongued fox who insists the tea won't brew itself.
As Wren discovers her gift for brewing emotions into tea and helping lost souls find their way home, she's drawn into a world where magic lives in everyday moments. From healing broken marriages with specially crafted blends to managing guests who transform furniture into butterflies, Wren learns that true magic isn't about power—it's about creating space for people to remember who they are.
With the help of her found family—including a patient carpenter, grieving guests who become permanent residents, and a village baker with strong opinions about proper scone technique—Wren must decide whether to embrace her inherited destiny as innkeeper or flee back to the safety of her old, empty life.
Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, The Inn at Thistledown Hollow is a heartwarming tale of second chances, magical tea ceremonies, talking animals, and the transformative power of choosing community over isolation. Set in an enchanting world where ghosts offer guidance, greenhouses grow hope along with herbs, and every cup of tea carries the possibility of healing, this novel celebrates the magic found when people choose to care for one another.
A story about coming home to yourself, building chosen family, and discovering that the most powerful magic is often the showing up for each other with love, patience, and perfectly brewed tea.
When burned-out city herbalist Wren Alderidge inherits her estranged aunt's mysterious inn in the magical village of Thistledown Hollow, she plans to sell it and return to her failing urban life. But the Lavender Fox Inn has other ideas—and so does Kip, the sharp-tongued fox who insists the tea won't brew itself.
As Wren discovers her gift for brewing emotions into tea and helping lost souls find their way home, she's drawn into a world where magic lives in everyday moments. From healing broken marriages with specially crafted blends to managing guests who transform furniture into butterflies, Wren learns that true magic isn't about power—it's about creating space for people to remember who they are.
With the help of her found family—including a patient carpenter, grieving guests who become permanent residents, and a village baker with strong opinions about proper scone technique—Wren must decide whether to embrace her inherited destiny as innkeeper or flee back to the safety of her old, empty life.
Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, The Inn at Thistledown Hollow is a heartwarming tale of second chances, magical tea ceremonies, talking animals, and the transformative power of choosing community over isolation. Set in an enchanting world where ghosts offer guidance, greenhouses grow hope along with herbs, and every cup of tea carries the possibility of healing, this novel celebrates the magic found when people choose to care for one another.
A story about coming home to yourself, building chosen family, and discovering that the most powerful magic is often the showing up for each other with love, patience, and perfectly brewed tea.
180 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 17, 2025
About the author
Devon Yates
39 books15 followersDevon Yates has been chasing dragons since long before she started writing about them — first through the pages of Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, then through the wilds of Skyrim, and now through sweeping tales of magic and destiny all her own. She recharges on wooded hiking trails with a 2000s rock playlist on repeat, firmly believing the genre's comeback is long overdue, and shares her home with a fearless Pomeranian named Boots who is convinced he is the main character. Lately, she's writing cozy fantasy; a genre near and dear to her heart.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
April 17, 2026
This book gaslit me so hard 😭 😫
Note: There are lots of spoilers here.
Right. Let's start with the FMC Wren. I don’t know if we’re supposed to like her or mildly tolerate her, but she's so aggressively judgemental about everything. When we first meet her she's judging the hell out of a customer (who seems perfectly nice) for changing her nail colour weekly. Unacceptable, apparently. Mind your own damn business, Wren.
And the rest of the characters. Oh my god, the characters.
Who the FUCK is Milo?
He appears in chapter 9 like, “she turned to find Milo standing there."
OH DID SHE??? WHEN DID HE GET THERE??? WHO IS HE??? WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE HE’S BEEN HERE SINCE CHAPTER ONE???
Because turning to find Milo standing there implies that we know and care who Milo is. We do not.
This man spawns into existence mid-scene and immediately starts referencing shared history like I've forgotten his entire stupid existence. Sir, I would REMEMBER YOU if you had BEEN INTRODUCED.
And it’s not just him. This happens CONSTANTLY. Characters just show up and act like they've been there the entire time.
Mrs Chen? Same problem. Apparently crucial and meaningful, but materialises out of nowhere.
Mrs Chen's grandmother? Introduced just long enough for us to… say goodbye? Maybe?? And “Wren thought back to recent sightings...” WHAT recent sightings? Maybe show them? Give me a tiny reason to care?? (also the goodbye in question is them killing her...? she's a ghost so I guess it's not technically illegal?)
Chapter 9's less a chapter and more a hostage situation where the author dumps a bunch of characters on you and insists they’ve always been there. Blink and you’ll miss three super duper important people you’ve never seen before.
Also characters just… disappear. Like this community's a revolving door where people walk in, say something mildly quirky, and then are never seen again. Is there a serial killer in town? Because I would love that.
This inn is haunted. But not by ghosts, by abandoned character arcs.
Sometimes they're mentioned at page 30, then vanish into the void, and if they're very very lucky, they'll reappear 100 pages later acting like they’ve been part of the story this whole time. I don't know which is worse - disappearing never to be seen again or playing hide and seek around the inn for 120 pages.
Oh, and let’s talk about time. Or rather, the complete absence of it. Chapter 17 is the night before the binding ceremony. Chapter 18 takes place 3 weeks after the binding ceremony. Chapter 21 seems to be immediately after the binding ceremony.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry????
We're repeatedly told this binding ceremony's super important. Very significant and extremely plot-relevant. Do we see it? Of course not. Why would we witness the central event of the book when we could instead be confused about what happened and when it happened?
Time in general is a suggestion at best. Has it been 6 months? A year? 18 months? 6 years? Who knows 🤷🏼♀️ because the book certainly doesn’t.
And the story just LOVES skipping things. Anything important gets skipped. Emotional development is glossed over. Any moment that might make you care is addressed with a footnote, like “Oh btw that happened, it was fun ☺️” THAT WAS THE ONLY PART I WANTED TO READ???
And then we have the romance.
A few paragraphs after Milo appears, he's the love interest. Theres no buildup or chemistry, definitely no character development. We just go through the motions of: new guy (but he's not actually new because he's been here forever and a day but the author forgot) to he’s hot btw to they’re soulmates to they’ve been in love forever to marriage?? Uh, okay?
And apparently his “six years of craft” are “woven into the walls” of the inn. SIX YEARS??? So where has he been for the first eight chapters???
Also Wren just abandons her entire life. She owns a shop. She gets a letter. She goes to the inn. That’s it. Colin, her poor part-time assistant, is just left holding the bag. Justice for Colin. I hope he unionised.
Then there’s the “everything is a secret” problem. EVERYTHING.
The inn is mysterious. The town is mysterious. The people are mysterious. The honey is mysterious. The TEA is probably mysterious.
And none of it matters.
Every time the book hints at something important, it goes nowhere. It just leaves you with vague vibes and disappointment. You’re constantly like “oh great, this bullshit again?” because you already know it’s not leading anywhere. Which is so frustrating, because occasionally the book almost says something interesting: “The inn provides what people need ... Not always what they want, but what they need. There's a difference.”
I'm so stupid because that line had me hooked. But then the story went lol no ❤️ Nothing goes anywhere and we never take the time to explore anything, so like that line that piqued my interest, we just get the illusion of depth before immediately wandering off again.
There's also approximately 17 endings. It keeps wrapping things up and then continuing. Honestly, half this book must be an epilogue.
But this is on me. I should have checked the author’s other books. 8 books. In 8 months.
Look. Maybe (maybe) this isn't entirely AI-generated. Let’s be generous. But there's absolutely no universe in which you are writing at that speed AND taking the time to make sure your plot's coherent, your timeline makes sense, your characters are introduced properly, and your book is actually edited.
And it SHOWS.
I know I’m generally a pretty harsh reviewer (sorry, authors!) but genuinely HOW does this have so many 5 star reviews??? Was there a secret, coherent edition released to everyone else??? Because what I read was inconsistent and borderline incomprehensible.
