Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1) by Heather Fawcett

June 7, 2024May 6, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy + Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Heather Fawcett
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

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.

I DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL.

On one hand, this was an interesting read. Had some unique touches that I enjoyed and I liked the whole set-up of Emily Wilde out in the field, learning about faeries. I’d overall consider this a soft four star read.

But it also lost me for a lot of the middle. I thought that things slowed waaaay down. There were a lot more encyclopedic tangents and I was missing the point of the whole book in the first place. I did like most of the romance. It had its own flair and Wendell had snarky golden retriever vibes that I liked. Emily is fine for a FMC. I don’t really have any intense opinions on her one way or another.

The last quarter was intriguing. I have a lot of questions about some of the fae world, the king, the powers, and a few [redacted] stuff too. I want to read the next, and I’ll definitely do that through the library again.

Overall audience notes:

Urban Fantasy
Language: little
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate

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Book Review: These Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows #1) by Lexi Ryan

September 6, 2021September 5, 2021 GoodeyReads2 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA/NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: Lexi Ryan
Publisher: HMH
Release Date: July 20th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From New York Times best-selling author Lexi Ryan, Cruel Prince meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this sexy, action-packed fantasy about a girl who is caught between two treacherous faerie courts and their dangerously seductive princes.

Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she’ll do whatever it takes to get her back—including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.

Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie’s only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

READ IT.

Did I think I would be saying that when I started reading this book? No. BUT Y’ALL. Let me convince you to read it too.

THV has been touted as an ACOTAR/TCP (The Cruel Prince) mash-up. I know this may be a bad thing to some, but for me it made me love it allllll the more. Many books claim to be like those classic fae reads, and I love that this one ACTUALLY DELIVERED on that fact. It gives all the vibes you could hope for, with being its own story, and that’s what I’m here for.

Hello a love triangle I can handle. This was written beautifully. Even if I made my pick once the second love interest came onto the page, I still felt drawn both ways. I had to yell a few times at the book of course, but by that ending, all things became clear and I will not hear further commentary and WHO BRIE SHOULD BE WITH.

I loooove the strong sister bond here too. Brie is a fierce force of nature who will do whatever she needs to do in order to save her sister. I love her passion and strength. Those closing scenes had me fist pumping at her bad-a self and I can not wait to see her revenge in the next book.

There’s gossipy goblins and curses. Twists and turns with plenty of action. Soft and subtle moments that will bring the swoon. Goodness, I just adored this book.

Overall audience notes:

YA/NA Fantasy Romance
Language: a little
Romance: kisses to brief open door
Violence: physical and magical altercations
Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, loss of parents and loved ones, indentured servitude, poisoning, near death experiences

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Book Review: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

May 8, 2020January 31, 2020 GoodeyReads2 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 363 pages
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: January 19th, 2010
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth – that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

DISAPPOINTED.

I was really excited to start this book because I’ve heard great things about it. It seemed liked a great fae book with a swoony romance.

And maybe the later books are like that, but this was not the case here. The best portion was the fact that there were lots of faeries. I love all things fae and loved being in that fantasy world again. The addition of Meghan going back and forth between the fae lands and human lands was no good. I like being immersed in one world or the other. Moving between the two takes me out of the world building and story itself.

I think I would have also appreciated the romance more if I was enjoying the book more. It didn’t come about til after the second half when I was already waning on my cares for the plot. Then things between Megan and Ash ramped up quickly without enough moments for me to ship them.

Even more so, the ending happened so fast!! All of a sudden this evil guy was gone, Megan was home, brother rescued. I’m not even sure where the story is going from here frankly. Or if I will be finding out.

I really wanted to love Megan as a character. And I did for a time. I understood her being confused, messing things up and trying to figure the new world out. But then, she spent the rest of the book being rescued…over and over and over again. Not to mention, they traveled the entire book too. Which I always find kind of dry on its own.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult fantasy
Language: some throughout
Romance: kisses
Violence: swords, magic, beast attacks, guns

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Book Review: A Kingdom of Exiles (Outcasts #1) by S.B. Nova

October 25, 2019September 14, 2019 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy
Length: 600 pages
Author: S.B. Nova
Publisher: Night Owl Publishing
Release Date: December 17th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The brightest of stars are always born on the darkest of nights.

Serena Smith is unusual.

Growing up in a backwoods village, her life is lonely and dull. Then, on her eighteenth birthday, she’s gifted a magical heirloom only to be snatched by fae and condemned to a lifetime in chains.

Dragged to Aldar, a fae kingdom ruled by a tyrant witch, Serena discovers a forbidden love, and meets fellow outcasts, each with their own dark secrets.

As the lives of warriors, rebels, and witches clash, they find a shared destiny. For only together, and with Serena’s unique gifts, can they survive long enough to build the flames of a revolution. Only together can they go to war …

DID SOMEONE SAY FAE?

Yes, I come running to a book when I hear that. And this was no different, and was a great read!

Oooo boy, finally finished this one. I read it through Amazon Prime so I didn’t pay attention to the page count, did you know this book is 600 pages? NEITHER DID I. Yet, somehow, I consistently found myself wanting to come back and read this. I would put it down to read a few chapters from another book and wouldn’t feel as invested because I wanted to dive into this story more. Yes it’s long, but it somehow feels like everything was a necessary piece of the puzzle.

I would desperately like to know who Serena’s mate is though y’all. WHO WHO WHO…who. There was kind of a roulette situation happening with multiple fae where I was convinced each time, oh this is her endgame, and then was thrown off that to someone else! I still have no inkling. The romance in this book is a bit all over the place. Her relationship (that’s supposed to be family based) seems way more than that. The one that was more romantic, didn’t have me really shipping them, AND I’m JUST LOST. If you can’t tell by my rambling sentences.

Serena is definitely a work in progress. Since this is only the first book, I am totally cool with not LOVING her character, but seeing where she can go. I wish she could do a little more for herself, yet I see that she needed to form all of the bonds because she was dealt a crappy hand in the human world. This allowed her to have friendships and people truly close to her.

I love the bit of squad goals we had with Serena’s pack. Frazer (LOVE HIM) needs to be my best friend. I would love him so! I love the team dynamics and the protectiveness that forms through the trials they go through at the military training camp.

The setting and world-building is a bit confusing at times. I really wasn’t grasping the view of the world until way deeper into the book (and a thorough read through of the map). I love maps, but feel like when I’m reading the book itself I shouldn’t have to keep checking back to confirm where I am. The story should be able to narrate that.

Some of the twists near the end had me stunned. I genuinely didn’t see them coming. I thought the lead up was great and can’t wait to get the villain on screen.

I also spent some time looking up information on the next book and stumbled upon the fact that this is supposed to be a four book series. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT THAT LONG.

Overall audience notes: