YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

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.

29th October
(view spoiler)[Although I love the look of this book, I’m not sure I’ll like it. I’m not a big fan of the use of ‘footnotes’, and it’s already starting to annoy me. I also feel like not a lot will happen and it’ll just be a lot of descriptions, so I’m not sure. I’m already skipping the footnotes and most of the descriptions ngl oops.

Shadow is quite the wellbehaved dog damn. Not sure how I feel about Emily so far, her aloofness is a bit too much for me. I wonder whether she’s supposed to be autistic? It’s cool that Wendel isn’t human and probably Royal fae. Damn Aud’s niece was so creepy, can’t believe she’ll do anything you say, what. It’s clear that they don’t want Emily talking to her, yet she doesn’t care. Finn seems nice tho. The faerie was also cool!

Not loving it so far though, I don’t like the matter of fact writing as if we’re reading an encyclopedia ourselves. I don’t fully trust Wendell, can’t believe he’s here. Idk, it just feels like he’s taking over her research and she doesn’t seem to care. His faerie ways of just making people do what he wants are intense tho. I feel bad for them just using everyone, especially Henry and Lizzie wtf. (hide spoiler)]

17th November
(view spoiler)[Ugh he’s using Finn too. The changeling was cool, although I can’t believe she basically tortured him what the hell? I do like the different creatures. I hope she’ll be able to help that family with the changeling, poor people. I just don’t like Wendell at all idk, he feels so childish.

Damn he’s a prince? Of course he is, so YA. Their students left damn, only because of the changeling? Wtf then they’re clearly not made for this work. Can’t believe she nearly took off his hand lol, they are like children in how little they can do themselves what the hell? I like Aud tho, she now knows about Wendell too. The faerie stories were really cool tbh, and creepy, poor cat.

The tree was intense, and Wendell now knows that she knows about him. Her lack of care is so weird wtf. Can’t believe shadow listened to him wow. I do wonder if animals feel fae magic, she doesn’t think so.

Idk they just both feel like such flat characters, although I’m glad Wendell talked a bit about his past. He’s apparently searching for a door, a way back, and his stepmother killed his elder sibling and exiled him (which doesn’t make any sense but ok). Although I think I sort of like him, I don’t think I really feel anything towards either of them. (hide spoiler)]

26 nov
(view spoiler)[Ah Lilja has been taken. Gosh, Emily is such a detestable person? She literally doesn’t give one rats ass about anyone, as long as it helps her research. I think I kind of hate her actually. Wendell isn’t much better, he just wants to lie about everything anyway. Ugh neither are likeable at all. I do really like Poe and that Wendell helped him with his tree lol, he reminds me of Dobby. Shadow never leaves traces? So he’s clearly faerie too right what the hell, how hasn’t she noticed. It’s so odd that faeries are at humans mercy to be taken care of, it’s still so weird to me bc they should be so powerful. I still can’t believe she’s so stupid to be enchanted argh, she should’ve stayed away from that tree obviously. She just doesn’t seem to think at all, only focused on her research.

Wendell killing all those faeries was freaking creepy, they both remind me of either sociopaths or psychopaths. Idk how I feel, they don’t really have anything likeable. They’re stuck in the faerie world and Shadow is indeed something else, but WHAT?? Gosh give answers already. I also don’t understand what turning your clothes inside out has for an effect. The guy who looked like Wendell was odd, I wonder if it wasn’t one of his siblings. And why did they want her cloak so bad, just because of the protection human clothes give? Hm.

At least she got Margret and Lilja. Aaah shadow is a grim, a Black Hound! Cool. Lmao I liked Wendell's POV tbh, that was cool. I like Lilja and Margret but I just can’t get a read on anyone and whether they have ulterior motives. Everyone now knows about Wendell as well, so that’s trouble too. (hide spoiler)]

4th December
(view spoiler)[I feel bad for Mord and Aslaug, I don’t want them to lose their kid. I hope Mord is alive, it’s odd that he wasn’t at home. I can’t believe she freaking tortured the kid again?? Woah so the king in the tree (the cursed one) is actually way better than the current queen? Damn so they’ll probably free him then? Can’t believe the kid was a son of the king, but how on earth did they find his mothers home?

That makes no sense. I still don’t really understand the faerie world at all, I’m so confused by the powers and possibilities. For someone trying to explain all the creatures, she’s massively failing in making things actually clear. What the hell? I’m glad Mord and Aslaug have their kid back, but I can’t imagine how difficult it’ll be pff.

They haven’t even kissed and he PROPOSED? Damn dude. WHAT??? She chopped of her HAND? Omg. I mean, it stopped the enchantment but still what the hell. The enchantment seemed kinda good tho. And now she’s going to the tree anyway, seriously? She should’ve asked Wendell to come argh. She’s so frustrating in her desire to do EVERYTHING ALONE. Convenient that she knows the button spell to free the king 🙄🙄 her dumbness is annoying the shit out of me. She’s literally going to free a king that has been trapped for a fucking reason?????? And now he wants to marry her because some seer told him, I wonder who that was. Her stopping in the middle of a sentence isn’t cute, the diary writing feel is so annoying to me.

Also, unrelated question, I’m no native English speaker, but I always thought it was either December 4th or 4th OF December??? Is that not true? (hide spoiler)]

3rd February
(view spoiler)[Well, he at least doesn’t want faeries to take mortals again, but the queen won’t give up this easily right?! And she only made things way worse, there’s now an INTENSE winter and villages died bc of the avalanche he made to make his castle. She doesn’t care ofc, as long as she gets what she wants. I get that she’s spelled but still omg.