There is potential here. The concept's great: magical inn, found family, healing, cosy vibes... it should have been an easy win, but the execution's so messy and disjointed that it feels less like a finished novel and more like someone accidentally published their first draft.
Note: There are lots of spoilers here.
Right. Let's start with the FMC Wren. I don’t know if we’re supposed to like her or mildly tolerate her, but she's so aggressively judgemental about everything. When we first meet her she's judging the hell out of a customer (who seems perfectly nice) for changing her nail colour weekly. Unacceptable, apparently. Mind your own damn business, Wren.
And the rest of the characters. Oh my god, the characters.
Who the FUCK is Milo?
He appears in chapter 9 like, “she turned to find Milo standing there."
OH DID SHE??? WHEN DID HE GET THERE??? WHO IS HE??? WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE HE’S BEEN HERE SINCE CHAPTER ONE???
Because turning to find Milo standing there implies that we know and care who Milo is. We do not.
This man spawns into existence mid-scene and immediately starts referencing shared history like I've forgotten his entire stupid existence. Sir, I would REMEMBER YOU if you had BEEN INTRODUCED.
And it’s not just him. This happens CONSTANTLY. Characters just show up and act like they've been there the entire time.
Mrs Chen? Same problem. Apparently crucial and meaningful, but materialises out of nowhere.
Mrs Chen's grandmother? Introduced just long enough for us to… say goodbye? Maybe?? And “Wren thought back to recent sightings...” WHAT recent sightings? Maybe show them? Give me a tiny reason to care?? (also the goodbye in question is them killing her...? she's a ghost so I guess it's not technically illegal?)
Chapter 9's less a chapter and more a hostage situation where the author dumps a bunch of characters on you and insists they’ve always been there. Blink and you’ll miss three super duper important people you’ve never seen before.
Also characters just… disappear. Like this community's a revolving door where people walk in, say something mildly quirky, and then are never seen again. Is there a serial killer in town? Because I would love that.
This inn is haunted. But not by ghosts, by abandoned character arcs.
Sometimes they're mentioned at page 30, then vanish into the void, and if they're very very lucky, they'll reappear 100 pages later acting like they’ve been part of the story this whole time. I don't know which is worse - disappearing never to be seen again or playing hide and seek around the inn for 120 pages.
Oh, and let’s talk about time. Or rather, the complete absence of it. Chapter 17 is the night before the binding ceremony. Chapter 18 takes place 3 weeks after the binding ceremony. Chapter 21 seems to be immediately after the binding ceremony.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry????
We're repeatedly told this binding ceremony's super important. Very significant and extremely plot-relevant. Do we see it? Of course not. Why would we witness the central event of the book when we could instead be confused about what happened and when it happened?
Time in general is a suggestion at best. Has it been 6 months? A year? 18 months? 6 years? Who knows 🤷🏼♀️ because the book certainly doesn’t.
And the story just LOVES skipping things. Anything important gets skipped. Emotional development is glossed over. Any moment that might make you care is addressed with a footnote, like “Oh btw that happened, it was fun ☺️” THAT WAS THE ONLY PART I WANTED TO READ???
And then we have the romance.
A few paragraphs after Milo appears, he's the love interest. Theres no buildup or chemistry, definitely no character development. We just go through the motions of: new guy (but he's not actually new because he's been here forever and a day but the author forgot) to he’s hot btw to they’re soulmates to they’ve been in love forever to marriage?? Uh, okay?
And apparently his “six years of craft” are “woven into the walls” of the inn. SIX YEARS??? So where has he been for the first eight chapters???
Also Wren just abandons her entire life. She owns a shop. She gets a letter. She goes to the inn. That’s it. Colin, her poor part-time assistant, is just left holding the bag. Justice for Colin. I hope he unionised.
Then there’s the “everything is a secret” problem. EVERYTHING.
The inn is mysterious. The town is mysterious. The people are mysterious. The honey is mysterious. The TEA is probably mysterious.
And none of it matters.
Every time the book hints at something important, it goes nowhere. It just leaves you with vague vibes and disappointment. You’re constantly like “oh great, this bullshit again?” because you already know it’s not leading anywhere. Which is so frustrating, because occasionally the book almost says something interesting: “The inn provides what people need ... Not always what they want, but what they need. There's a difference.”
I'm so stupid because that line had me hooked. But then the story went lol no ❤️ Nothing goes anywhere and we never take the time to explore anything, so like that line that piqued my interest, we just get the illusion of depth before immediately wandering off again.
There's also approximately 17 endings. It keeps wrapping things up and then continuing. Honestly, half this book must be an epilogue.
But this is on me. I should have checked the author’s other books. 8 books. In 8 months.
Look. Maybe (maybe) this isn't entirely AI-generated. Let’s be generous. But there's absolutely no universe in which you are writing at that speed AND taking the time to make sure your plot's coherent, your timeline makes sense, your characters are introduced properly, and your book is actually edited.
And it SHOWS.
I know I’m generally a pretty harsh reviewer (sorry, authors!) but genuinely HOW does this have so many 5 star reviews??? Was there a secret, coherent edition released to everyone else??? Because what I read was inconsistent and borderline incomprehensible.
There is potential here. The concept's great: magical inn, found family, healing, cosy vibes... it should have been an easy win, but the execution's so messy and disjointed that it feels less like a finished novel and more like someone accidentally published their first draft.
November 16, 2025
This book had the potential to be a 4-5 star. It’s got an absolutely beautiful soul and feels like a Western version of a Japanese Healing Fiction. From that aspect I adored this story and it genuinely upsets me I can’t mark it higher.
BUT if it undergoes an edit and re-release that fixes multiple major issues - this book would easily be a 4-5 star.
So spoilers for the edits that must be done in the hope the author may see this.
This book is so close to being my favourite book, with poetic lines, beautiful exploration of loss and needs, of being soft and gentle with its reader’s turbulent soul. But the fact these editing errors were either quite major or continued up into the last pages just meant I couldn’t in good faith rate it higher.
Please re-edit and release and I’ll change to 5 stars in a heartbeat.
BUT if it undergoes an edit and re-release that fixes multiple major issues - this book would easily be a 4-5 star.
So spoilers for the edits that must be done in the hope the author may see this.
This book is so close to being my favourite book, with poetic lines, beautiful exploration of loss and needs, of being soft and gentle with its reader’s turbulent soul. But the fact these editing errors were either quite major or continued up into the last pages just meant I couldn’t in good faith rate it higher.
Please re-edit and release and I’ll change to 5 stars in a heartbeat.
April 12, 2026
This book is like walking into a beautiful garden only to realize it’s just a stage prop. The amount of continuity errors already mentioned by other reviewers takes this book from a 5 star, will always recommend, down to 1 star, totally written by AI. The concept is there. There is beauty in this book. But ultimately, AI can never capture the depth or humanity needed to write a book like this. And apparently timelines and keeping track of characters when writing a cohesive storyline are just unnecessary semantics.
December 16, 2025
This story started incredibly strong with excellent characters, a smooth pace and an interesting perspective on responsibilities and community. At chapter 9, new characters suddenly appear with no explanation, treated as if the reader knows them. It is very jarring and took me out of the story. This happens throughout the rest of the book, with other characters just disappearing. I'm not sure what happened but I can't recommend it to anyone.
April 6, 2026
This book was either heavily AI edited or written. It’s really unfortunate since there was so much potential for a richly woven story. Characters randomly appear and are illustrated in a way that makes you think you forgot about someone. The story’s continuity becomes quickly strained and full of plot holes. Events that make the reader think the story’s climax will be in relation to it are never experienced, just mentioned in passing as the characters skip ahead by weeks to months. It also felt like the author tried to end the story over 6 separate times. I really loved the core ideas of this story, it’s just unfortunate that the AI factors kept jarring me back into reality.
