Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for my advanced copy, these are my thoughts:

This was the best way to conclude this trilogy!

I have no idea how so much was packed into 368 pages and at the same time, I didn’t feel like it was all crammed together.

I loved seeing characters from the previous books make an appearance. It was heartwarming to see how introverted and somewhat antisocial Emily from book 1, grew so much over these three books, making friends and bonds with people who truly cared about her and her well-being.

The humor in this book - like in the other two, was so good! I laughed so much!

Wendell - always the charmer and ever caring and loving of Emily, he tried his best to keep her happy, since she’d essentially uprooted her life for him. And Emily, even though she didn’t believe it, she was the perfect Queen for Wendell.

The ending was befitting of Emily and Wendell - not cliché and open in a way that you just knew they had the whole world at their disposal; with endless possibilities and adventures, but you didn’t feel the need to follow them. You just felt happy for them.

I read this together with a friend - the same one I’d read the other two books with, making this series all the more special.

I’m so sad I’ve finished this book 😓 Emily Wilde’s compendium of lost tales is the third, and final book, in this cozy fantasy series following Emily, a dryadologist at the university of Cambridge, and Wendell her former academic rival who turned out to be a faerie prince. Throughout this series we’ve seen Emily gather information and facts for her encyclopaedia of faeries, her mapbook and now her compendium of tales, whilst fighting of vindictive and cruel folk who wish them harm. We’ve visited far off places, and of course the otherlands, the faerie realms. I’ve loved exploring the world through Emilys eyes, my straight forward and non apologetic queen (definitely on the spectrum), and through my quirky, charming and utterly sarcastic fae prince, Wendell. They are such an unlikely pair, but fit so incredibly well together. If you loved The Cruel prince trilogy, this is definitely for you. The brutality and politics of that series, paired with light academia, and characters that are incredibly funny without being aware of it. In this third installment they faced of against the greatest threat of the trilogy, and it was truly a roller coaster of a journey. Definitely the highest stakes of the entire trilogy, so much happens that you’re left wondering how this will all end…Such a wonderful conclusion, and book. Thank you for having me on this journey Heather 🙏🏼

I’m not ready to say goodbye…💔

🍄 Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales • Heather Fawcett 🍄
★★★★

Read if you enjoy:
🍄 Romantasy
🍄 Cosy light academia
🍄 Fairytales
🍄 Epistolary writing

Emily and Wendell have found his kingdom, and now it’s time to take his throne. Which was much more easily done than they had prepared for. Until they realise that Wendell’s evil stepmother has placed a deadly curse on the land.

The first two books in this series gained an easy five stars from me. They were fun, action packed, and full of wit and canniness. This installment I award a generous four stars to. Despite its original and continuing charm, and the incredible writing, the actual plot of this book seems like it could have been extended onto book two rather than given its own book. A lot of this books sequencing felt like filler.

I had high expectations for this installment and I was not disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed it and out of the three it might actually be my favourite. The coziness and cuteness will get me every time. Would highly recommend.

First of all: thank you NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for providing me with this ARC

Now on to the actual review.

I have to say I was a little disappointed. It’s weird but somehow I feel like the strongest book in this series was the second? That’s so rare I normally find the second to be the weakest but somehow in this case it was definitely my favourite.

The setting:
I think a large part of me disliking this book more than the previous two is the fact that is is largely set in faerie and while it still has a scholarly theme to it and Emily is very much still primarily a scholar it just wasn’t as fun having her in faerie full time, compared to her running around the human realm trying to prove her wild theories.
I did however love the whole aspect of the importance of stories in faerie and how they played a big part in the plot.

Which leads us to the next point.

The Plot:
It took me a while to get into. I wouldn’t say that any book in this series has been particularly high stakes and fast paced but this book just felt even slower than the previous books. The plot also came together a little too conveniently for my taste? Like there were high stakes but they were fixed before I even had the chance to get all worried about it and then there’s the fact that there were so many high stake moments that I tended to forget the previous one the second the next came. It just all felt a little too much. These moments drowned each other out in a way (sorry I’m trying really hard to write this review without any spoilers so this may sound a bit confusing).
One minor spoiler:
<spoiler> Wendell’s real name…I feel like this could have been such a great moment in the story giving it the needed extra emotions that seemed to be lacking a bit. There even was the perfect moment where he could have unveiled it for maximum emotions but no we never even got it at all. Which fair but like I said it would have served as a good emotionally charged moment <spoiler>
For this who didn’t want to read the spoiler all I said is that the emotions were lacking despite opportunities for drama.

