Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett | 369 pages | 2024

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures, and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby. Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

This second installment in the series adds some new characters, as well as hearkening back to some of the most charming relationships formed in the first book. I loved the references to Emily's friendship with Lilja, and the opportunities for little Poe to help save the day again. The addition of Emily's helpful and capable niece Ariadne and the curmudgeonly Professor Rose really rounded out the cast of characters. As in the first book, the author shows a wealth of creativity mixed with research as she introduces new faeries and delves even further into the faerie realms. 

Somehow this book manages to mix the "cozy fantasy" genre with a little bit of horror, since the story is warm and quirky but most of the faeries are decidedly not. I'm looking forward to diving into an advance copy of the final book soon!

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett | 317 pages | 2023

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?

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

What a fascinating book. I couldn't put it down. I'm not totally convinced about formatting the book like it's a scholarly journal, especially when we were suddenly reminded of the fact and therefore pulled out of the story a bit. Overall though, this book is so charming. Emily was adorably awkward. The villagers were delightful. Wendell was so much fun to read. Most of all, I'm a huge sucker for folklore and this is chock full of it, both stories that the author (I believe) invented and many that I've heard versions of before. It's a great fantasy series I'm excited to continue!

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black - 370 pages

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr – 328 pages

Aislinn, like her mother and grandmother, has the Sight.  She has been taught to not interact with faeries, but when a powerful noble faerie dons a glamour to court her in the human world, she is forced to break the rules she’s followed all her life.  Keenan is the Summer King, and he must find his Summer Queen in order to gain his rightful place and power held by his cruel mother, Beira, the Winter Queen.  Many girls, like the unfortuate Donia, have tried to pass the test to be Keenan’s queen, only to be trapped in the Winter Queen’s cold.  Aislinn wants to be with the human Seth and not become a faerie, but the fate of both faerie and human worlds depend on her choice. 

Dark and sensual with an engaging style, this book portrays the faerie world as full of violence and capriciousness as it is laughter, warmth, and dance.  Though not many of the characters were to my liking, through the view of their inner worlds and the experience of their thoughts and feelings, I was still able to give them some appreciation.  None of the characters face easy choices, but by the finale, their sacrifices and compromises allow them to achieve most of their ends and desires. 

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely
by Melissa Marr
328 pages

Filled with good faeries, bad faeries, and in between ones too, this story tells us about a girls struggle to keep them from knowing her secret and finding some out that others have been keeping from her. In the end it turns out well and she sets her world and Keenan's on their heads.

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

The Falconer by Elizabeth May  378 pages

Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life carefully planned around Edinburgh's social events - right up until a faery killed her mother.
Now it's the 1844 winter season and Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of parties, tea and balls. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, she sheds her aristocratic facade every night to go hunting. She's determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city's many dark alleyways.
But the balance between high society and her private war is a delicate one, and as the fae infiltrate the ballroom and Aileana's father returns home, she has decisions to make. How much is she willing to lose - and just how far will Aileana go for revenge?

Ironside by Holly Black

Ironside by Holly Black  323 pages

In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure of only one thing -- her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to Roiben, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can't see or speak to Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.

Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth -- that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen?

Valiant by Holly Black

Valiant by Holly Black  313 pages

When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. Impulsive Lolli talks of monsters in the subway tunnels they call home and shoots up a shimmery amber-colored powder that makes the shadows around her dance. Severe Luis claims he can make deals with creatures that no one else can see. And then there's Luis's brother, timid and sensitive Dave, who makes the mistake of letting Val tag along as he makes a delivery to a woman who turns out to have goat hooves instead of feet.

When a bewildered Val allows Lolli to talk her into tracking down the hidden lair of the creature for whom Luis and Dave have been dealing, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honorable. And as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between her affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

Faerie Winter by Jannie Lee Simner

Faerie Winter by Jannie Lee Simner, 270 pages
Book 2 of the series

Liza is a summoner. In the first part of the series, she discovers this about herself and embarks on a journey to find her mother. This series picks up where the last left off. Liza's mom is recovering from her time in Faerie. The earth is going back to normal with trees, plants, etc. no longer seeking human blood and bone like they used to, but winter lingers and a famine is setting in. Fighting a famine is bad enough, but Liza then has to deal with a stranger in the village whose gift is fire. An accident sends Matthew, Liza's skinwalker friend, off to find Kaylen, who is a faerie and a healer. Liza's visions teach her more about the relationship between Kaylen and her mother ... and hints that their love sparked the original fight between man and faerie.