November 7, 2025
DNF. Initially I thought it was great that the focus was on our FMC and her independent story, but it felt like the MMC popped up out of nowhere, immediately became a love interest based on nothing but vibes, and then suddenly with almost no interaction they are “falling in love”. A little effort put into building some chemistry, conversation, connection, shared interests would be nice. It felt like he was an afterthought. Also, I couldn’t take how everyone kept “sharing wisdom” and giving motivational speeches, especially to FMC, who kept monotonously monologuing about her insecurities.
April 17, 2026
There sure is a lot of standing and sitting in silence. A lot of whispering pipes, letters, cups, leaves, walls, and... grandmothers whispering to board games? Um. What?
Everything has secrets too. Even honey. Again, what? A lot of timeline inconsistencies and everything feels like a jumbled together, repetitive mess that I can't read more than a few pages of before I feel exhausted by the purple prose. It certainly makes me wonder what writing tools were used to make this.
Everything has secrets too. Even honey. Again, what? A lot of timeline inconsistencies and everything feels like a jumbled together, repetitive mess that I can't read more than a few pages of before I feel exhausted by the purple prose. It certainly makes me wonder what writing tools were used to make this.
July 29, 2025
imagine a inn in a quaint little village full of amazing people and a talking fox. now imagine finding this place when you are living thought the worst time of your life. you get to be taken in by an innkeeper that can brew emotions into your tea and the inn and its other visitors are there to help lift you back up. what could be a better escape from your troubles?
this book paints the most beautifully picture of this inn and the village it is nestled in. it makes you want to jump on a train and make your way to Thistledown hollow right away. this story is like a hot bath at the end of a long and exhausting day. you will get wrapped up with this tale of magic and healing and forget the really world exists.
for how amazing this book is it isn't with out its faults. through out this book you have a lot of tell not show moments. there are also a lot of times where characters suddenly appear and everyone in the book knows them and has deep connections to them but we have no idea who they are. there was the love interest who lived at the inn but wasn't talked about until over a 100pages in. the romance was all ready happening and we hadn't even heard about him. there was also a character what we only meet when its was time to say good bye to them. from what we find out about this person as the story moves on they where a very important person and helped all the residences of the inn, so it was very confusing not to have them mentioned even once until the end.
there was also plot holes like the main character Wren told her love interest Milo some of her worries as they walked around the village and by the time they made it back to the inn Milo had managed to tell the whole village and they where waiting at the inn to help. how did he managed that without leaving Wrens side? there was also a married couple that where finding their love for each other again then the wife completely disappeared, this became apparent when the husband started becoming close to another guest. no one mentioned her again.
the one problem in this book that threw me off was the main plot. Wren has a decision to make, she slowly comes to this decision as we follow her through her day to day life- which I loved to see. when she finally makes her decision there is this lovely moment between Wren, Milo and Kip the talking fox the night before the ceremony. I was really exited to see the ceremony as we had been working to this point the whole book but the next chapter jumped forward 2 weeks and skipped over the whole thing!! I thought it was another case of tell not show but then the last chapter had the ceremony in it even tho it was made to seem it had already happened. it left me feeling like I was missing something or not paying enough attention.
all that being said and putting the confusion to the side this was still an amazing magical story that had me swept up and never wanting to leave. even with the disappearing characters and plot holes this is still one of my favourite books so far this year. it is rare to find a book this good. even with all the plot drops this author is an amazing writer and I look forward to reading more from them.
cozy fantasy at its finest.
this book paints the most beautifully picture of this inn and the village it is nestled in. it makes you want to jump on a train and make your way to Thistledown hollow right away. this story is like a hot bath at the end of a long and exhausting day. you will get wrapped up with this tale of magic and healing and forget the really world exists.
for how amazing this book is it isn't with out its faults. through out this book you have a lot of tell not show moments. there are also a lot of times where characters suddenly appear and everyone in the book knows them and has deep connections to them but we have no idea who they are. there was the love interest who lived at the inn but wasn't talked about until over a 100pages in. the romance was all ready happening and we hadn't even heard about him. there was also a character what we only meet when its was time to say good bye to them. from what we find out about this person as the story moves on they where a very important person and helped all the residences of the inn, so it was very confusing not to have them mentioned even once until the end.
there was also plot holes like the main character Wren told her love interest Milo some of her worries as they walked around the village and by the time they made it back to the inn Milo had managed to tell the whole village and they where waiting at the inn to help. how did he managed that without leaving Wrens side? there was also a married couple that where finding their love for each other again then the wife completely disappeared, this became apparent when the husband started becoming close to another guest. no one mentioned her again.
the one problem in this book that threw me off was the main plot. Wren has a decision to make, she slowly comes to this decision as we follow her through her day to day life- which I loved to see. when she finally makes her decision there is this lovely moment between Wren, Milo and Kip the talking fox the night before the ceremony. I was really exited to see the ceremony as we had been working to this point the whole book but the next chapter jumped forward 2 weeks and skipped over the whole thing!! I thought it was another case of tell not show but then the last chapter had the ceremony in it even tho it was made to seem it had already happened. it left me feeling like I was missing something or not paying enough attention.
all that being said and putting the confusion to the side this was still an amazing magical story that had me swept up and never wanting to leave. even with the disappearing characters and plot holes this is still one of my favourite books so far this year. it is rare to find a book this good. even with all the plot drops this author is an amazing writer and I look forward to reading more from them.
cozy fantasy at its finest.
November 1, 2025
There was so much heart in this book and apparently I needed it because I don’t think there was a chapter where I didn’t need a tissue. I had a mountain by the end of it because there was just so much feeling and sadness but in a good way, you know?
Unfortunately, there were quite a few editing issues. For example, characters popping up halfway through with no mention of them beforehand but written as though they’d been there the entire time. I was very much in my feels by this stage but it was incredible jarring to have named characters show up so just be aware if you’re reading.
The flow probably wasn’t as smooth as I’d prefer for a book like this and the time transitions were a bit jerky so, with all this and the above, I’ve popped it as a 2 star but it could easily get to 3 and maybe 4 with a few changes.
Unfortunately, there were quite a few editing issues. For example, characters popping up halfway through with no mention of them beforehand but written as though they’d been there the entire time. I was very much in my feels by this stage but it was incredible jarring to have named characters show up so just be aware if you’re reading.
The flow probably wasn’t as smooth as I’d prefer for a book like this and the time transitions were a bit jerky so, with all this and the above, I’ve popped it as a 2 star but it could easily get to 3 and maybe 4 with a few changes.
July 30, 2026
THIS IS AI SLOP
Be warned! This is AI and so riddled with inconsistencies and timeline fractures that it is truly incomprehensible. The people that rated it highly are bots!
Be warned! This is AI and so riddled with inconsistencies and timeline fractures that it is truly incomprehensible. The people that rated it highly are bots!
Did Not Finish
May 8, 2026Heavily suspect that this was written by AI. No thanks.
June 8, 2026
Anyone who knows me knows that I do not dnf books. But after feeling absolutely insane when the male love interest is introduced in chapter 9 like we should already know him, and I even use the kindle search feature to see if his name has even been mentioned in the text before (because maybe I missed something and he was only described before or at least definitely had some sort of interaction with her before this?), and I come up with NOTHING? No.
That is an unforgivable editing error, and I agree with all the other claims that (at least some part of) it has to be AI written. Extremely disappointing. It had some good quotes and I would have maybe given it an extra star for Kip, but every time I think about that one error that literally made me stop reading, I cannot do it. This should not have been published. Do better.
That is an unforgivable editing error, and I agree with all the other claims that (at least some part of) it has to be AI written. Extremely disappointing. It had some good quotes and I would have maybe given it an extra star for Kip, but every time I think about that one error that literally made me stop reading, I cannot do it. This should not have been published. Do better.