The characters:
This was one of my biggest worries with the ending of book 2. That we wouldn’t see any of Emily’s human friends anymore. I really loved Ariadne and Farris and while they were back in this book I felt like we saw way too little of them. Especially Ariadne. She was mostly mentioned being there rather than actually having and active role which I found a little disappointing.
We did however meet old friends from book 1 again which I enjoyed greatly. Still overall it was largely a lot of new-ish characters being introduced that I never really came to care about (the exception being the little butter brownie she did steal my heart instantly)
There was also way too little Wendell and Emily interaction for my taste. It was usually (not surprising if we‘re honest) Emily running of alone to fix things.
I just hoped since they’re finally officially together they would you know…be together a bit more.
Safe to say I still adore Emily, Wendell and most of all Shadow.

The writing style:
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but obviously I love it otherwise I don’t think I’d have made it past book 1.
And I do still love it, the footnotes aren’t my favorite but they aren’t in actual scholarly literature either so it’s very on brand for me to dislike them here too.

Overall:
Overall it just fell a little flat for me especially given how this is meant to be the ending of the series. Al felt a little too dragged out, almost as if this book was a bit of an after thought and then the author needed to find enough material to make it long enough. I still genuinely enjoyed it and it provided some closure but the ending felt very open-ish and I missed some of the emotions I felt in the previous two books.

I’d say this is really just for peilen who genuine loved the series and don’t want it to end just yet otherwise you might also just stop after book to which gives enough of an open ending to feel like a conclusion.

A massive thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for gifting me an early copy of Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Fairy Tales.

I adored this book. I thought it would be difficult for me to remember what happened in the last book and not be familiar with the world but as soon as I started reading I was back!

Emily is such an amazing main character. She is kind, clever, and adventurous. I can only aspire to be like her!

I love the footnotes in this series, it really adds to the scientific aspect in the story.

It was also great to have flawed characters in the story and see their development through the book.

Lord Taran was such a great character, he made me smile/laugh many times and I LOVED that Poe made an appearance. He is one of my favourite characters in the series, he is just the cutest!

The relationship between Orga and Shadow also made me smile a lot!

And lastly, I want to say that the writing is incredible. It feels like these people actually exist and that this is part of our world. I don’t know if there will be another book but if it’s the case I will be 100% reading it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the arc!

🌟🌟🌟/5

The final installment in the Emily Wilde trilogy is decidedly less cozy as compared to the first two books. It's also my least favourite of the series.

I absolutely adore Emily as a protagonist. I love the way Heather Fawcett has created a unique, unforgettable voice. In an era where poorly written romantic relationships from romantasy books dominate the bookish community, it is Emily and Wendell's relationship that makes me giggle and kick my feet in the air. Their banter has been the highlight of the entire series for me. While there were some moments between them that were quite delightful, the banter felt conspicuously missing. Wendell was almost reduced to a side character. In book 3, the author tried to introduce a realm-threatening event to the plot, but couldn't craft the right stakes to support it. The way the conflict was handled was too convenient. While the footnotes added to the epistolary aesthetic of the book, they did not add much to the plot and ended up being distracting.

Overall, the tone of the book felt very...dry. The final chapter ended on a weird note and didn't feel like something the series should've been ended with. While I did not enjoy this very much, I do believe Heather Fawcett has a talent for spinning cozy tales and I cannot wait for Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter coming out in 2026!

4.75 ⭐

With every new release, the books have gotten better, and my love for these characters and this world has grown. It is still perhaps one of the cosiest and warmest trilogies I have read to date. And if this is truly the last book in this series then I think this book does a good job of keeping that adventure and mystery alive but also filled with such heartwarming and tender moments to bring the story's end to a conclusion. I will keep my thoughts short so as not to ruin or give spoilers away to those excited to read this, but I can tell you this is just like the other books but you will finish this book having a
whole 360 moments.

Wendell and Emily's dynamics are once again so fun to read about and I think in this book there is another sort of element of what they both will do to not lose the other due to them returning to Silva Lupi. There are of course more scholarly adventures and loads of new faeries for Emily to learn about. I loved both the new characters we got to meet and mostly definitely the return of some of my favourite characters *cough* Poe *cough*. I got the sense as the story progressed of a coming fruition and therefore the tears started (don't talk to me about that moment near the end about a comforting and forefront companion of one of our main characters (I'm trying so hard not to mention write heaps about it).

I am so sad that this trilogy has ended!!! I hope we get a novella or something to update us on how everyone is getting on in the future because after the ending I would like to know how everyone is getting on and what new adventures Emily has discovered.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I don't really have the words to explain how much I love and adore this series. Emily, Wendell, Shadow, Poe and a whole host of other characters have my entire heart. This third instalment picks up almost immediately where the second left off and you're thrown in right away - Wendell has reclaimed his kingdom with Emily by his side. But the danger is not over; in fact, there's plenty of mortal peril to be had within the pages of this book! I loved every moment. Emily's dry wit and logical way of looking at the oftentimes highly illogical world of Faerie are a delight. I always feel so fully immersed in the world, and that is testament to Fawcett's wonderful way with words. I'm sad that this appears to be the end of the Emily Wilde books, as I'd honestly read them endlessly. But things are wrapped up in a satisfying way... I do believe some DOORS are left open for more though! 👀 I find myself quite emotional at the prospect of bidding farewell to these characters I have grown so fond of, and can't rule out many rereads of all three books in the future!

