Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: Book One of the Emily Wilde Series (Emily Wilde, 1)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.
"A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic."--Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
"A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic."--Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
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Community Reviews
Fantasy is not a genre I branch into often and especially not Romantasy. The first thing I’d say is don’t expect a great fantasy novel here. This is a character driven romance with YA tropes and some fairies thrown in. If a character is in a dangerous situation, don’t worry because they will magically be ok and everything will be alright!
This book is for those looking for a cozy romance with a feel good message about community, helping others, and allowing others to help you. I would not recommend this to anyone looking for fantasy or even a good fairy story.
The characters were initially interesting but in my opinion halfway through the book they start acting out of character and the relationship moves far too fast without enough ground work. Also if you don’t like the characters stop reading, because there is nothing else here but character interactions and conflicts with no tension because they always find a crazily coincidental way out with no causalities.
The pacing in this is also way off. One minute you have a fun scene where the characters are interacting with local
Fairies and bickering and it’s genuinely enjoyable then you have about 50 pages of Emily talking about the food they’re eating, or the state of the cottage, and it’s so dull.
I started this book at a neutral rating, a sold 3/5 until halfway and then it just completely tanked for me. I will not be continuing this series because it just wasn’t for me and the issues listed above are just too much to overlook.
Fantasy, magic, falling in love with a fairy. Cute story with a strong protagonist, professional fairy studier. She was a loner, ultimately fell in love, built community with both people and fairy. If this is really the first of a series, it was good but I’m not sure I necessarily want to read any more of it.
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