January 26, 2026
Very cute and well written, but needs help with some of the editing. Some scenes are repeated and pieces of the story seemed missing (characters just appear, plot scenarios too) but I would love to see something more polished by the author. I would also read this again!
April 15, 2026
Started out okay but sounds like they need a really good editor. Repeated paragraphs, jumpy timeline. Possibly ai
March 20, 2026
This was a cute, cozy, magical read.
I loved the premise of a magical inn that gives each guest exactly what they need. Kip, the talking fox, absolutely stole the show with his witty banter, and the guests’ healing journeys were heart-tugging, raw, and emotional in the best way. Add in a charming magical small town and a cast of lovable, quirky characters, and this story wraps you up in the warmest, coziest kind of magic.
There’s so much packed into this story...Wren learning how to step into her role as the innkeeper of something so special, Thea’s emotional journey as someone who simply wanted to love and help people and paid the ultimate price for it, and each guest arriving with wounds they didn’t fully understand, only to leave with more healing and love than they ever thought possible. It really pulls on the heartstrings.
What stopped this from being a magical 5-star read for me was Milo.
At one point, I was fully convinced I had turned into Dory and lost my short-term memory, because this man appeared out of thin air like I’d accidentally skipped a chapter. I went back and investigated like a detective on a mission… but nope. Nothing. And yet… there he was. Popping up like the ghost of Christmas past, acting like we go way back and I should already know his entire life story. 😐
He’d reference moments he definitely was not present for, went from NPC energy to suddenly being everywhere all at once, and it was jarring enough to pull me out of the story. And then there’s the romance between Wren and Milo. It went from him just appearing on the scene and insisting they needed to talk (giving slight weirdo stalker energy 🙃) to full-on love declarations so fast that I was left standing on the outside like… what is actually happening here?! 🤔
Instead of being swept up in it, I felt like an uninvited guest at their emotional moment.
That said, aside from my confusion (and mild identity crisis courtesy of Milo), this is a wonderful fantasy read. The world-building is rich, the magic feels soft and comforting, and the story as a whole carries so much heart.
I loved the premise of a magical inn that gives each guest exactly what they need. Kip, the talking fox, absolutely stole the show with his witty banter, and the guests’ healing journeys were heart-tugging, raw, and emotional in the best way. Add in a charming magical small town and a cast of lovable, quirky characters, and this story wraps you up in the warmest, coziest kind of magic.
There’s so much packed into this story...Wren learning how to step into her role as the innkeeper of something so special, Thea’s emotional journey as someone who simply wanted to love and help people and paid the ultimate price for it, and each guest arriving with wounds they didn’t fully understand, only to leave with more healing and love than they ever thought possible. It really pulls on the heartstrings.
What stopped this from being a magical 5-star read for me was Milo.
At one point, I was fully convinced I had turned into Dory and lost my short-term memory, because this man appeared out of thin air like I’d accidentally skipped a chapter. I went back and investigated like a detective on a mission… but nope. Nothing. And yet… there he was. Popping up like the ghost of Christmas past, acting like we go way back and I should already know his entire life story. 😐
He’d reference moments he definitely was not present for, went from NPC energy to suddenly being everywhere all at once, and it was jarring enough to pull me out of the story. And then there’s the romance between Wren and Milo. It went from him just appearing on the scene and insisting they needed to talk (giving slight weirdo stalker energy 🙃) to full-on love declarations so fast that I was left standing on the outside like… what is actually happening here?! 🤔
Instead of being swept up in it, I felt like an uninvited guest at their emotional moment.
That said, aside from my confusion (and mild identity crisis courtesy of Milo), this is a wonderful fantasy read. The world-building is rich, the magic feels soft and comforting, and the story as a whole carries so much heart.
May 12, 2026
Such an inconsistent mess
Did the author have an editor? Beta readers? Was this helped along by ai? There are so many inconsistencies in this that I was questioning my sanity.
I picked this book up looking for comfort during a hard time in my life. But instead of finding a quiet escape in this book, it made me think I was losing my mind. I thought I was in cognitive decline because I couldn't keep the characters' names and relationships straight. Nope, turns out the author's just wrote slop (or used ai to create slop), and the characters weren't written well.
Examples of this?
- The author uses the SAME EXACT description for the first two men who arrive at the inn: "The man beside her had the patient look of someone who'd learned to weather storms by becoming very still." (page 21) and "The man beside her had the patient look of someone who'd learned to weather storms by becoming very still." (Page 40) The description of the women traveling with them is also nearly identical, except a five year difference in age. Sarah and Martin & Lily and Marcus.
- The male love interest for our main character isn't really introduced the way you'd expect. I thought I must have missed it and doubled back to try to find it. But it didn't exist. The first we meet him is on page 76, "She turned to find Milo standing there, carrying his own market basket and looking unfairly handsome in the morning light." Wren and Milo have conversation like people that have known each other for a long time, not people just meeting. We later learn that he's a carpenter (page 117). He simultaneously has a room in the inn (page 118) but also doesn't live in the inn (walks towards the village at bedtime, page 80). And he's stayed at the inn for 6 years (page 147), but the inn was completely empty when Wren first arrived.
- Later, Patricia Chen arrives with her son Oliver, who hasn't spoken since his father died. The kid is devastated, which makes sense. But the story glosses over the fact that Patricia's husband died. Towards the end of the book, there's a whole section about how they need to get Mrs. Chen's grandmother to move into the afterlife because she's been hanging around. The grandmother was never mentioned at all until page 150 (out of a ~175 page book). Why invent a weird storyline with an extra character while never touching on Mrs. Chen's grief over her husband's death?
- During this weird section, the grandmother says it's okay that Marcus is courting Patricia. 1. What happened to Lily, his wife!? As of page 71, they had reconciled enough to be planning on renewing their vows. Lily's name isn't mentioned after page 125, she just ceased to exist.
- Agnes also ceases to exist. She checked into the inn and is still hanging around at least 6 months later. Then *poof* nothing more is said about her. (And honestly, since she came to the inn to process the grief of her mother's death, the hovering ghost of a mother/grandmother storyline would have made more sense to do with her.) But, no, last mention is on page 140, where's she's commenting insightful stuff about the inn as if she's a villager that's lived there longer than Wren (if the author has just made that comment from an actual villager that was there longer than Wren it would have made sense. Like Baba Orla. Or Moonbeam. Or the handful of other villagers we meet by name. But, nope. It's one of the inn's guests/long term residents making the comment.)
- Emma's age is inconsistent. On page 90, "Emma perked up, her scientific nine-year-old mind engaging." and on page 140 "Emma returned from her own break, thirteen years old and already showing the steady confidence of a born healer." There is only about six months passage of time between page 90 and 140. How'd Emma age 4 years?!
I could go on. There are so many inconsistencies that this book made me think I was going crazy. All these moments where I had to pause and go "wait?! I thought Sarah was the lawyer, why is she acting like Oliver's mom. And Oliver is a teenager, why is anyone buttering his toast for him?!" Just so many messy inconsistencies, that I'm using the search function on my Kindle to try and figure out what is actually happening.
Two nice notes about the book:
1. There are few grammatical mistakes. The sentences are written correctly, even if things they're written about don't make sense.
2. The style of language is flowy and lovely. Again, doesn't make sense from chapter to chapter, but each individual paragraph is a nice chunk of language.
Did the author have an editor? Beta readers? Was this helped along by ai? There are so many inconsistencies in this that I was questioning my sanity.
I picked this book up looking for comfort during a hard time in my life. But instead of finding a quiet escape in this book, it made me think I was losing my mind. I thought I was in cognitive decline because I couldn't keep the characters' names and relationships straight. Nope, turns out the author's just wrote slop (or used ai to create slop), and the characters weren't written well.
Examples of this?