Returning to this world for the third and final instalment in the Emily Wilde universe felt like receiving a long awaited hug. The familiarity of it all just felt so comforting, and there is something just really cosy about these books — perhaps all the warm blankets and warm fireplaces after so many scenes set in freezing landscapes?

This is a really excellent conclusion to the trilogy, and I loved how it continued to develop the characters and had appearances from characters of previous novels. The footnotes in this one though seemed sparse compared to the other books (however, that may not be true, I will confess u have not kept a record) which felt odd. But then again, this book was a bit different to the others I feel — although I struggle to explain why. I feel perhaps it was because, despite the repeated notion of vested interest, Emily didn’t really venture too much in to discovery and Wendell has completely ditched his role of an academic entirely.

I did find the plot at times a little slow and a little too easy in some parts and a little too convulsed in others. Fawcett seemed to struggle to find a good pace and a good balance between all the moving parts that she needed to conclude (some conclusions from book 1, others that only evolved in this one).

Overall though, I really loved this book and I’ve got such a massive soft spot for Emily, Wendell, Shadow and Orga. I loved how the novel ended on a hopeful note, with romance and the hints of adventure.

4⭐️
I was so excited to get this arc!! I genuinely missed the enchanting world that Heather Fawcett created. The new adventures of Emily and Wendell in this book were entertaining, sadly I felt like the story was dragging on a little too much at times and I just wanted them to get it moving. Still I had so much fun discovering and exploring the realm of faeries with our beloved characters.

I was very happy to reunite with Emily and Wendell. They are the sweetest couple, I loved seeing the progress of their relationship since book 1. Also we meet some endearing new characters in this final installment and that was so refreshing!!

I highly recommend this series. It’s worth diving into if you’re in the mood for a cozy read full of heart and whimsy vibes :)

I was lucky enough to receive an e-arc via Netgalley, and all I can say is that Heather Fawcett has created one of my all-time favourite series about faeries.

The third instalment in the Emily Wilde series brings just as much charm and coziness as the first two books, with the added sprinkle of danger that keeps our beloved characters on their toes in the oftentimes hazardous yet enchanting world of Faerie.

Emily and Wendell’s relationship is turned up a notch in this book, which is something I was desperate for in the previous two. With their recent engagement, it is really lovely to see them be more open with their feelings about each other. Despite this, it is not completely smooth sailing for the two throughout the novel. They have a lot to overcome as a couple with their new life together in Faerie, and Emily must decide if being a human Queen in the world of Faerie is really a future she wants for herself.

The majority of this novel takes place in Wendell’s realm, which sets it apart from the other two novels where there is a long lead up to the characters finding a door to the Faerie realm. I was a little bit worried that Fawcett would fall into the common cliched plot of a mortal marrying a faerie prince and being whisked away to faerie (which is what the blurb promises with this book). However, I feel like the slow set up of the first two books, along with the academic tone of the novel, gives it a unique edge that makes this stereotypical plot-line different to all of the other Faerie books that are booming in popularity at the moment.

Overall, I am so happy with this book and will continue to recommend these series to everyone I know. The ending gives us a wholesome and satisfying conclusion to the series, but it leaves room for more stories in this world to be explored (which I would love).

✨4 stars✨

This was a cute cosy fantasy following Emily’s struggles with becoming a faerie queen whilst also trying to continue her research into the lost tales.

I enjoyed this book but I think I would enjoyed it more if I had read the books closer together because I found it difficult to remember all the details and plot points of the second book.

I would recommend this to people who are looking for a slower paced fantasy because there wasn’t action and fight scenes on every page so it that’s the kind of fantasy you enjoy then this might not be for you!

Finally, I went into this book assuming that this was the final book in the trilogy but looking back at the description it says this is the next instalment in the series so now I’m not to sure? Because the ending of this book was quite open so I could see there being more.

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

<i><b>If I one day erupt into uncontrollable screams and go charging into the woods, tearing at my hair, who but Wendell will be to blame?</i></b>
That was not enough Emily and Wendell, I need more! A novella, at least.

To begin with, I adored the faerie lore in this whole series, and I loved it even more in this book. Heather Fawcett took Irish Folklore to a whole new level. I was blown away by it and the world-building. The plot was also absolutely fantastic. I did not see it taking the direction it did, and I loved it all the more for it. It kept me completely hooked the whole time.