Oh lol okay the queen was killed by wolves 🤣 ah Wendell is here! Cute, he knew about the enchantment and has been searching for a solution ever since. Can’t believe the king didn’t give her finger back tho lol. And they’re all working together to help her!

And the queen is still alive, but she’s so much worse than the king so I’d prefer her dead. I do really like Aud, her interactions with Wendel are quite funny and how she doesn’t show her fear is so funny. I really don’t get why the village would even save her, there’s nothing to like and she clearly only saved those people bc of her research, she didn’t give one rat’s ass. Man, she fits perfectly in with the faerie. (hide spoiler)]

Finished
(view spoiler)[It’s so hard to pin down in which time this is? It seems to be in the old days, but she also spoke of photographs so I’m confused as hell. I’m glad they didn’t kill the king, that would’ve definitely been the stupid plan. Aud’s quick thinking was admirable damn. I love that Wendell is a cleaning fae and still makes others do everything for him?🤣 but anyway, I’m glad they’re safe, but it’s sad that they’re just going to leave? He finished the paper and gave feedback on her encyclopedia damn, I kind of hope she won’t credit him bc it really was her work wtf he barely did anything for either article nor the book. I do love Wendell’s mirrors. Can’t believe the king would be tricked like this though, he’s ancient yet is easily tricked by little humans? Sure ugh. He just accepts that she’s gone and ends the war, convenient. I do love that Wendell is so into tailoring lol.

Damn I hate that it ended before their presentation, I wanted to see it. At least Wendell is back to himself, but I’ll miss Poe the most. I hope the ‘key’ is a way to contact him & open a door to him, so he can come to her. I also hate that we still don’t know whether they’ll marry damn. The story at the end was magical again, I did like those myths and stories. I’m not sure how I feel about this book though. I don’t like the diary vibe & I didn’t love the characters, Emily kind of sucks (no, she really does suck). Wendell had his moments but I also can’t fully like him for some reason. Difficult one! (hide spoiler)]

Wow, that was fast lol - and you didn't like it!

I'm probably going to start on February 1st, to be able to count it for a challenge that starts then.

Yeah I flew through🤣 it wasn’t really for me though sadly :/ Sounds good, I’ll come back to read your comments then!

Danique wrote: "29th October..."

(view spoiler)[I am enjoying the story so far. I know what you mean about footnotes, though, I dnf books for that reason. It’s ok here, probably because I’m listening to the audio.

I like the remote setting and the creepy vibe. Something is going on with the villagers, they seem weirdly hostile. Wendell’s arrival feels more like a rescue to me rather than anything aggressive. He has some power over others but in this case I thought it was used very benignly. We will see how that goes.

The boy faerie really is adorable! (hide spoiler)]

November

(view spoiler)[ I enjoy the unique mix of fairytale and science. Wendell has been outed and has shown his cruel side. It’s so funny that he has this need for order and neatness and a talent for tailoring :) (hide spoiler)]

Finished
(view spoiler)[ I liked many things about this book - the setting, the fairytale feeling and the amazing side-characters. Poe was a favorite for me, too, but I like the whole atmosphere in the tiny village and all the villagers despite their prickly welcome at first.
I agree that Emily and Wendell were difficult to like. I thought it quite typical for stories about fairies, they're often portrayed as unthinkingly cruel and Wendell was less so than most. Emily cares more than she admits to herself, I don't buy the whole "just for science" thing; I think she came to really care about the villagers and genuinely wanted to help them.
I wanted them to end up together and that Emily couldn't decide made me lose patience with her lol
I'll probably give the second book a try, once it becomes available in my library. I'm not hooked enough to buy it ;) (hide spoiler)]

I just started this book (I'm 30% through, at 30th October), so I thought I'd share my thoughts here!

I’m loving the writing: such beautiful descriptions and metaphors that purposefully feel impossible to imagine, which makes things seem otherworldly and magical. It all feels incredibly immersive and engaging. The advanced words chosen lend themselves to the whimsical atmosphere.

(view spoiler)[The interpersonal interactions are so odd and intriguing. Emily herself is something of an oddball (and I love her for it!). She strikes me as either socially awkward or autistic (I find myself armchair diagnosing her, lol); I find her so relatable! Emily's interactions with Bambleby are hilarious. She's such a tsundere and pretends to hate on Bambleby or see him as competition despite finding him attractive, and Bambleby’s straightforward endearment in the face of her annoyance is so refreshing and never fails to make me laugh.

Emily treats the faeries with respect and dignity, just as she would talk to anyone else. She isn’t afraid or repulsed by them even though other people are, and I think this comes from her being able to relate to the faeries more than other real humans, since, like them, she doesn’t fit in. I like this!

I have so many questions!! Emily seems to be super logical and in researcher mode, and these occurrences that should be wildly frightening don’t seem to scare her at all! Is it just that she has experience and is so used to it? Or maybe she is scared underneath? And Bambleby’s a faerie prince?! Although the little brownie fae basically confirmed it, I’m still left wondering. I guess until Emily and Bambleby don’t broach the subject themselves, I won’t feel satisfied. Also, how did Emily meet Shadow? She says she “invented” a story of how they met. Curious!!

The way Auður and the changeling at the farmhouse are described instilled a heart-stopping sense of dread. The eeriness is so wonderfully horrific. And I’m so curious about what the deal with Auður is because we aren’t immediately told what happened to cause this affliction.

I love how mysteries are repeatedly set up at every turn. And it’s not confusing at all; I have all the information I need to understand the story. But rather, I’m left with specific questions that I’m impatient to find answers to. Keeps the pages turning! (hide spoiler)]

I'm excited to read further!!