As the long winter nights draw in, a heartwarming, cosy story is perfect for reading near the fairy lights with a hot drink. And this is exactly what Inspirational Wink and the Altogether Extraordinary Notebook was!

Inspirational Wink (better known as Good Idea) is sixty years old, quite ordinary and perfectly content having never left the farm she grew up in. When her father dies, though, her world is turned upside down by the revelation that her mother is a witch who used to possess a very powerful notebook which could destroy everything if it ever fell into the wrong hands. Good Idea's mother carefully hid the notebook many years before, but having grown old and weak is now unable to retrieve it, a task only her firstborn can undertake on her behalf. The only problem? It seems every prince, witch and demon in the country will be trying to snatch the notebook from Good Idea, making this quite possibly the worst trip ever... Good Idea will have to rely on a motley crew of hastily assembled allies and her own wit to carry out this task... and try not to be killed in the process.

I loved the characters! Good Idea especially was a fabulous main character. At sixty, she's not exactly your typical fantasy hero and she made for a perfectly reluctant hero, keen as she was to return to her quiet farm life, far away from all adventure. She's smart and caring, resourceful and extremely good at managing crises and thinking outside the box. I loved seeing an elderly main character rep in this novel, especially since it felt very realistic: Good Idea is strong and resilient (which would make sense after a lifetime of farmwork), but she also has frequent aches or gets tired and cranky when she has to skip a meal.

The side characters were also delightful! They were a really diverse bunch but I came to love each and every one of them, and I enjoyed every second spent with them. It felt as though a few of the characters received much more attention than others, making the latter come across as rather thin, but it really wasn't a big issue overall.

The plot itself is quite straightforward, with this being an almost classic Big Quest as the characters set out to search for the titular notebook. It's a cosy fantasy, so it is fairly predictable overall in its results but the journey to get there was still enjoyable, and the characters managed to surprise me a couple of times with the way in which they got out of a sticky situation. There is a lot of humour as well, which makes it even more pleasant to read and lends a whimsical quality to it. 

Overall, this is a cute and endearing cosy fantasy, perfect for a heartwarming light read on a winter night. I hope we'll see more stories set in this universe and have a chance to discover more of the absolutely delightful characters who were introduced here.

I received an advanced review copy of this book via BookSirens for free. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.