- The author uses the SAME EXACT description for the first two men who arrive at the inn: "The man beside her had the patient look of someone who'd learned to weather storms by becoming very still." (page 21) and "The man beside her had the patient look of someone who'd learned to weather storms by becoming very still." (Page 40) The description of the women traveling with them is also nearly identical, except a five year difference in age. Sarah and Martin & Lily and Marcus.
- The male love interest for our main character isn't really introduced the way you'd expect. I thought I must have missed it and doubled back to try to find it. But it didn't exist. The first we meet him is on page 76, "She turned to find Milo standing there, carrying his own market basket and looking unfairly handsome in the morning light." Wren and Milo have conversation like people that have known each other for a long time, not people just meeting. We later learn that he's a carpenter (page 117). He simultaneously has a room in the inn (page 118) but also doesn't live in the inn (walks towards the village at bedtime, page 80). And he's stayed at the inn for 6 years (page 147), but the inn was completely empty when Wren first arrived.
- Later, Patricia Chen arrives with her son Oliver, who hasn't spoken since his father died. The kid is devastated, which makes sense. But the story glosses over the fact that Patricia's husband died. Towards the end of the book, there's a whole section about how they need to get Mrs. Chen's grandmother to move into the afterlife because she's been hanging around. The grandmother was never mentioned at all until page 150 (out of a ~175 page book). Why invent a weird storyline with an extra character while never touching on Mrs. Chen's grief over her husband's death?
- During this weird section, the grandmother says it's okay that Marcus is courting Patricia. 1. What happened to Lily, his wife!? As of page 71, they had reconciled enough to be planning on renewing their vows. Lily's name isn't mentioned after page 125, she just ceased to exist.
- Agnes also ceases to exist. She checked into the inn and is still hanging around at least 6 months later. Then *poof* nothing more is said about her. (And honestly, since she came to the inn to process the grief of her mother's death, the hovering ghost of a mother/grandmother storyline would have made more sense to do with her.) But, no, last mention is on page 140, where's she's commenting insightful stuff about the inn as if she's a villager that's lived there longer than Wren (if the author has just made that comment from an actual villager that was there longer than Wren it would have made sense. Like Baba Orla. Or Moonbeam. Or the handful of other villagers we meet by name. But, nope. It's one of the inn's guests/long term residents making the comment.)
- Emma's age is inconsistent. On page 90, "Emma perked up, her scientific nine-year-old mind engaging." and on page 140 "Emma returned from her own break, thirteen years old and already showing the steady confidence of a born healer." There is only about six months passage of time between page 90 and 140. How'd Emma age 4 years?!
I could go on. There are so many inconsistencies that this book made me think I was going crazy. All these moments where I had to pause and go "wait?! I thought Sarah was the lawyer, why is she acting like Oliver's mom. And Oliver is a teenager, why is anyone buttering his toast for him?!" Just so many messy inconsistencies, that I'm using the search function on my Kindle to try and figure out what is actually happening.
Two nice notes about the book:
1. There are few grammatical mistakes. The sentences are written correctly, even if things they're written about don't make sense.
2. The style of language is flowy and lovely. Again, doesn't make sense from chapter to chapter, but each individual paragraph is a nice chunk of language.
May 13, 2026
.... Really really really want to love this book. It has so much potential. I think you're going to be an amazing book, but I can't finish it and it hurts my soul to say that but I can't. There is too much in this book that feels like it needs to be edited. It needs to be looked through again... Somewhat of a story there and then it kind of feels like the author wrote certain chapters or bits and pieces and then pasted them together. But then didn't realize that some of them went to other parts of the chapter and then you got characters coming in out of the book. The romance isn't really there like it should be like. There's no development between that with her and him and he comes out of nowhere and you have no idea who he is and then it talks about him being there forever and he hasn't been... You got important characters coming in that are supposed to be teaching certain meanings and then they get dropped off. You also have it to where she's supposed to be growing as a person but then she's also dropping things off and just never talking about them again. Like her business and calling. And why didn't she just send a message to call it or call him or something letting him know? Hey I'm going to be here for a whole year so I'm just going to have to shut down the shop.... Because in the beginning she pretty much talked about calling like there was no way she could trust him to run her shot like he sounded kind of like a teenager that just kind of was there and didn't want to do the job. Didn't really care about it that much. That's how she made Colin feel and then all of a sudden. She just just left her shop in his hands for 6 months to more. There's no way I buy that....
Again, I really wanted to love this book and I'm only like 30 something percent of the way in but I just can't do it.... And I'm not trying to be mean but I don't really understand how it could have gotten the reviews that it did because this book needs a lot more TLC done to it...
I don't want to be mean to the author though. I know how hard it is to probably even write a book because I've also been trying to write my own book so I get it and I feel like they have an amazing book or series here. They just got to put a little more time into it and focus on editing it a little bit better an getting the story together.
Lot of people are saying this book was written by AI and I don't know if it was or not. I'm not a huge fan of I know authors not this one either. Ones have been really bad about having AI pretty much write their books for them which is lazy. But I do believe in using AI to help you a little bit along the way. Especially when it comes to like. Trying to figure out different ideas or different approaches to things but you still have to take the time yourself to incorporate it in your own way and to put human feeling into the book which I do feel like this book. I'm going to sit there and say that I think this is AI because I know everybody always wants to jump to to they cheated or they used AI and I don't want to do that
Again, I really wanted to love this book and I'm only like 30 something percent of the way in but I just can't do it.... And I'm not trying to be mean but I don't really understand how it could have gotten the reviews that it did because this book needs a lot more TLC done to it...
I don't want to be mean to the author though. I know how hard it is to probably even write a book because I've also been trying to write my own book so I get it and I feel like they have an amazing book or series here. They just got to put a little more time into it and focus on editing it a little bit better an getting the story together.
Lot of people are saying this book was written by AI and I don't know if it was or not. I'm not a huge fan of I know authors not this one either. Ones have been really bad about having AI pretty much write their books for them which is lazy. But I do believe in using AI to help you a little bit along the way. Especially when it comes to like. Trying to figure out different ideas or different approaches to things but you still have to take the time yourself to incorporate it in your own way and to put human feeling into the book which I do feel like this book. I'm going to sit there and say that I think this is AI because I know everybody always wants to jump to to they cheated or they used AI and I don't want to do that
July 5, 2026
Sadly had to give this book a 1 star because of inconsistency on the plot and needs serious editing. I felt like I wasn’t reading comprehensively but I realized it may not be me. I went in thinking a cozy fantasy under 200 pages - this should be an easy quick read. It took me over a week and a half. This book reads like a first draft that was never edited. Ideas and people change and I would flip back to see if I missed something.
*Spoilers below I guess - but I hope you don’t read it
Around chapter 17 - Wren sees her aunt the night before the binding ceremony. And the plot continues and says she completed it. Then the plot continues for months… and the book ends with the binding… that already happened. There are missing character introductions and moments. Wren wears a charm from milo.. that we never read about him giving her. What happened to Marcus and lily? Now he is flirting with the Mrs Chen character… who was Introduced with a son Oliver who vanishes . Who has a ghost grandmother at the inn. And has been there for four months. And Marcus is a painter now? And inn helped with this but we never saw it. And what happened to Agnes? And Emma, wrens protege? Which was a big thing wren having help. Never mentioned again.
Wren was there for “six months” in the winter and then again “six months” at spring equinox. Also when did wren and Milo meet? I felt I missed something and tried to go back and find it and couldn’t. All the sudden they were at the market but knew each other. Kip who hadn’t been in the binding room all the sudden leading wrens “second” binding.
Oh and the last chapter is a year from the second “six months” and orla mentions wren couldn’t cook honey cakes six months ago…. What timeline is this? Oh and then wren thinks back on the year … but too many seasons had passed.
