Starred review from September 1, 2022

DEBUT Known for her middle grade and YA titles, Fawcett (The School Between Winter and Fairyland) makes her adult fiction debut with this story told in the form of a journal. Emily Wilde is a faerie folklore researcher setting off for field work in Hrafnsvik, a small town with few amenities. She is a genius researcher with meticulous practices, the very opposite of her colleague Wendell Bambleby. Wendelle is a leading researcher with many accolades, but who is he really? Emily has many suspicions about him, and their field work will bring them closer than ever, as Wendell shows up unexpectedly in Hrafnsvik. What's more, faeries are abducting and harassing humans, which forces Emily and Wendell to team up in order to help the locals and so that Emily can finish her research. VERDICT While the pacing starts off slow, Fawcett grabs readers' attention by drawing them into the folklore as well as the surrounding world. She does a fantastic job building complex characters, and the academic-prose style of Emily's journal entries works well for the story. A great read for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Erin Morgenstern.--Leigh Verburg

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 19, 2022
In Fawcett’s slow-moving but atmospheric debut adult fantasy (after YA Even the Darkest Stars), a socially awkward Cambridge professor heads to the frost-coated fictional country of Ljosland in an alternate 1909 where tangling with faeries is commonplace. The tale is presented as the journal of dryadologist Emily Wilde as she documents her research for the eponymous encyclopedia. These journal entries work well at giving readers a window into the voice and personality of an extremely introverted and detached heroine, but they don’t make the aloof, academic Emily any easier to root for. As Emily becomes more involved with the Ljosland locals and their faerie troubles—and meets a changeling fae, who has swapped places with a local infant—Wendell Bambleby, Emily’s colleague, professional rival, and only friend, arrives, claiming to want to help. Emily’s less than thrilled, as she distrusts Wendell’s methods and suspects that he himself may be a fae. Though the first entry in Emily’s journal hints at the high stakes of her work, the plot itself is more concerned with unpacking her relationships; danger doesn’t rear its head until the very end. Still, the extensive faerie lore and lush descriptions of the wintry setting make this fantasy worth picking up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, HG Literary.

December 15, 2022
A Cambridge professor specializing in the study of faeries gets more than she bargained for when she goes meddling in the Folk's business. Emily Wilde arrives in the Scandinavian country of Ljosland with a singular goal: to become the first scholar to confirm and formally document the existence of Ljosland's legendary faeries. As a dryadologist--a sort of anthropologist specializing in the fae--Emily has spent a lifetime studying these nigh unknowable creatures. She receives a cold welcome in the village of Hrafnsvik, however, and a troublesomely handsome and infuriating colleague named Wendell Bambleby soon shows up to offer help, leaving her with no choice but to accept it. Emily and Wendell's relationships with the locals grow even more strained when they begin investigating the courtly fae--that is, the "tall ones": humanlike fae who bewitch humans and replace their children with changelings--and she accidentally blows Wendell's cover as a fae prince exiled from his court. The tall ones have plagued Hrafnsvik for years, returning their children as empty husks when they deign to return them at all. The kidnapping of a local woodcutter and her girlfriend spurs Emily to action for not altogether altruistic reasons. After all, what better way is there to report on Ljosland's courtly fae than by going to their lands herself? Rescuing the women buys Emily and Wendell some grace with the locals but creates a domino effect that eventually turns Emily into the unwitting heroine of a fairy tale very much like those she records. Emily's first-person account of her story tends toward purple prose, which may turn off some readers. Once Wendell enters the story, however, the fae prince's charm radiates both on and off the page, and his conversations with Emily give the novel some much-needed jaunt. A somewhat uneven novel that will nevertheless charm readers of cozy fantasies.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 1, 2023
Dr. Emily Wilde is a scholar visiting the remote Scandinavian nation of Ljosland to study the Hidden Ones, a species of faerie. She is joined by her faithful dog, Shadow, but otherwise is on her own to focus on her work until her Oxford colleague, the affable and too-handsome Dr. Wendell Bambleby, shows up. He is hoping she will coauthor a paper with him; her superior scholarship will guide the research, while his stellar reputation in the field will add gravitas. But she prefers to work alone. Still, Bambleby remains, doing annoying things like making their shared cabin more homey and making friends with the locals, who warn Emily to let the Hidden Ones stay hidden, despite the havoc they wreak on the town. Told entirely through entries in Emily's research journal, Fawcett's first novel for adults is propelled by the voice of curmudgeonly Emily, whose hard outer shell slowly melts in the face of friendship. The full cast of characters, well-developed faerie lore, and pervasive sense of cold add depth to the delightful proceedings, which include scholarship, yes, but also danger and a hint of romance. Emily is an Amelia Peabody in snowshoes, and readers will be utterly charmed.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.