This was surprisingly fun. I'm loving this trend of characters only being visible to certain characters or bonded and chained to characters. I love it I think it's super fun and interesting. Despite it being a fae book we really didn't see a lot but the few we did and the quick glimpse into the fae world have me ready and excited more. I was genuinely surprised by how much I loved this book .its a super fun take on fairies and one of the few stories about changelings that stays in the human world, that being said I kind of hope we get to explore more of the fae world in book two which I am in desperate need of given that ending!

Unseelie wasn't exactly the book I was expecting and that was both good and bad for me. The things I liked were the strong and positive representation of an autistic main character through Seelie. I liked the relationship she had with her human "twin sister, Isolde. They are both strong young women who are finding their way using the abilities they have.

The world building is also strong. The author creates a world that has some of the fae lore we are used to with a few of its own modifications here and there. It makes the book feel like a world you are watching unfold in front of you and was quite creative.

Even though I thought the storyline was strong and inventive. It did move slowly for me in places and made it difficult for me to keep reading at times. That was disappointing because I truly wanted to completely love this book and that prevented it. The best I can say is I liked it. I need for a book to keep a solid pace and when I feel as if it lags, my enjoyment is impacted at that point.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I was so intrigued by the synopsis of this book. To have a main character with autism sounded like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately for me this book fell flat. It was very chaotic at times. I felt like there were a lot of things that weren't explained or that happened for no apparent reason. The ending was a bit abrupt. Overall I did enjoy the autism aspect though.

Two sisters facing hardship, a neurodivergent main character, magic, danger, adventure, Faeries, shapeshifters, and more! This book seems to have it all, and does a great job of balancing it all.
Housman has a way with pacing that made this an easy and very enjoyable read. Seelie's character is probably the most fleshed out since readers get her thoughts and narration.

While similar to many stories in the genre, Housman's main character and the twists and turns in the plot make this book stand out from the crowd. I look forward to see what happens next!

Readers that enjoy fantasy and adventure stories would enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn't love a good heist story? And your MC is a fae changeling? The story alone would have drawn me in, but also the fact that your MC is autistic, written by an autistic author, who wrote the book she wished she could've read as a kid? This is an under serviced area in literature, especially fantasy. And this story delivers! It starts off kind of slow, but once we get the group together and the plot thickening, the storyline was great! This was definitely a solid debut novel. I really enjoyed reading this one and I'm excited to pick up the second book!

I always enjoy faerie tales when some "humans" have special gifts or are rumored to be changelings. I really enjoyed Seelie's journey as she tried to navigate the human world then other worlds with her new found family all trying to find a treasure.
At the beginning, the author discusses that she, like her fmc, is autistic and wrote the book that she herself was looking for as a teen or young adult. Being neurodivergent when everyone expects you to be a certain way seems impossibly difficult. It's hard enough trying to fit into all the other typical normie standards.

There were a lot of family power struggles since her new friends were on a mission as well. Seelie and her sister Isolde who are twins have a whole whimsical backstory that I enjoyed but as they learned more may not have been the real story. And Seelie has a hanger on, that won't let go, let's see if they end up being useful.

I can't wait to see what book #2 will bring for these characters!

Thank you inkyardpress and netgalley for the e-aRC for my honest and voluntary review.

I will not be reviewing this book until Harper Collins comes forth and takes care of it’s employees #harpercollinsunionsupporter

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC of this!

A fun adventure with an autistic changeling, her human sister, and some new associates as they take on a heist. This was very entertaining and I didn’t realize going in it was a duology- I can’t wait to see more of it. The world was very fun.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Unseelie caught my attention due to its pretty cool concept and spin on the mythology around changelings, expanding on one belief surrounding autistic children. While it could easily have fallen flat, I appreciate that this was written from experience as an autistic person, and not to mythologize autistic people as “special” or “differently abled,” or worse as “burdens” to their caregivers. And there really aren’t many fantasy stories with autistic leads, so it’s great to see one that contains that mystical element, and plays with it, but also plays against it, allowing the lead to exist in the world in spite of her differences from what is considered “the norm.”