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

Bones of Faerie by  Janni Lee Simner, 256 pages
Book 1 of the series

The war between humans and Faerie has changed the modern world. Gone are all the conveniences of life. The world is unfriendly with trees and plants that attack and kill. Any trace of magic is evil and must be destroyed, or so teen Liza has been taught by her fanatical father. She witnessed him carrying her newborn sister to the wilderness, leaving her to die, all because she was born with silver hair. Her mother left soon after -- considered tainted by magic. When magic presents itself in Liza, she flees from her home in terror knowing her father and the villagers will kill her for it. Her only hope is to find her mother. Joined by others possessing magical gifts, Liza soon comes to realize the world is not as evil as she first thought it to be. Can it the gap between faerie and humans be healed?

Poison by Chris Wooding

Poison by Chris Wooding, 273 pages

"The world is a library, young Poison, and you'll never get to read the same book twice." Truer words were never spoken by Fleet, a character you'll meet along Poison's journey.
When Poison's sister is kidnapped by faeries, she is sent on an adventure where she discovers the world is not at all what she thought it and she's more than just a girl searching for her sister. She will face many dangers that will shape who she will become. I enjoyed the twist and turns of this book. It had a "The Neverending Story" feel almost to the very end.

A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey

A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey, 482 pages
The Lovegrove Legacy Series book 1

Lady Emma Day's life has been one boring ball after another until one debutante ends up dead with only Emma as witness. When Lord Cormac Fairfax enlightens Emma about her lineage being filled with powerful witches, Emma's life is turned upside down -- especially with the deaths of more debutantes and Emma being the one to find the bodies. With the help of her two cousins, Emma must discover who is behind the murders of girls before a witch hunt ensues with her at the center. In the meantime, she must learn how to master her powers before they master her. It's all in a day's life for a debutante - witch -  heiress.

Autumn Rose by Abigail Gibbs

Autumn Rose by Abigail Gibbs, 385 pages
(Book 2 in Dark Heroine series)

I think all the built up anticipation for this book over the last year is likely the cause of so much disappointment. The story was well done, but lacked the attraction of the first book in the series. 15 year old seer Autumn Rose is one of the Dark Heroines we read about in the first book. I will admit after meeting her through the eyes of Violet Lee (the main character of the first book), I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about who she was. This book gives us a look into her life (how her grandmother died, what role she plays in the school/Sage/her world) and what part of the prophesy she fills --from her point of view. She is a sage, a duchess no less, who acts as guardian for her public school until the day the Sagean Prince Fallon shows up. Romance, mystery, murder, and secrets follow in the building of the story. The interaction between Prince Fallon and Autumn Rose is not as intense as it was between Voilet Lee and Kaspar... Likely that is because Fallon and Autumn are young teens, but I still think the author could have done more with their story.  I hope the next book in the series is much better than this one. (I had to drag myself through the last 10 chapters). I think I'll hold off on purchasing it until I've borrowed it first.

Blythewood by Carol Goodman

Blythewood by Carol Goodman, 489 pages

The world is full of shadows, darklings and faeries, but 16 year old Avaline Hall is just learning about that world. After her mother's death and the loss of her friends in a horrible factory fire, Avaline is whisked to a mental hospital because of her rantings about a man in an inverness cape and a boy who could fly. Discovered and rescued by her very wealthy grandmother, Avaline is taken to Blythewood - an unusual boarding school for girls - that her mother and grandmother attended. The secrets wrapped up in Blythewood are so dark, it's a wonder that Avaline discovers half of them by the end of the book. There is danger lurking around every corner and madness eating away at some. An ancient story of the seven daughters of a bellmaker are wrapped into the mystery that is Blythewood. Avaline must discover her hidden talents and quickly. She must also be able to decipher what is evil and what is not because at Blythewood, rarely is anything what it seems.

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston, 327 pages

A fantasy romance about a long lost fae and the human-changling that falls in love with her (and of course she with him) while trying to save her life. Kelley is a wannabe actress that finally lands a leading role as Tatiana in an off-off broadway play when the main actor she's an understudy for disappears. She doesn't question things that would make normal people go 'hmm' and pretty much accepts everything she is told. So it's not too surprising that Kelley doesn't realize she is fae and only discovers that fact after one of the Janus guards, a mortal named Sonny, reveals her true identity. (Sonny is the human-changeling I mentioned in the first sentence). Then all hell breaks loose (literally) and more than just Kelley's life is in danger as the Wild Hunt is sent after her (and any human that stands in their way). I thought for sure the book would pick up at that point, but it stayed tepid. I think I struggled through it for the most part because the main character is so absurdly clueless. I am really disappointed that this wasn't an excellent read. The storyline sounded so good.