Wren said her and Milo would get married in the spring but by the end she was like what wedding… umm the one you apparently had 15 months ago. Well maybe it was 6…. But then Milo at the end had a circular item in his pocket. But he already asked and they celebrated the engagement chapters ago.
Also did you know aunt Thea didn’t ask for help? You will the 100th time it is mentioned. Wish the author showed and not told us a million times. We get it.
And what happened to her city business … it was never mentioned.
Seriously reread your work and have someone edit. Has the potential to have be a three plus star with editing.
*Spoilers below I guess - but I hope you don’t read it
Around chapter 17 - Wren sees her aunt the night before the binding ceremony. And the plot continues and says she completed it. Then the plot continues for months… and the book ends with the binding… that already happened. There are missing character introductions and moments. Wren wears a charm from milo.. that we never read about him giving her. What happened to Marcus and lily? Now he is flirting with the Mrs Chen character… who was Introduced with a son Oliver who vanishes . Who has a ghost grandmother at the inn. And has been there for four months. And Marcus is a painter now? And inn helped with this but we never saw it. And what happened to Agnes? And Emma, wrens protege? Which was a big thing wren having help. Never mentioned again.
Wren was there for “six months” in the winter and then again “six months” at spring equinox. Also when did wren and Milo meet? I felt I missed something and tried to go back and find it and couldn’t. All the sudden they were at the market but knew each other. Kip who hadn’t been in the binding room all the sudden leading wrens “second” binding.
Oh and the last chapter is a year from the second “six months” and orla mentions wren couldn’t cook honey cakes six months ago…. What timeline is this? Oh and then wren thinks back on the year … but too many seasons had passed.
Wren said her and Milo would get married in the spring but by the end she was like what wedding… umm the one you apparently had 15 months ago. Well maybe it was 6…. But then Milo at the end had a circular item in his pocket. But he already asked and they celebrated the engagement chapters ago.
Also did you know aunt Thea didn’t ask for help? You will the 100th time it is mentioned. Wish the author showed and not told us a million times. We get it.
And what happened to her city business … it was never mentioned.
Seriously reread your work and have someone edit. Has the potential to have be a three plus star with editing.
January 26, 2026
Because this book currently only has 118 ratings, I wanted to check it out. I was immediately drawn to the cozy cover and was excited to read something warm and magical. And the story definitely delivered my expectations. It was so cozy and I loved the unique characters. However, I did find some issues and wanted to address them.
1. So a shop keeper just left her business? Like she received a letter saying she needed to care for an inn and she left without a proper handoff... And never went back again. That 1 poor part-time employee is now working full time and doesn't know when she'll be back because their phones don't work in the magical world. Who's paying the shop rent? Who's making more product? What is happening with the store? I'm stressed thinking about it.
2. What is this timeline? It felt like Wren had just arrived and she was still learning the inn when Milo said he was falling in love with her after just meeting her. But then everyone says that their relationship is moving slowly. Like I thought it all took place within a week or 2 max. But apparently it was longer. Also Wren and Milo interacted like once and suddenly were in love with each other. Did she make an insta-love tea and slip it to him or something?
3. How did Wren know which rooms to rent and that they were clean? She literally just arrived to the inn after her aunt had been passed away for like a week (maybe 2?). She hadn't even settled in before the first group came in. I'd think she'd want to make sure the rooms were available and clean before renting them out. I mean, there was probably a good amount of dusting that needed to be done and what if the rooms were a disaster?
4. I feel like the ending had a random character that I don't remember being introduced to during the book. The lady with the ghost mom. Like did I miss something important because who are they? When were they introduced to the story? Idk... they just felt random.
Probably with all of my questions I should rate the book a 1 star, but vibes alone I'm going to give it 3. The cover drew me in first and I stayed for the talking fox wearing a scarf. Maybe address some of the issues and the book will be *chef's kiss*
1. So a shop keeper just left her business? Like she received a letter saying she needed to care for an inn and she left without a proper handoff... And never went back again. That 1 poor part-time employee is now working full time and doesn't know when she'll be back because their phones don't work in the magical world. Who's paying the shop rent? Who's making more product? What is happening with the store? I'm stressed thinking about it.
2. What is this timeline? It felt like Wren had just arrived and she was still learning the inn when Milo said he was falling in love with her after just meeting her. But then everyone says that their relationship is moving slowly. Like I thought it all took place within a week or 2 max. But apparently it was longer. Also Wren and Milo interacted like once and suddenly were in love with each other. Did she make an insta-love tea and slip it to him or something?
3. How did Wren know which rooms to rent and that they were clean? She literally just arrived to the inn after her aunt had been passed away for like a week (maybe 2?). She hadn't even settled in before the first group came in. I'd think she'd want to make sure the rooms were available and clean before renting them out. I mean, there was probably a good amount of dusting that needed to be done and what if the rooms were a disaster?
4. I feel like the ending had a random character that I don't remember being introduced to during the book. The lady with the ghost mom. Like did I miss something important because who are they? When were they introduced to the story? Idk... they just felt random.
Probably with all of my questions I should rate the book a 1 star, but vibes alone I'm going to give it 3. The cover drew me in first and I stayed for the talking fox wearing a scarf. Maybe address some of the issues and the book will be *chef's kiss*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2026
What started as a 5 star.. turned to 3… turned to 1. I’m so mad that I read this book. As many of the reviews already say, I do believe this book was written by ai.
What I was loving about the book: The magical world was so so cozy. I loved that magic was accepted in this world, as opposed to most books where the magical is a secret and the magical being is being hunted down. This was truly zero stakes and I was loving that.
But then things got strange: characters were literally disappearing and other characters were randomly brought into the story without ever being introduced. Ms. Chen and her dead grandma??? Literally who are you?? I imagine that saying goodbye to granny was supposed to be emotional for the readers except for the fact that we had never heard of them before until that exact moment. And I have no idea who the person being trained to help out with the inn was bc they were also randomly brought in without any introduction. And then we have the characters who did have an actual introduction, but vanished into thin air never to be heard of again. The family with the three kids? Gone. The sad boy and his mom? Gone. Lily? Goneeee. Even though her husband was still around, but not at all wondering where his missing wife was.
Also, the story seemed like it was wrapping up for an ending multiple times but just… kept on going.
I was willing to let those things only bring my rating down to a three star because again, the zero stakes magical inn setting was so wonderfully cozy. But my world came crashing down when I came to Goodreads and saw the ai speculations. That’s when the inconsistencies all made sense. What a garbage thing to happen that we live in a world where a machine is making up stories. Boooo 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼
What I was loving about the book: The magical world was so so cozy. I loved that magic was accepted in this world, as opposed to most books where the magical is a secret and the magical being is being hunted down. This was truly zero stakes and I was loving that.
But then things got strange: characters were literally disappearing and other characters were randomly brought into the story without ever being introduced. Ms. Chen and her dead grandma??? Literally who are you?? I imagine that saying goodbye to granny was supposed to be emotional for the readers except for the fact that we had never heard of them before until that exact moment. And I have no idea who the person being trained to help out with the inn was bc they were also randomly brought in without any introduction. And then we have the characters who did have an actual introduction, but vanished into thin air never to be heard of again. The family with the three kids? Gone. The sad boy and his mom? Gone. Lily? Goneeee. Even though her husband was still around, but not at all wondering where his missing wife was.
Also, the story seemed like it was wrapping up for an ending multiple times but just… kept on going.
I was willing to let those things only bring my rating down to a three star because again, the zero stakes magical inn setting was so wonderfully cozy. But my world came crashing down when I came to Goodreads and saw the ai speculations. That’s when the inconsistencies all made sense. What a garbage thing to happen that we live in a world where a machine is making up stories. Boooo 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼
June 2, 2026
I wanted to like this book so much! I was so excited to read this! Unfortunately, (and I hate to say it), but I really believe this was AI written. If it is not AI written, the author desperately needs to consider beta readers.
