Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – Review | Blog Tour

A stunningly beautiful and fascinating novel.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

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 this heartwarming and enchanting fantasy.

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, get in the middle of 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.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries was such a stunningly beautiful book, both in terms of imagery and story. Fawcett painted such stunning visuals of ice-laden lands, cozy cottages, and boisterous village taverns, it was as if I was Emily living through all the adventures she experienced.

I will not bore you with the blurb once again but oh, I loved the way Wendell warmed his way into Emily’s heart. Both are multi-layered people. While Emily is a meticulous scholar devoted to her study of the Folk and bad at interactions with people, Wendell is a devastatingly handsome man who can charm the socks off any person, be it a woman or a man. He acts like an irresponsible, lazy man but as the story progresses, layer upon layer of his personality is revealed and I couldn’t help but fall in love with him (along with Emily, but she wouldn’t admit it, stubborn woman).

Though she arrives at the village of Hrafnsvik for a scholarly work, the village people and Wendell steadily transform her from a stand-offish person to a person who would risk her life to save them at all costs.

Keep in mind, the romance, the adventure, the village of Hrafnsvik, and the Fae stories are woven with equal love and measure into this wonderful book. Heather Fawcett has delivered a classic with this book. It will be devoured by generations of true fantasy fiction lovers.

This is a little slow-paced but be patient and you’ll be rewarded with a richly woven story of faerie folklore, friendship, and true love. This was a highly original story, and I recommend it wholeheartedly to any fantasy fiction lover.

BOOK DETAILS

Genre: Fantasy, Romance || Pages: 336  || Published on January 10, 2023 by Orbit.

Goodreads

AUTHOR BIO

Heather Fawcett is the author of the middle grade novels Ember and the Ice Dragons and The Language of Ghosts, as well as the young adult series Even the Darkest Stars. She has a master’s degree in English literature and has worked as an archaeologist, photographer, technical writer, and backstage assistant for a Shakespearean theater festival. She lives on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Author Link(s): Website

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