What’s more, Emily Wilde was her usual wonderful genius who could manoeuvre Faerie like it was a Target, even if she felt too human to live among them, especially as their queen. There was literally nothing she couldn’t do, and this book served as the biggest proof of that. She literally had any faerie she wanted eating out of her hand (especially the cute common fae), and that’s just so unfair. I want a cute little faerie too! Real life is so boring! She was as smart as she was a total badass. It’s insane how quickly she became one of my favourite literary characters of all time, but there was no helping it.

As for Wendell, he was as wonderful, hilarious, spoiled, and completely wrapped around Emily’s finger as he had always been. He would hardly ever bother to help anyone with anything (he literally has not changed at all in that aspect) unless they were Emily or Emily asked him to, and honestly, if that isn’t hubby material then I don’t know what is. I loved this crazy diva with my whole heart. In fact, I would fight anyone who disagreed with me. I don’t care if people have a right to their opinion. In this case, they don’t.

Lastly, I couldn’t get over how wholesome and wonderful the relationship between Emily and Wendell was. They couldn’t hide how much they loved and cared about one another even if they tried (Wendell especially wouldn’t bother trying at all). I could watch them worry and fuss about each other forever without getting bored once. Emily fussing and worrying over Wendell was particularly delightful to me, and his constant simping was the most adorable thing ever. Not to mention how feral he became if she was in danger or wronged in any way. My babies are so precious! 🥹💚

I wasn’t joking, though, I need a novella at the very least or I’m gonna let the darkness take me.

Thank you for allowing me to read this early, I have enjoyed the previous books a lot and this was a good follow on. I’m rating it 3.5-3.75.

I liked lost tales read, I just didnt love it as much as the other books following these characters. It felt abit disjointed, but I know that’s purposeful because of the nature of this particular storytelling. The world and these characters remain as fun, adventurous and witty as ever and I’m glad I read this.

Let me just say that this final book in the Emily Wilde's trilogy was everything I wanted and more!!!

Compendium of Lost Tales offers the same level of cosiness we know from the first two books, alongside a few unexpected emotional twists (I cried a few times). The writing is excellent, as always, and this final book brings back a few characters we already know, which was a lovely surprise and felt like a final reunion

The romance..... it won't be much of a spoiler if I say that Emily and Wendall may be my favourite couple EVER. I would die for Wendell, and so would you, I know it.

To sum it all up, the vibes are still vibing and I am grateful to Heather Fawcett for delivering an exceptional ending to our beloved trilogy.

Thank you, who am I kidding, Orbit Books and Netgalley - I am forever grateful to you (and still slightly emotional) for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The look on my face when I saw that my request for this ARC was successful!!!! Priceless!

Emily Wilde's Compendium Of Lost Tales comes out on 11th February - plenty of time to catch up on the first two books if you're yet to discover Emily and Wendall!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Volumes one and two of the Emily Wilde series easily snagged the spots of favourite book of the year for their respective release years. I was beyond thrilled to receive an early copy and am very happy to say that I loved it as much as the previous two.

I do think there was a slight shift in tone; given that Emily and Wendell now find themselves at the heart of his kingdom, the stakes feel higher, there are more fantasy elements compared the slice of life feeling and there’s less humour. That is not to say that Emily has any less witt about her, nor that Wendell has any less humorous charm.

Both stay true to their character, it’s just the change of setting and circumstances that gives this final instalment a different flavour, and it’s not to a disadvantage of the book either. I loved getting further immersed in the more fantastical side of things and I think the higher stakes gave Emily a push for some good character growth - she’s been such a fantastic character throughout the series and this extra exploration of her character was a nice touch.

I was very glad to see more of Orga (and Emily reluctantly somewhat warming up to her), there’s a good balance of new and old characters and I loved seeing some old faces making an unexpected appearance. I generally enjoyed how this story circles back to elements of the first book, giving it a feeling of coming to full circle. I am sad that it’s over, although I find this to be a perfect conclusion for this delightful series.

I adored the first two and am happy to say that I highly adored this one too!! It carries the same spark the first 2 did, with fun banter between characters, beautifully rich worldbuilding throughout, fun adventures, and just everything else this book has. I loved every second of it!

There is something about these books that just captures me and I love them so much! None of the books have quite been 5 stars, but there is something so special about this series that I know I will think of these books for a long time to come. Wendell is charming and unpredictable as ever, Emily is no-nonsense and sensible and I LOVE them together. This felt so comforting watching them try to figure out how to rule the faerie realm together. I love the academic-ness of this series, as always - I feel like I learn things when I'm reading this series, even though they're fiction! This series really feels like a warm hug, and honestly while I'd read another 14 of them, this is a perfect ending if it is the case.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I am gonna keep this short, Emily Wilde should have been a standalone. I already struggled throught the second book and this was just.... uff. Too slow too repetitive, gave YA vibes...