4.5 ⭐️

Oh I loved this one!!! It was so much fast paced and adventurous, although I definitely prefer the side characters from book one! I wish Poe was more present 😭

Emily is SO close to being a character I would love, I think that in book 3 I’ll really like her, Wendell is Wendell so I have nothing to complain about him. In the beginning I wasn’t quite enjoying Ariadne but I really learned to like her too.

Happy to know that their history isn’t over yet 🥳

Emily's new scholar project - creating a map of the realms of faerie, will take her and Bambleby to the Austrian Alps where Emily hopes they will find the door to Bambleby's realm. All the while avoiding royal assassination attempts, an accompanying overly-enthusiastic niece, a fellow scholar fiend, and trying to restore Bambleby to his throne.

This is such a refreshing series - light and cozy academia, older characters, softer romance, introverted, focused characters, and an emphasis on educational ambition and passion.
I forgot about the footnotes! This adds such a dimension that makes it feel all the more immersive and provides world-building and history without feeling like info dumps.

Now that the shock had worn off she seemed to view the attack as a thrilling tale ripe for scholarly documentation, and was already making notes on the subject.
An entirely unhealthy response to attempted murder, of course; I have never been more convinced that she has the makings of a dryadologist

There is more romance here compared to book one, but it is closed door and deals a lot with Emily trying to get her head around the idea of marrying a fae prince feared and revered.

In fact, plenty of Folk are gentlemen. And plenty of mortal men are not.

I preferred book one - the icy, yet cozy atmosphere Fawcett created filled with community, discovery, and hope flowed more naturally.
I also felt more endeared to Emily and her character and how I could relate to her.

There will be a book three and of course, I will be counting down the days for a cover reveal, and then a release date!

Thank you to Orbit for providing a physical arc in exchange for a review!

This book was as delightful as the first book, if not more. New characters introduced, while still having the notable characters from the first book. Emily & Wendell’s banter is winning as always. I felt like this book has loose Alice’s adventure in wonderland references, with the door business (especially the nexus) and following a creature through a strange realm. Loved it. I’ll be seated for the next book, as I believe that there’ll be the third book, for the Folks like things that came in three♥️

I really liked this, even more than the first! These books are just so enjoyable, they are for you if you want an amusing cozy mystery with fae

I think what really drives these books are the characters. The main characters, Emily and Wendell, are so loveable. I love the grumpy (cold?) professor x sunshine fae prince dynamic that they have and their banter is so entertaining. There was more romance this time which I was hoping for and it was lovely.
I find a lot of the time with characters like Emily, particularly female characters, they are forced to change along the way to be "better" but I loved that Emily is learning to explore her emotions without it being made to seem like there is something that needs fixing, I really appreciated this. Wendell is honestly delightful, he's a great love interest and his every tiny action toward Emily had me swooning. I love his journal entry's and getting the chance to see his perspective, an Irish man after my own Irish heart♥️
I was thinking when I finished book one that I would miss Poe so I was very happy to see him again and I loved the addition of the chaotic Snowbell! I would have enjoyed more interaction with the locals, I loved that in book one and I felt it was missing here even though I did like the new secondary characters.

While these books are very character driven, this one definitely has more action. I loved seeing the darker underbelly of the fae world and there was never a dull moment with their quests and discoveries. I did find the quest to find Danielle was a bit anticlimactic once it was resolved, it just sort of petered out.

I love the style of these books. The journal entries make it seem faster paced and the beautiful writing makes it so enjoyable. The pacing is perfect in my opinion, there were no irrelevant details but nothing is rushed either. I did find the footnotes a bit unnecessary and in the end a bit irritating, I stopped reading them eventually and I don't think it made much difference to my enjoyment or understanding.

These are really those type of stories that I would just read books and books of. They're the perfect balance of whimsical, romance and the darker elements of the fae, they remind me a lot of Studio Ghibli. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next! This had a great ending while also setting up perfectly for book 3!

I loved this second book. I loved seeing the evolution of Emily, Wendell, Shadow, the other characters that they remained in touch with, I loved learning about Emily's career developments, about their research expedition, about their current goals. I found the entire excursion so wonderfully written that I could totally imagine myself there, and I just found it really fun to read.

I breezed through it for as much as I could, but again as someone who really does not care for faeries Mrs. Fawcett (and Miss Wilde of course) have turned me into a faerie girlie who now needs to get her hands on more books like this because it was just that great. Like I really loved it!

Solid 6/5 but I'm limited in my ratings unfortunately so it'll be a 5/5