The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

This is the most fanciful and upbeat book that falls into the fantasy genre. Many fantasies are dark dystopias, where the action is largely dark and violent battles between good and evil. This is not one of them. When reality is so scary, what with war, climate change, politicians who lie and steal, and disaster around every corner in the real world, this is a nice escape from all that. Linus Baker is a lonely case worker for the government entity in charge of magical youth. It manages orphaned magical beings who are minors. Normally his job is similar to an accountant in an office, but one day the organization's Extremely Upper Management taps him for a month-long assignment and to report back to them. Linus's special assignment is to assess a special orphanage on the island of Marsyas that is run by a phoenix who literally gets hot under pressure. While Linus is clearly a spy, the powers that be are not altogether excited by the way the place is being managed, he is a likable one that everyone warms to in the end, and so, things goes relatively smoothly despite all that.