The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, 181 pages

A man returns to his childhood home and relives the memories of being 7. Magic abounds as we see the world through his eyes. The storyline was confusing at some points but the magic kept me turning pages. Suicide, murder (attempted and otherwise), faeries, friendship and sacrifice blend to create a very short but wonderful read for adults.

Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins

Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins, 359 pages
Book 2 in Hex Hall series

The book opens as Sophie is whisked away with Cal, Jenna and her father to England where she will learn all about being a demon (and avoid getting murdered by the bad guys who are hunting her down). The whole council side of the story and background of certain characters left me a bit dumbfounded. I think the author's favorite thing to do is to shock her readers because this book packs several punches. While I pretty much guessed what would happen throughout the story, I was still highly entertained with side stories galore and the shockers here and there.
Jenna (lesbian vampire) and Cal (white warlock) are still my favorite characters even if they have small bits here and there. In fact, one event towards the end of the novel has me biting my nails in anticipation for the third installment in the series. Fingers crossed! Readers will come away with your classic magical girl falls for magical bad boy, love triangle, conspiracy, murder, loss, mystery, etc. that is typical in teen fantasy these days. What's not so typical is the lesbian love interest story involving Jenna. It is very tastefully done.

Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Ironskin by Tina Connolly, 304 pages

It is hard to "retell" a great story like "Jane Eyre", but Tina Connolly gives it a valiant try in "Ironskin".  You have your plain looking governess, your dark Mr. Rochester, the beautiful little girl and the crazy mom. However, the author also weaves fey and fey curses into the tale. The plot moves along very slowly and sluggishly. It might have been better had I never read Jane Eyre before, but I couldn't help but compare "Ironskin" to it. There was no mystery. No suspense. No heart stopping moments. It was just a book. A book about a governess falling in love with her brooding master and his little girl albeit with a steampunk twist. Jane is fey-cursed and hides her scars behind an iron mask. Her sister has found love and so Jane must find work to provide for herself - which is difficult since the "ironskins" are feared and considered the trash of society. She heads to the dark manor in the employment of Mr. Rochart to be governess to his daughter Dorie as he believes Jane is the only one who can truly understand and help his little girl.  Dorie, is also fey cursed but in a different way. Her mother was inhabited/possessed by a fey when she was pregnant and the fey qualities transfered over to little Dorie. It is five years after the Great War between the fey and humans. Humans are trying to get back to "normal" without fey technology. Yet, the fey aren't truly defeated and there will be one more final battle that Jane has to fight to protect the people she loves and save humanity from the threat of the fey. How will this book end? Well, if you've read Jane Eyre, you'll know, but hopefully it will still be an enjoyable read to you.

Gossamer by Renita Pizzitola

"Gossamer" by Renita Pizzitola, 222 pages (in print)

Kyla has lived a normal teen life with her mom and dad for 17 years. Approaching her 18th birthday, her world is turned upside down when Connor and Grant arrive on the scene. As in all teen fantasy novels, Kyla immediately feels a strong, electrical attraction to Grant and doesn't know why. She ends up falling "deeply" in love with him without even knowing him. Turns out she is half human, half Fae ... and a changeling with a twist. Her mother hid her with humans to keep her safe until she turned 18. (There is some human organization that's out to kill her). It is Kyla's destiny to return to the Fae and become a "fairy princess" by marrying the prince. But what if that is not how she wants to live her happily ever after? The prince is wonderful, better for her, etc. (Almost like Twilight's Jacob) but her heart beats only for Grant. This novel is just like all teen fantasy romance novels with a love triangle, moody main love, on again off again relationship and lots of drama. I was really happy when I finished the novel and really can't see picking up anymore in the series.

Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton, 637 pages

Merry Gentry is in hiding, from her aunt, who of which is the queen of the unseelie court. She is doing fine until one of the cases she works on out her as the princess of the unseelie court. No more hiding. She is then summoned home to fulfill her queen's wishes in becoming the heir to the throne. But only if she is to get pregnant. Is Merry going to go through with it or is she going to take a chance on the queen's wrath?