Seelie is incredibly relatable, in that she doesn’t exactly fit in with her society. And while her world wouldn’t have the name for it, I like how her traits are made explicit, and it resonated with me as someone who hasn’t really had a clear professional diagnosis, but is pretty certain I have autism through my own community engagement and research.

And while I admit to not knowing a ton about the original myth, I did like that this story allowed for the twins to have a relationship, which countered my initial perceptions about changelings as mere replacements. Seelie and Isolde’s relationship is the standout from the book. Isolde helps Seelie in social situations, but it’s never a case where Seelie is infantilized or Seelie lacks real agency to do so.

The plot is pretty interesting, with a couple different layers. It’s pretty fast-paced, and there’s constant intrigue, from the heist to the gradual development surrounding the larger mystery at play. There’s satisfactory resolution for this book, while also teasing what is to come in the following installment.

This is a fun debut, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy, especially if you enjoy faeries or are looking for autism rep.

Unseelie is the story of Seelie, a changeling, and her twin sister Isolde, who is a human, trying to survive life and take care of each other. Unfortunately, a mission to do a little pick-pocketing goes wrong, and the two run into another pair of potential thieves, and Seelie accidentally (and magically) takes the thing they want. After a quick escape, the other two thieves manage to find them, and a whole new mission ensues.

This was a fun debut by Housman! The world-building and exposition was great, and I enjoyed the take on the changeling myth (which involves that autistic kids in the past were thought to have been regular kids, changed out with faerie-kind.) There was a lot of fun magic, and the story was left open for a sequel. All in all, definitely a good fantasy adventure story!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookishfirst for the e-ARC and galley!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of Unseelie!

Changelings-- fairies left in the place of stolen babies. Except for when a mother braves the fae realms to take both of her daughters home. That is how Isolde and Iselia-- Seelie-- have come into the world as twins, but a magical accident forces them from home. On their seventeenth birthday, they embark on a new adventure and make a few friends (and enemies!) along the way.

The author of Unseelie offers a reclaiming of the Changeling myth; historically the idea of a changeling was used to seriously hurt or kill people, especially children, who were born different whether mentally or physically. Autism was one such difference that could have brought on the idea of a changeling swap. With an autistic author and her autistic main character, though, we get a story of love and acceptance of Seelie's differences by her family and those she meets along the way.

The story itself is fun and exciting as we watch Seelie grapple with the magic she never asked for and the power she has. As the companions quest for the treasure, she must learn to control both her emotions and her magic. We get to watch Seelie grow into herself over the course of the book, and that was an absolute treat.

There are some things I wish we had seen more off-- most specifically Birch the Brownie cat. I feel like the Gossamer storyline could have been explained better, and overall I got the feeling that this book is more on the line between middle grade and young adult fantasy rather than being firmly in either category.

I would definitely recommend this book to a younger teen reader or someone just getting into fantasy. There is no romance in this book, so if that's what you like in your fae fantasies, this is not the story for you. I'm very excited for the second book!

This is a #ownvoices book. The author begins the book talking about her experiences with autism and her diagnosis as well as how that relates to her character. I appreciated the insight from the author.

Seelie and Isolde are twins in that they look identical and grew up with the same parents, but there is something different about Seelie. Seelie is a changeling believed to be a baby made by the fairies switched for a human baby. Somehow Seelie's parents ended up with both babies.

The two sisters end up having an adventure with two unlikely traveling companions trying to find a treasure that only Seelie can lead them to.

This book was a little chaotic at times. The author had a lot of big ideas that she was trying to put into one book. It helps that she broke it up into three acts but it was still a lot. I loved Seelie's descriptions of trying to fit in with mortals and how even when she imitated them she was still just a bit different. I think this is something that a lot of people can identify with, especially neurodivergents. I also appreciated what over-stimulation looked like for someone with magic. It was like a physical representation of what over stimulation feels like.

I'm excited to see where the author goes with these characters in the next book.

