Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel

By: Elizabeth Everett

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

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.

Critic reviews

Praise for Elizabeth Everett

“Beautiful and important.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn on The Love Remedy

"Smart is the new sexy, and Elizabeth Everett does both better than anyone else!"—#1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood

"Everett balances humor, heart, and magic with poise and perfect balance."—Neely Tubati Alexander, USA Today bestselling author of Courtroom Drama

"Elizabeth Everett has created an absolutely magical world inside Number Five Wayside! I fell head over heels not just for Josie and Pax, but for the hilarious and heartwarming gang of characters, from the cheerleading pixies to the vegan zombies. With a love story as affirming as it is steamy, a richly woven new magical world, and the found family of my dreams, Magic and Mischief [at the Wayside Hotel]... is my new favorite cozy fantasy romance. Everett is a master of the craft and I can't wait to see what her marvelous brain comes up with next!"—Falon Ballard, USA Today bestselling author of Something Wicked

"Fizzy, engrossing romance . . . a wholehearted celebration of women who choose to live gleefully outside the bounds of patriarchy's limitations."—Entertainment Weekly on A Lady’s Formula for Love

"Dazzling. A Love by Design is full of heart, brains, and white-hot sizzle."—New York Times bestselling author Lynn Painter

“Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett delivers a fun, light-hearted tale of a magical hotel building, mythical creatures, and a single mom doing the best she can to raise her young son after his father’s death.”—Fresh Fiction

“Books involving fresh starts also feel very Spring like....What better fresh start than finding a new place to live in a magical hotel turned apartment building? Especially when you’re a widowed single mother desperate for a change? If you want whimsy in your spring read and found family, this is the book for you.”—In Between Drafts

“Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel is a good, slow-burn romantasy story that is light on the spicy parts, but heavy on the relationship-building aspect. If you like your romance stories on the slow-simmer side with a heavy dose of amusing fantastical creatures, then I would recommend this book in an instant.”—Game Vortex

Insider Knowledge

In the interest of full disclosure I must acknowledge that the author and I hale from the same hometown. I was made aware of her when I saw a brief interview with her on a local news station. I thought to myself I love reading fantasy romances and I love supporting local talent so downloading this story was a no brainer for me. If you are from our hometown you will recognize several references to locales and businesses unique to us. Which made the story just that much more enjoyable for me. Now that that is out of the way here's my review.
The story of Josie and her little boy Amos stumbling into the Wayfair Hotel which is actually a portal to other dimensions full of travelers who entered the hotel expecting to transported to their destinations. But the hotel referred to in this story most often as #5 isn't going anywhere. It's tank is empty and no one really knows why or what to do about it. But #5 is more than a hotel or mode of transportation, it is a sentient being and it makes its desire to have Josie and Amos live there immediately clear. Pax a former paladin who had spent the first 100 years of his life fighting with the forces of The Light is #5's manager. The individual that it will communicate directly with. He is also in charge of keeping order among the guests, like a vampire prince, some fairies princesses (that are a riot) gargoyles and gnomes just to name a few. The romance is the budding relationship between Pax a noble former knight who is like a fish out of water when it comes to understanding human customs and emotions and Josie a widowed single mom with a very sad background who must constantly fight not to let her history determine her self worth and her mother-inlaw who seems intent on gaining custody of her grandchild Amos the child of her late only son Dan. Until Josie takes up residence in the Wayfair her only friends have been a couple of middle-aged co-workers who are almost as funny as the cheerleading squad fairies. When Josie's and Amos's presence doesn't have an immediate effect on restoring #5's tanks some of the more vicious residents believe they need to be sacrificed to do the trick. Of course Pax does not make Josie aware of that fact because he doesn't want to scare her off and is convinced of his ability to protect them both.
Honestly was tempted to give this story a 5 star review but I felt the ending was a little murky and not quite as satisfying as I personally would have preferred. Still a fun fairly quick read or listen. If you decide to listen to it on Audible I can tell you I though the voice actor did a first rate job of portraying the many characters. I've heard much wore listening to Audible books by far more well known authors.