Absolutely fantastic! Great characters that I adored. What a great 3rd book in the series. Emily holds a special place in my heart and is easily one of my fav FMCS. It’s not quite as special as the first two books but nonetheless I adored this. Thank you so much for the ARC!

If you want feel wrapped up, cozy under a heavy blanket next to a crackling fire, smelling the faint scent of the forest just outside your door - but with a dash of adventure - then this is the series for you. Absolutely heartwarming and steeped in folklore and academia, the third installment in the series - Compendium - comes out on February 11, and I definitely recommend adding it to your TBR because the hype is real

I read the entire series over the holiday break and was fortunate enough to be granted this review copy by LL O N prior to its publication date, and I’m so grateful. Due to it’s inherently cozy nature, I’ll always associate Emily with the winter season. Truthfully, I’ll likely end up rereading it every winter - it’s that comforting yet compelling simultaneously.

Compendium starts off slow but in a cozy way, sprinkling in a familiar cast of characters in Emily’s world that I have come to love like my own family. Curses, familial rifts, and fighting for a realm - all whilst recording events as a scholar - make this a compulsive read.

This is the perfect whimsical story with a streak of dark, bloody fantasy. I’d definitely classify this as “light academia,” starring faeries of all sorts and charming characters. Compendium continues the current of romance that’s blossomed from pure respect and time running underneath. The serious / sunshine character trope is executed here almost effortlessly but also realistically.

I am ever so grateful for this review copy and can’t wait to buy the finished book to add to my shelves upon release.

I have to admit, I was initially drawn to this series by the irresistibly adorable covers—but the story inside did not disappoint! If you’ve already fallen in love with the first two books, you’ll be delighted to dive back into Emily and Wendell’s witty banter and the richly crafted world.

In this third installment, I especially enjoyed exploring the intricacies of Wendell’s fairy court through Emily’s scholarly perspective. The worldbuilding continues to be top-notch, offering new layers to this enchanting universe. While the pace of the adventure starts off a bit slower compared to the previous books, it still unfolds in a satisfying and engaging way that kept me hooked until the end.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Little Brown for granting me an arc in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Deep down I knew wasn't ready to say goodbye to Emily and dear old Wendell, but the (at this point we could even call it visceral) need to read more about them was stronger than ever.

The start of this book wasn't as gripping as the other two for me, but still after passing the first 20-ish percent I was immersed back into the amazing fantasy of Fawcett, never wanting to leave. Wendell's realm literally comes out of a dream. From mesmerizing forests, passing through viridian plains and ending towards the border. I loved the comebacks that certain characters had, to have old faces reappear made me infinitely happily.

As always there wasn't a single character that I actually hate like the last times, while the only thing I would have truly wanted was having like in the last two books a couple (even one, I would have loved having only one) chapter from Wendell's perspective. Orga and Shadow still being at odds with each other (well if it's not Wendell Orga will have beef with anyone) made me both smile and grumble for poor Shadow.

The book was medium paced, which I liked. The story perse was cute, but I adored as always how Emily's knowledge was proven vital once more and now I can only imagine how those two will try and rule over the kingdom together.

4.3⭐️ 0🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with an eARC of this book!

This series has genuinely been such a favorite for me since I read the first 2 books a year ago. Emily and Wendell are truly peak grumpy/sunshine and I love them together so much. Their interactions were by far the best part of this book.

This book, while I still loved it, didn’t quite hit the highs of the previous 2 for me. I think that largely had to do with the plot/setting. The first 2 books took place in a human village that had great casts (including faeries) and a sense of discovery and development. They were so charming and warm and the peak of cozy fantasy.

I think because this book took place mostly in Faerie, it lost a bit of the charm. The characters we met in Faerie didn’t get huge amounts of development like the humans in past books. Therefore, I didn’t quite care about them as much. The plot was interesting and had lots of fun throwbacks. But again just didn’t hit the same heights.

I still loved this book and this whole series and would 100% recommend them to anyone. Emily and Wendell will forever have my heart.

This final installment in the Emily Wilde series can leave a bittersweet feeling behind. While I'm sad to say goodbye to this charming world and its delightful characters, I'm also incredibly grateful for the journey. Heather's writing is consistently witty and engaging, and this book is no exception. The humor throughout, from the witty banter between Emily and Wendell to the quirky observations about the faerie world, kept me thoroughly entertained. I particularly enjoyed seeing how much Emily has grown since the first book, blossoming into a confident and capable young woman. It was heartwarming to witness her friendships deepen and to see her navigate the challenges of her new role with grace and humor. Wendell, ever the charming and supportive partner, remains a beloved character. The ending, while bittersweet, felt appropriate for this series. It was open-ended enough to leave room for imagination, allowing readers to envision their own happy endings for Emily and Wendell, while also providing a satisfying sense of closure.


Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit, NetGalley, and the editorial team - thanks for giving me the opportunity to review an audiobook ARC of this publication!

Estimated publication date: 11 Feb 2025

For more reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#EmilyWildesCompendiumofLostTales #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning

Firstly, thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC!

I’m so sad that this trilogy is over. It’s been so nice coming back to this world for the last couple of years and I’m going to miss Emily and Wendell greatly, as well as the characters we’ve come to know along the way. It took me a while to read, partially because I didn’t want to say goodbye.

I really enjoyed the subtle romance in this book, especially when you consider how Emily has grown since book 1. It was also nice seeing her continuing friendships with old friends who made an appearance as well.

It was a nice ending to a lovely cozy series and I felt happy for Emily, Wendell and Shadow to be continuing their journey together, although sad that we are not going with them. Finally - thank you, Heather, for creating this world. ❤️

As with the previous two books, I absolutely flew through this. So fast paced, so hard to put down - even in ebook form. The characters are witty and real as always; especially Olga and Shadow my favs. Lots of unexpected moments and overall a very satisfying read!

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).