What I liked most about Unseelie was the main character. She’s coded as autistic, which the author makes clear in the preface, when she writes that she wanted an autistic lead in a fantasy novel because, growing up, she’d never read one. And she’s right— neither had I.

I’m not in the spectrum, so I can’t pretend to speak for what this book might mean for people who are, but I really appreciated the breath of fresh that Seelie (the main character) is. She’s not a classic YA fantasy lead. She’s temperamental, sometimes unhelpful, but not an anti hero either.

At the center of the novel is an adventure, a trip following a magical compass to along hidden treasure, which puts pressure on Seelie and her twin sister’s relationship, and on what Seelie is willing to be and do.

The end of this book was a bit abrupt and I can tell there’s a lot more to learn about this world and it’s villains, and more space for Seelie and her sister to grow.
I can’t wait for the sequel.

Ivelisse Housman's YA fantasy Unseelie begins on the eve of Revelnox, a festival that celebrates the thinning of the veil between their world and the faerie realms. Struggling to survive after running away from their homes, changeling Iselia "Seelie" Graygrove and her twin Isolde plan to use the celebration to cover their heist of the Wildline Manor and end up getting more than they baragained for when their caper causes them to cross paths with Raze and Olani, a duo on a mission to uncover the truth and regain their rightful places in Auremore. On their journey for treasures unknown, Seelie learns more about herself than she had bargained for, and steps into her power to become a force to be reckoned with.

This book interested me for numerous reasons. The first being that I have always been mildly fae obsessed, so all fae content is exciting to me. More than that, I was interested in the author's interpretation of the idea that changelings were actually autistic children. Seelie, always considered the outcast, often unable to verbally express herself, feels like a true representation of neurodivergence. As someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD, a "disorder" that shares many things in common with autism, I recognize and relate to Seelie's reactions. This is perhaps one of the most authentic portrayals of what it means on the spectrum that I've ever read. Me fifteen years ago would have loved this book more than I can truly say, and I think teens now will relate highly to this novel.

I wanted more out of the ending, but I feel secure in the knowledge that Housman is waiting until the next book to give it to us.

You'll love this book if you liked The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (or really, any Holly Black) or Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone Trilogy.

Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks like her twin, Isolde, but is an autistic changeling left by the fae as an infant. Seelie has unpredictable magic and can't fit in, but that magic draws the twins into the hunt for a fabled treasure. When it falls apart, the sisters make unexpected allies and reveals a mystery involving the history of humans and fae alike. The secrets of the faeries are incredibly valuable, and Seelie must learn to harness her magic.

Unseelie is book one of a duology. The fae and humans live in separate but occasionally overlapping worlds, and changelings are sometimes left in the human world as the result of bargains. Festival days also let the two worlds mingle, and it's during this time period that the twins meet Raze and Olani during an attempted heist. It goes wrong very quickly, and the four are forced to work together. Seelie has little patience for this, and it doesn't help matters when her magic goes awry. She's scared of it and the loss of control, and hates feeling catered to or stared at like an oddity.

Seelie is autistic, but it's not outright said in the text. In this kind of fantasy setting, they don't have that word. But she has the sensory issues, the difficulty reading social cues, and problems with figures of speech and getting all of her thoughts out coherently. She gets nervous, so people with anxiety can definitely sympathize with her and know what she's going through. Seelie wants so hard to have her world set to rights, to return to how it was in the past. Unfortunately, there are so many complications and none of it goes according to the plan. This leaves her entering faerie realms, trusting Raze and Olani, arguing with her sister, and making bargains she knows she shouldn't. I completely lost myself in her world and her feelings, and immediately wanted to read the next book in the duology. It should be just as immersive and entertaining as this one.

As soon as I discovered Unseelie would be a YA Fantasy novel featuring a female autistic MC, I knew I had to read it. Excitingly, there has been an increase in fiction featuring autistic characters in the last year—however, there are still very few books with autistic characters that aren’t actually about autism or aren’t contemporary. As much as I love reading contemporary novels, I was thrilled to hear about this fantasy book, which follows Seelie, an autistic changeling, and her twin sister Isolde.

Something I found interesting about Unseelie is the allegory for changelings. Seelie is autistic, and this is mentioned in the synopsis, but her being a changeling is also a clear metaphor for autism, or any sort of difference deemed so by society. As a changeling, Seelie constantly feels othered and isolated from those around her. There’s a quote in the book about how people see changelings as less than human, how they don’t feel any empathy, and when the changeling child doesn’t turn out exactly as the parent wants, they resent the child’s existence. This is unfortunately an opinion a lot of society shares about autistic people. I love that the book used Seelie being a changeling to describe her autism, because I feel like it’ll be a good way to educate those who are unfamiliar with it, or those who are misinformed, about the kinds of things autistic people go through daily.

In regard to Seelie herself, my heart broke for her. The situations she was thrust into must have been an absolute nightmare for her. As someone who thrives on routine and consistency, Seelie’s life was flipped upside down time and time again. She had a hard time coping with these sudden changes, which can be seen in the form of meltdowns, shutdowns, and issues controlling her emotions throughout the book. Those around Seelie are never entirely sure how to help her when she’s overstimulated, which makes it even more difficult for her to cope. Even so, she’s determined to reunite her family and preservers with her head held high. I can’t describe how happy it made me to see a strong character who is crazy powerful dealing with something like overstimulation. We need to see more of this kind of rep!

While I did love Seelie’s character and her journey (which I thought was authentically and realistically portrayed!), I didn’t relate to her as much as I expected to, since we share a lot of mannerisms. Our personalities are very different, which is why I think I had a harder time connecting to her. Even so, this didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book, or her character. It was just something I’d been hoping for.

Aside from her character, though, the plot of Unseelie was well-developed with some exciting twists and turns woven in throughout. I enjoyed the first fifty percent of the book, but it was the last fifty percent that had me on the edge of my seat and unable to put the book down. A specific plot line happens (sorry for being vague—I don’t want to spoil anything) that was at the same time both fun and nerve-wracking, and from there, the anticipation kept rising.

The only part of this book that I didn’t love was the building romance between Seelie and Raze. It wasn’t until the last thirty percent that I finally bought into the fact they cared for each other more than sort of friends and begrudging allies. I like their dynamic a lot, but I’m not sure how I’ll feel about it if they become involved romantically. Part of me is hoping their friendship will be focused on first before a romantic relationship, should there be a sequel.

Speaking of, I’m desperately hoping for a sequel to Unseelie! There’s still a lot of questions I have left, and so much more to be explored, both through Seelie and her sister Isolde. I haven’t heard anything about it yet, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Overall, I really enjoyed Unseelie, and I’m so happy to have authentic autism representation in a fantasy book. I hope to see even more soon!

I was very excited to read Unseelie as an autistic woman. Autistic main characters are few and far between, and I was thrilled by the premise of a character's autism being central to an adventurous, magical story. Ultimately though, I feel like something in Unseelie fell a bit flat.

I really enjoyed the book's magic system and setting. I wanted to learn more about the faerie worlds and how they cross over to the human ones, in addition to more about the changeling premise. The situation regarding the latter confused me, especially toward the end.

Seelie was an interesting protagonist at first. I liked how intertwined her magic and autism were. Her magic mimicked bother special interests/stims and meltdowns as she learned to navigate that part of herself. But at some point, it felt like Seelie's growth in that area stagnated and all her autistic traits fell to the side to focus on the climax of the adventure she was on. In some ways, I had hoped that her autism would play a much more central role in her travels—we mostly saw it cause conflict between characters.

The plot of the story was entertaining but pretty predictable. I wanted a lot more out of our main villain (who is Really Bad for no explicable reason) and a deeper dive into Gossamer and the conflict he posed. I assume that will be more fleshed out in the second book, but I didn't get enough of it in this installment to really make me want to read further.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy of Unseelie! I was so excited to dig into this book, primarily for its autism representation, but also because I’ve always been fascinated by changeling stories. Immediately, Seelie’s wry sense of humor struck me when she said in the first few pages, “I seriously doubt that the faeries of the Unseelie Court will be scared off by what is essentially steak seasoning, but it’s a nice thought.” The found family dynamic in the story has a brief beginning as enemies to reluctant partners to friends, but you knew it was coming a mile away. Raze’s “baby face,” soft yet strong body, and ginger hair with relentless freckles honestly had me making dreamy eyes; this is not a heartthrob look that gets a lot of rep, but it was totally up my alley. Seelie’s issues with her magic, like pushing it down, are definitely metaphors for masking her autism, and I really liked that parallel.

Some things I think this book could have done without was the frequent traveling. I know it’s an adventure story, but there was something about the running, then the driving, then the running, then the falling, then the walking and running, then more falling, then more walking, then even more falling that felt a little too repetitive. I think transitions that required these verbs could have done with less show and more tell, and then shown me the good stuff, like the battles and the stabbing! I also tended to start spacing during the inner monologue and description bits, which is totally normal for me, but what isn’t normal was my skimming during bits of dialogue because there was too much description between lines of conversation. I am too much a completionist to do that, but I actually found myself doing this because I couldn’t bring myself to focus otherwise (my ADHD brain).

In the end, I felt a cliffhanger type ending coming based on how much was left unresolved when I had so few pages left, but it wasn’t a terrible cliffhanger, and I’m looking forward to the sequel. I did ultimately not fully grasp the explanation of what a changeling is at the end. During most of the story I was asking, “but what is a changeling?” And there was no real attempt at an explanation other than, “not human and not fairy,” but then there’s an answer at the end that implies the original thought is wrong, but I still felt like there was no original answer and the final answer was also confusing.

I definitely want to rate this between 3-4 stars.

I was very intrigued by the book's premise but the story didn't quite reach the mark for me. The characters were interesting but they didn't hook me into the narrative and I found a lot of their actions to be repetitive and sometimes frustrating at times. It had great fantasy elements but wasn't executed in a way that felt "fantastic". I was very excited to see a main character with autism and thought those elements were handled well and respectfully.

I’m really disappointed I didn’t like this book. It has a really fun concept (autistic changing????! that’s so fun?????!) but nothing was strong enough to deliver a good, competent, or even fun end result.

All of the characters felt shallow and I didn’t have enough to grab onto them. I was really excited to read Seelie, especially as someone who has lots of processing issues that line up with autism, but I found her to be so annoying?? A lot of decisions she made were frustrating to read, which isn’t necessarily bad cause that’s how interesting plots are set into motion, but I didn’t have a solid enough footing in her head to understand where everything was coming from and so it felt more like she was making decisions out of plot convenience.
The romance was interesting and had the most potential I think, but my interest was still off and on with them.
I found the other side characters to be pretty forgettable, and the villains were non-entities.

The plot was paper thin. 50% and barely anything of substance had happened. It felt like obstacles were thrown at character because that’s what’s supposed to happen in books, instead of an actual organic plot. The first time the characters go into the faerie realm is a perfect example of this.
And the “plot twist” about her sister at the end?? It was just so inconsequential and random. It wasn’t even revealed in an interesting way.

Another main issue I had was the blatant rip offs from Tumblr, ATLA, and LOK.
The whole concept of the book? Changelings are autistic children? Ripped wholesale from a Tumblr post. I can look past that one, because that’s just something to build off of.
But the “horse named Destiny” joke? The horse is now a magical semi-sentient wagon.
“I had to learn to fight because my three bothers are wimps” post?? The only difference is they changed names. That’s it.
And then there’s the the two scenes from ATLA and LOK (Katara hugging Aang after Appa is stolen and he’s having a meltdown, and the stealing breath from LOK) not to mention that the cabbage man is just wandering around for some reason.
Idk I understand taking inspiration from things you love or thing that interest you, but these had the barest veneerer of editing, and it always yanked me from the book.

All in all this book just didn’t hit like I wanted, and that’s sad. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, but it still felt like a waste of time.