What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I remember reading this book in middle school, I’d guess around??? 2008 or so. I don’t remember many details, but the book began with the title of “The Secret-Something-or-Other”. The cover was of a woodland scene with a castle peaking out from a bush. These kids were on summer vacation (probably) and were at their (aunt’s???) house playing hide and seek when they stumbled across the bush. They end up in this other world, and the torch they had brought with them turned into a lantern when they tried to use it. They end up filling the roles of the child monarchs, and the story was leading up to some great magical war that was soon to happen. The details I clearly remember are as follows: the youngest girl requests hot chocolate and is disgusted when she realizes that chocolate is not sweetened in this world; one of her brothers is playing the role of a left handed prince, and in the process he spills soup on himself only for it to be cleaned up with a dirty rag because “old rags sop up messes better than brand new ones”; unicorns were common in this world and I believe the youngest befriended one; the castle they stayed in was light pink, much to the brother’s dismay. I believe there were only the three children, but there may have been four.

I think the book you are looking for might be fairytale by maggie shayne

The Lost Children?

The Secret Country?

A Castle in the Window?

Link for Roya's suggestion - Fairytale by Maggie Shayne

That's definitely The Secret Country series by Pamela Dean - has the chocolate, handedness, flashlight, pink castle, unicorns, etc.

Followed by the books The Hidden Land and The Whim of the Dragon.

There's 5 children in total - Patrick, Ruth, Ellen, Ted, and Laura. Ted and Laura are brother and sister, and Ruth, Patrick, and Ellen are also siblings. They always used to play together in the summer, but then Ruth, Patrick, and Ellen moved to Australia, I believe, along with their parents.

Definitely recommended, I loved this series.

Here's the Google Books preview of The Secret Country by Pamela Dean - Sarah's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=s6k...

Quote from book:
"It was stupid not to bring a flashlight," said Patric, "but I forgot it would be dark here."
"We brought one," said Laura.
"Where is it?"
"It turned into a lantern."
"What?" said Patrick.
"It did not," said Ted. "I dropped it in the stream, and we found a lantern in the stream."

Here's a bit about the pinkness of the castle:

"Laura settled herself as securely as she could in Ruth’s trembling grip and took her first good look at where they were heading. She was too outraged to speak, which was no doubt just as well. High Castle—if it was High Castle—looked like a piece of peppermint candy, concentric rings of pink and white. It was supposed to be a square white—or maybe gray—fortress with towers at its corners and a moat around it. Laura drew in a breath to protest to Ruth, and let it out again suddenly as the horses began to move."

And the chocolate:
"Laura took an enormous mouthful of the hot chocolate, sputtered, and spewed it all down the front of her white nightgown. It was dreadfully bitter. Laura stared at the cup, aghast. Someone must be trying to poison Princess Laura. She bolted for the bathroom, whimpering, and rinsed her mouth, finding time to hope that, whatever Lord Randolph gave King William, it would taste better than this."
...
“Let’s go,” said Laura. The water was still sloshing in her stomach. She got up. “Agatha tried to poison my cocoa,” she said as they went out the door.
“What?” said Ted, pleasing Laura immensely. She did not really think that it had been Agatha, but she had wanted to get Ted’s attention.
“How do you know?” said Patrick. Laura told him. Patrick leaned on the passage wall and howled. “You crazy kid,” he said when he was finished laughing. “It’s bitter because they don’t put sugar in it, that’s all.”
“Why not?”
“Same reason people don’t put it in tea and coffee, I guess.”
“That’s stupid,” said Laura, knowing full well that Patrick thought it was she who was stupid.