Overall, the timeline and time jumps make absolutely no sense and this book is the king of lost characters and lost plots.
To start, while in several fantasy novels where the MC runs off to the new fantasy life, the old life and people don’t really need any wrap up or it is explained about the wrap up early on. However, there was an entire chapter dedicated to Wren’s original shop and her worker Colin. And both were mentioned frequently in subsequent chapters. Until they just weren’t. No follow-up, no conclusion, just gone.
The character Lily? Where did she go? Her husband is still very much present and doing things but where TF is Lily? Just *poof*! Gone!
And who is Milo!?!? Like all the sudden we have a good looking heavily involved in the inns daily running love interest?!?!? Where did he even spawn from!?!?!?
I wouldn’t mind if each guest interaction was meant to be rather episodic. I actually rather like those nice gentle reads where each chapter kind of wraps itself up. But this book did not do that with its disappearing characters at all.
Look, if you wanna write with AI: you do you but authors need to be honest about that from the start. You don’t get to take full credit for work that is not your own. Even if a computer made it.
So yeah, would NOT recommend this or any of Devon Yates other books considering I now consider them all to be tainted.
Overall, the timeline and time jumps make absolutely no sense and this book is the king of lost characters and lost plots.
To start, while in several fantasy novels where the MC runs off to the new fantasy life, the old life and people don’t really need any wrap up or it is explained about the wrap up early on. However, there was an entire chapter dedicated to Wren’s original shop and her worker Colin. And both were mentioned frequently in subsequent chapters. Until they just weren’t. No follow-up, no conclusion, just gone.
The character Lily? Where did she go? Her husband is still very much present and doing things but where TF is Lily? Just *poof*! Gone!
And who is Milo!?!? Like all the sudden we have a good looking heavily involved in the inns daily running love interest?!?!? Where did he even spawn from!?!?!?
I wouldn’t mind if each guest interaction was meant to be rather episodic. I actually rather like those nice gentle reads where each chapter kind of wraps itself up. But this book did not do that with its disappearing characters at all.
Look, if you wanna write with AI: you do you but authors need to be honest about that from the start. You don’t get to take full credit for work that is not your own. Even if a computer made it.
So yeah, would NOT recommend this or any of Devon Yates other books considering I now consider them all to be tainted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2026
Wasted potential, laughably bad attempts at sounding deep
This book had such potential!! It sounded oh so cozy. It could’ve been a very comforting, uplifting read but instead it ended up feeling like a chore, because I have this weird thing where I have to finish everything I start— even cheesy books that are full of aimlessly repetitive nonsense that goes nowhere. Based on the number of times certain words and phrases were reused throughout the book, the author should probably look into expanding their vocabulary. If you’re on kindle, search for the words “might have been” and tell me how it makes sense for this one phrase to appear 50 times in a tiny 180 page book?! “something that might have been x or might have been y…” And everything tastes/smells of possibilities lol (among other things). The air smelled of midnight and lavender and promises and possibilities and something that might have been time itself… PLEASE.
Also whatever happened to editing?! There’s so many random typos, weird sentences, using the wrong name for a character in the current scene, or sudden appearance of a supposedly familiar character even though there’s been barely any mention of them so far..? Like whotf is Milo and how are we already in love with him?! Where did Milo come from?? Lmao this book is ridiculous. In case you can’t tell lol I’m super irritated, yet still compulsively reading this cuz I can’t not finish a book, even though it’s been 2+ months (I could only tolerate a little at a time) of eye rolls and I just want it to be over! The last few chapters especially are pretty much the same, she just kept stretching it.
This book had such potential!! It sounded oh so cozy. It could’ve been a very comforting, uplifting read but instead it ended up feeling like a chore, because I have this weird thing where I have to finish everything I start— even cheesy books that are full of aimlessly repetitive nonsense that goes nowhere. Based on the number of times certain words and phrases were reused throughout the book, the author should probably look into expanding their vocabulary. If you’re on kindle, search for the words “might have been” and tell me how it makes sense for this one phrase to appear 50 times in a tiny 180 page book?! “something that might have been x or might have been y…” And everything tastes/smells of possibilities lol (among other things). The air smelled of midnight and lavender and promises and possibilities and something that might have been time itself… PLEASE.
Also whatever happened to editing?! There’s so many random typos, weird sentences, using the wrong name for a character in the current scene, or sudden appearance of a supposedly familiar character even though there’s been barely any mention of them so far..? Like whotf is Milo and how are we already in love with him?! Where did Milo come from?? Lmao this book is ridiculous. In case you can’t tell lol I’m super irritated, yet still compulsively reading this cuz I can’t not finish a book, even though it’s been 2+ months (I could only tolerate a little at a time) of eye rolls and I just want it to be over! The last few chapters especially are pretty much the same, she just kept stretching it.
February 5, 2026
"She thought about still water and sleeping cats and the moment just before dawn when the world held its breath."
2.5 stars. This began almost like a dream and has a great foundation with some good prose although often overly saccharine but there are also too many inconsistencies and outright contradictions.
Here be spoilers.
Sometimes you know immediately when something is good and right for you but wisdom and acceptance still takes time. While this was lovely and cozy there wasn't really enough strife.
Once the inconsistencie began it felt as if two people wrote it, then mashed it all together without evidence of an editor or beta readers, and hit publish. Which is sad because it really did start so well and I fully expected this to be 4 stars.
2.5 stars. This began almost like a dream and has a great foundation with some good prose although often overly saccharine but there are also too many inconsistencies and outright contradictions.
Here be spoilers.
Sometimes you know immediately when something is good and right for you but wisdom and acceptance still takes time. While this was lovely and cozy there wasn't really enough strife.
Once the inconsistencie began it felt as if two people wrote it, then mashed it all together without evidence of an editor or beta readers, and hit publish. Which is sad because it really did start so well and I fully expected this to be 4 stars.
April 24, 2026
This was written by AI. A shame. The author might have created something interesting if they’d tried actually writing about their ideas, but we’ll never know.
Full of tell, don’t show. Bad editing. Characters who appear and disappear without notice. An entire greenhouse that is barely mentioned until it suddenly becomes deeply urgent, & is repaired painlessly & almost instantly. A love interest with neither love nor interest. The entire relationship consists of him trying to tell her he likes her & her saying, “Not until after the festival.” Literally. He shows up without introduction - I imagine the scene where they meet is “on the cutting room floor.” We never learn anything about him or where he came from, except for the fact that he is a carpenter, and can do all the work the MC isn’t doing. Eye roll. 🙄
I’m near the end of Chapter 17 out of 22, & I’m so tempted to DNF… I’m listening to the audiobook (for free), so I might keep listening just because I like to have something in the background while I knit. I’ve already had two chapters where I thought, ‘Oh, this must be the last chapter. Good, it’s almost over. I can stand it for a few more pages.’… And then there’s another chapter. And another. And another. The story is over!! But it just keeps going… GROAN. 😫
Edited to add: Nope. Can’t do it. I am officially pulling the plug halfway through Chapter 18. There is no life here. DNF.
Full of tell, don’t show. Bad editing. Characters who appear and disappear without notice. An entire greenhouse that is barely mentioned until it suddenly becomes deeply urgent, & is repaired painlessly & almost instantly. A love interest with neither love nor interest. The entire relationship consists of him trying to tell her he likes her & her saying, “Not until after the festival.” Literally. He shows up without introduction - I imagine the scene where they meet is “on the cutting room floor.” We never learn anything about him or where he came from, except for the fact that he is a carpenter, and can do all the work the MC isn’t doing. Eye roll. 🙄
I’m near the end of Chapter 17 out of 22, & I’m so tempted to DNF… I’m listening to the audiobook (for free), so I might keep listening just because I like to have something in the background while I knit. I’ve already had two chapters where I thought, ‘Oh, this must be the last chapter. Good, it’s almost over. I can stand it for a few more pages.’… And then there’s another chapter. And another. And another. The story is over!! But it just keeps going… GROAN. 😫
Edited to add: Nope. Can’t do it. I am officially pulling the plug halfway through Chapter 18. There is no life here. DNF.
March 3, 2026
wonderful story concept, but needs editing
The story concept was magical and cozy. The premise of a woman, Wren, taking over a magical inn with a resident talking fox was quite fun and whimsical and everything made sense up until about chapter 7. Then suddenly Milo, the romantic interest, appears with no introduction or explanation or anything. I was so confused when Wren started talking to him as if they already had a meet cute. I even went and searched through the book to make sure I didn’t miss something. It happens with other characters as well just springing up fully formed - like Mrs. Chen and her grandmother who’s apparently a ghost haunting the inn?? Like since when?? Then one of the couples from the first chapters who were the second guests of the inn I think turned into one person? I’m not really sure, just that somehow Lily was gone and only Marcus was left. I think those were their names - it was quite confusing.
Again, the story, writing style and premise of this book are awesome. I was almost crying at times from how heart warming it was. Just needs some thorough and careful editing to bring this story together.
The story concept was magical and cozy. The premise of a woman, Wren, taking over a magical inn with a resident talking fox was quite fun and whimsical and everything made sense up until about chapter 7. Then suddenly Milo, the romantic interest, appears with no introduction or explanation or anything. I was so confused when Wren started talking to him as if they already had a meet cute. I even went and searched through the book to make sure I didn’t miss something. It happens with other characters as well just springing up fully formed - like Mrs. Chen and her grandmother who’s apparently a ghost haunting the inn?? Like since when?? Then one of the couples from the first chapters who were the second guests of the inn I think turned into one person? I’m not really sure, just that somehow Lily was gone and only Marcus was left. I think those were their names - it was quite confusing.
Again, the story, writing style and premise of this book are awesome. I was almost crying at times from how heart warming it was. Just needs some thorough and careful editing to bring this story together.
May 15, 2026
I rarely write a review for a book, but this one needed a review. It started off as a really good cozy read. I got an annoyed that they didn’t close out the storyline about her shop in the city, but I was able to move past that. Until you got to the last six or seven chapters of the book. That’s when the continuity and storyline goes off the rails, like someone else came in and wrote the ending without reading the rest of the book. Marcus‘s wife completely disappeared and they acted like she never existed. Patricia Chen changed to Mrs. Chen and her storyline completely changed. She showed up with her son, lost in grief over her husband’s passing and then all of a sudden her son was gone and she was processing grief over her grandmother’s passing. Agnes disappeared completely. And the family with children who had one turned into the apprentice were completely gone. The main character gets engaged and then later on they hint at her getting engaged. It just got super confusing. It took me a while to get through the last chapters because I kept having to double back to figure out if I missed something or if something just changed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2026
I wanted to love this book. It has the making for a wonderfully cozy and romantic story. Unfortunately, a few chapters in, I started to see a huge disconnect. There are many mistakes from the book in other reviews,(which I read after I finish to give a book a fair rating). Including Milo just entering the story being fully fleshed out, characters going missing, and character ages not being correct.
The chapters felt as though each one could be its own story. It felt as though important pieces were glazed over or skipped over entirely. We never even see the binding ceremony, which is a crucial piece of the whole book. For such a small book, it felt like it just kept going. Half of the book felt like an epilogue. The protagonist is happy, found true love, and found family. That is basically reiterated several times in the last several chapters.
I am not one to even post reviews, but this book was so disappointing to me because it has the bones to be amazing. I really hope the author can use this book as a manuscript for an actual novel without inconsistencies.
The chapters felt as though each one could be its own story. It felt as though important pieces were glazed over or skipped over entirely. We never even see the binding ceremony, which is a crucial piece of the whole book. For such a small book, it felt like it just kept going. Half of the book felt like an epilogue. The protagonist is happy, found true love, and found family. That is basically reiterated several times in the last several chapters.
I am not one to even post reviews, but this book was so disappointing to me because it has the bones to be amazing. I really hope the author can use this book as a manuscript for an actual novel without inconsistencies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2026
I feel kind of bad rating this book so low because I want to like it! I wanted a clean and cozy fantasy, and this delivers. And I absolutely love the ideas behind the magic and the plot. It was a comfortable read when I was busy doing other things and needed to turn my brain off before bed.
But it was boring and incomplete and unsatisfying. Every chapter read like a complete short story, and didn’t necessarily connect with the one ahead of it. And the end of each chapter finished with a little moralizing “and this is what we learn from this experience”.
This especially started to bother me because I couldn’t keep track of the timing or the character development. The plot that the book started with seemed to get lost. And if I put the book down for a long while, it was hard to tell if I was reading something new or rereading a previous chapter.
I hope the author refines the writing style and organizes the ideas for future books, which I would definitely try. But I can’t give this one more than 2 stars.
But it was boring and incomplete and unsatisfying. Every chapter read like a complete short story, and didn’t necessarily connect with the one ahead of it. And the end of each chapter finished with a little moralizing “and this is what we learn from this experience”.
This especially started to bother me because I couldn’t keep track of the timing or the character development. The plot that the book started with seemed to get lost. And if I put the book down for a long while, it was hard to tell if I was reading something new or rereading a previous chapter.
I hope the author refines the writing style and organizes the ideas for future books, which I would definitely try. But I can’t give this one more than 2 stars.
May 6, 2026
Great idea, but written by AI
The idea sounds fantastic. A woman inherits a magical Inn and has to learn to run it. There's a fox familiar, the food you cook gets infused with your emotions, and the inn gives you what you need the most, even if it's not what you want. Sounds great!
Then we start having continuity issues. Did she inherit from her grandmother or her aunt? She sees the inn for the first time TWICE, and that's just in the first five chapters. After chapter 8, though, it gets so much worse. Characters appear and disappear mid-scene. The MMC suddenly appears and acts like he's been there the whole time. Multiple characters appear that are supposed to be super important, but appear out of nowhere, and we are supposed to care about them. Characters' ages change, and time is fluid, to say the least. Some chapters happen before the Binding, some chapters happen after... It's a mess.
The idea sounds fantastic. A woman inherits a magical Inn and has to learn to run it. There's a fox familiar, the food you cook gets infused with your emotions, and the inn gives you what you need the most, even if it's not what you want. Sounds great!
Then we start having continuity issues. Did she inherit from her grandmother or her aunt? She sees the inn for the first time TWICE, and that's just in the first five chapters. After chapter 8, though, it gets so much worse. Characters appear and disappear mid-scene. The MMC suddenly appears and acts like he's been there the whole time. Multiple characters appear that are supposed to be super important, but appear out of nowhere, and we are supposed to care about them. Characters' ages change, and time is fluid, to say the least. Some chapters happen before the Binding, some chapters happen after... It's a mess.
August 10, 2026
Story has promise but totally lacks attention to details. Characters appear and disappear without any reference to well, anything really. Was there no editing or follow through? Things happen out of sequence, characters lack depth and there is no real story arc other than a string of weird events and ideas strung together without any thought to developing any tension or a satisfying story arc or resolution. Characters change weirdly and without any warning or backstory. Where did Oliver and Lily go? Where did Mrs Chen’s grandmother’s ghost come from without warning to have a chapter dedicated to her farewell? And the binding glossed over as done then reappears later as a whole chapter totally out of sequence. Weird. It feels as if it was written by AI without a functioning human at the helm, ‘the author’(???) randomly picking ideas from books in this genre and stitching them together in an ad hoc manner. It should never have made it past the editor’s desk.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews