By Title: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries
Author: Heather Fawcett
Publication Date: 2023
Publishing House: DEL REY
I have heard about this book for a while and finally decided to pick it up. This book I did end up buying new and I’ve already got the second one ordered. This was a book I finished in a day.
Synopsis: 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.
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, and the Fair Folk.
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.
I’ve read a lot of books with faeries, fair folk, fey. This one is definitely one of my favorites and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book. The book started a bit slow for me but once I actually had time to start really diving into the story I could not put it down.
Slight spoiler warnings
Emily does some very good things not for altruism but because they offer her good opportunities to study the local faeries. That being said, she does hide good intentions behind a single minded pursuit of knowledge. She knows she has the knowledge to help and get the information she wants. She also has the fantastic ability to drag Wendell Bambleby into the mess with her. Things he thinks are a bad idea and would 100% not do for anyone else. Granted he does have his own agenda.
Emily and Wendell’s interactions are the highlight of this book. Especially early on because he absolutely does not mind at all that she is “curmudgeonly.” He refers to her as a dragon. Their ridiculous relationship made this book a fun read. Wendell is his own sort of chaos, especially once he is able to be his full self.
The villagers in this book make the story so sweet. Emily may not have started out on the right foot with them but the relationships she builds make the heart happy.
I suggest this book for those that like dark fairy tales, for those that want an adult take on the fair folk, and for those looking to escape into a world of magic for a time. Have you read this book? If yes, let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Happy reading.
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