Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

Tracy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Release Date: March 31, 2026

When her boyfriend Ethan breaks her heart right at the beginning of summer, Calisa’s moms decide that she needs time away to heal and move on, so she can focus on her upcoming senior year. They send her to stay with her great-aunt Zee who runs a B&B in Vermont. Things seem to go wrong right from the start, she is caught in the rain, falls through the porch and is basically told to leave by her Auntie Zee.

But Calisa needs this time away and the Faraway Inn is filled with secrets and the promise of the answers she is seeking. She charms her way into staying for the summer, and soon somewhere between baking, cleaning and making new friends, she begins to unlock the inn’s secrets and realizes her grumpy great-aunt needs help and she thinks she might be able to give it. But when Auntie Zee goes missing, she will have to find a way to save not only Auntie Zee, but the inn itself before it’s too late!

This was such a fun story! Calisa is suffering from her first heartbreak at the beginning of the story and feels like all her hopes for a perfect summer before starting her senior year in high school are ruined. She starts to believe that if she succeeds at restoring the Inn, she will find the happiness that she lost when Ethan broke her heart. Along the way she will learn so much! There will be a new love interest, mythical/magical beings, secrets, found family (figuratively and literally), magic, healing and happy beginnings! This was a great YA cozy fantasy, and I am happy to recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of magic!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

The Governess’s Guide to Spells and Managing Misfit Marquesses by Amy Rose Bennett

Tracy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Parasol Academy #2

Release Date: March 31, 2026

As a graduate of the Parasol Academy for Exceptional Nannies and Governesses, Hermina “Mina” Davenport will never let harm come to her charge, especially after making a deathbed promise to his godmother. So, when Christopher, the orphaned 7-year-old Viscount Fitzwilliam is being taken to the North Pole by his possibly bewitched guardian, Sir Bedivere Ponsonby, against his will, Mina has no choice but to intervene. She “te-ley-ports” onto the ship and they make their escape, but that is where things go terribly wrong. Instead of ending up in her room at her mother’s house, they end up on another ship – owned by an incredibly large and handsome Irish nobleman, Phineas “Phinn” O’Connell, the newly-minted Marquess of Kinsale. He kindly offers to take them back to Bristol and they part ways. After settling Christopher in her mother’s home, Mina returns to the Academy for a new assignment. Imagine her surprise when Phineas is her new employer!

Phinn O’Connell is not a typical nobleman, raised in Ireland he survived the Great Famine by becoming a prizefighter, but even that was not enough to save his family, who perished from a typhoid outbreak. He is large, scarred, uncouth and speaks with not just an Irish accent, but he also has a speech impediment, which makes him very self-conscious and something of a joke to his peers. He desperately wants to pass laws in parliament to help his people in Ireland, but no one takes him seriously. He needs help, he needs Mina! But as his friend Viscount Hartwell, points out he has no child in need of a governess, and he doubts the academy would allow her to work for him. So, when he catches a young boy trying to pick his pocket, he sees a way to hire Mina and help a young boy at the same time. What could go wrong?

I think I actually liked this story better than the first book, which is saying a lot because I LOVED the first book. Mina and Phinn are both wonderful characters and their story is filled with witty banter, flawed yet lovable characters, a cursed ring, wonderful secondary characters, an irascible pug, cameos from Emma and Xaiver, lots of magic, secrets, snarky servants, opposing Fae Queens, slow-burn romance, and finally a happy ending with the promise of more magic to come! This is the second book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone title without any problem. I am happy to recommend both titles in this fun, magical, Victorian-era series!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

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