fantastically fae

This fun book exceeded most of my expectations after I plucked it off a Barnes & Noble shelf, thinking its premise seemed promising. I mean, the title is adorable. And the back cover describes "A curmudgeonly professor" and "her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival" working together in a small, snowy corner of the world to study the activity of the Faeries in the realm. A good rivals to lovers sometimes rivals that of a good enemies to lovers, and this was one such case. So much about this book surprised me, one of the main things being the narration style. The entire book is comprised of the main character's, Emily Wilde, journal entries, which makes for a fun, academic tone and lighthearted shortcomings concerning her true feelings for said academic rival, Wendell Bambleby. It's interesting to get to know her as a character through how she analytically writes about her day, her research, her usually awkward social interactions, and her encyclopaedia. She also ends up working on a paper with Wendell that consists of her well-thought-out notes and Wendell's wit and charm. I loved how this book portrayed the Fae: we see higher Fae forms, the ones that most stories portray since they're the closest to humans. But we also see lower forms of Fae in characters like Poe who Emily befriends via trades and careful language to form a transactional friendship. That's another cool element of the journal entries -- a good amount of folklore is learned through Emily's extensive knowledge of the Fae, since she has devoted her entire career to understanding them. Now, I knew that she and Wendell were destined to fall for one another (duh), but I loved loved loved the way it all came about. I'm gonna spoil it a bit by saying that Wendell's unexpected and slightly flustered marriage proposal charmed me to no end. It had me kicking my feet and blushing on an airplane at 11:30pm. Their romance is one that readers realize has been burning for quite some time; Emily knew all along how she felt about Wendell, and knew her suspicions about how he felt were probably not misplaced either, but because we're forced to read the story through the lens of her careful, controlled thoughts, we have our doubts regarding whether there's a real romantic connection there until it's staring us in the face. This goes hand in hand with Wendell's incessant wit and charm. His dialogue is so well written, I just can't get over it! And the few times we get Wendell's brief entries in the journal are so fun too, to get a glimpse into how he's observed events that Emily was unable to record. This author's figurative language in general is just lovely, especially as she describes the landscape of the setting and the usually strange appearances of the Fae. I also love Wendell's fussiness and skillful avoidance of any hard work while also somehow being a great scholar. Prepare yourself for another spoiler: Wendell is actually an exiled Irish Faerie prince trying to find his way back home, and chiefly hoping to utilize Emily's expertise on his kind to help him find the "door" he's looking for. But also, of course, he loves her and enjoys her company. It's a win win on so many levels. And while this endeavor to find Wendell's door isn't as fleshed out of a storyline in this book, I suspect it will be in the next book, which I hope will be published very soon. The twists and turns this book took regarding the winter Faerie king's curse and Emily's unfortunate part to play in his freedom was refreshingly unanticipated, at least by me as a reader. In all, I felt like it tapped more into the darker parts of Fae lore and history than I thought it would (especially concerning Wendell's capability to exact methodical, gruesome pain for Emily's sake). And the meaningful theme of true friendship through Emily's realization that she has people who care enough about her to see her rescued from a seemingly impenetrable land really touched me. I'd like to see this adapted into a TV show or movie! I'll be anxiously awaiting the next book in the meantime.



Some of my favorite quotes from Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries:

"Perhaps it is always restful to be around someone who does not expect anything from you beyond what is in your nature."

"One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories."

"I knew you wouldn’t believe it. Just because you have a heart filled with the dust of a thousand library stacks does not mean everybody does."

"But then his eyes came open, and he smiled at me with such innocent happiness that my ridiculous heart gave a leap and would have answered him instantly, if it was the organ in charge of my decision-making."

"Shall I make an appointment?" he said, then laughed. "Yes, I believe you would like that. Well, name the time when it would be convenient for you to receive a declaration of love."

"How was it that I suddenly had faerie kings, plural, demanding to marry me?"

"'Yes,' I said. 'You blend into the background. I could almost forget about you entirely. It's refreshing.'
Naturally, he found a way to twist this into a compliment. 'And am I ordinarily a distraction to you, Em?'"

"I say half, because I was mostly just watching you, observing the way your mind clicks and whirs like some fantastical clock."

"I may be of use to you yet, my dear dragon."

"'Do you want to marry me?'
'That's---that's beside the point.'"

---