Five stars! Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales was a pure joy to read, a truly satisfying experience from beginning to end. I absolutely loved it! Emily's prickly personality is so endearing, and the contrast with Wendell's fussy nature, combined with his undeniable handsomeness and mercurial fury when Emily is threatened, makes their dynamic utterly captivating. Fawcett has created such a magical world, and I was completely immersed in it. I only wish there were more than three books in the series! I enjoyed it so much that I'm already planning a reread of the entire series. Highly recommended!
M. Roberts

This was such a great conclusion (at least I think it was a conclusion) to Emily and Wendell's story. If you have been following these stories, this installment will not disappoint. These characters are just as charming and lovable as you have come to know them to be. The story follows Emily and Wendell as they try to obtain and maintain control of his kingdom. Along with the adventure that unfolds, Emily is dealing with the emotional upheaval of moving her life to a new realm. For anyone who has packed up and moved for the sake of those that they love, that sense of disorientation will be very familiar. These books are so cozy and so fun. Fawcett does such a great job of writing high stakes stories that somehow feel safe and warm. I have been a fan of these stories from day one, and this one felt like a perfect continuation.

This was a good finale to the series, sad to see it go but it was fitting how it ended. We had more adventure of course to complete to story of Wendell's realm, following a Fae story she'd found that seemed to fit the theme. Emily never changed, she was still the scholar that she was and Wendell was the carefree Fae he's always been but absolutely devoted to her. We definitely got more romance moments than we've had before, he speaks his devotion often and its just sigh worthy; Wendell truly knows her down to a T and sometimes it's funny. The ending is a happy for now and open ended type, which fits honestly; Faerie is so vast and of course Emily wants to explore with Wendell and her ever faithful shadow. Normally I'd like to know more of their future but in this case I shockingly didn't; the ending left me filled and stunned (in the moment of course, like that's it???) but once I had a moment to sit on it, I was totally fine because it was so true to how the book is written. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea in how it's told but it's so unique and we get the adventure and excitement without all the anxiety inducing moments or large gaps of waiting to know, it's presented to us fairly quickly. This series is great for those that want a change to how their stories are told but still want the adventure and romance without having to think too much; I'm truly glad I picked up this series, still sad to see it go but I loved every moment.

Ahoy there me mateys! The third book in the Emily Wilde series is a great ending to the trilogy.  In this book, Emily and Wendell head through the door to his kingdom to retake his throne.  Only his step-mother has a surprise in the form of a vengeful curse that is set to destroy his faerie land.  Wendell must die to save his realm.  Emily is determined to find a different, happier ending for them both.

One of the major surprises is the setting for this book is almost all in the fae realm.  In doing so, nothing really goes as expected and this wasn't always a bad thing.  Emily is dealing with Wendell as he loses more of the human-type personality she is used to.  She also has to deal with her new role as queen.  I continued to enjoy Emily's use of research to solve a problem.  This time, however, she has to think outside the stories and facts she knows.  I appreciate that Emily's friends, Shadow, and Orga also play important roles.

The two minor problems I had with this book were the pacing and Wendell.  I think these issues were tied together for me.  It often felt like Wendell was a minor side character in this story.  Wendell does not have enough purposeful page time and I missed seeing Emily and him interact more.  I do believe this is because Emily was finally settling into her new life and sense of self.  However, a lot of the action is told after the fact through Emily's journal entries.  This and the lack of Wendell made the middle of the book in particular feel rather slow paced.

That said, I loved the twists dealing with the step-mother and the ending was satisfying.  I look forward to reading whatever the author writes next.  Arrrr!

This is certainly not a bad book, but I was deeply frustrated by the pacing. Since it takes place directly after the events of the second book, the beginning should've had more forward momentum than it does. The plot doesn't truly get moving until 32% of the way through and even then it seemed to crawl forward.

4.5 stars

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is an enchanting conclusion to this trilogy. Though none of the books in this series have been completely cozy, this final installment takes on a more anxious, melancholy tone as Emily and Wendell explore a darker world.

I love the way Heather Fawcett weaves faerie lore throughout this series and I enjoy exploring a new side of the magic in each installment. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales immerses Emily and the reader in the world of Faerie more than ever before. I really enjoyed exploring Faerie from Emily’s perspective. Her scholarly nature meant she was intrigued by everything but she was human enough to notice the dark, unsettling nature of the world.

I love Emily and Wendell’s relationship so much. It feels real and complex while also being heartwarming and endearing. I just love that the foundation of their relationship is that they both love and accept each other for who they are. The fact that everyone but Emily is low-key terrified of Wendell is so entertaining.

I do wish we had spent a bit more time with Wendell in this installment. The plot kept them apart more than in the previous books. Though the relationship is “built” at this point in the series, I still would have liked some more cute, coupley moments between them. The moments that we did get were incredible. However, this ties into my feeling that the book could have benefitted from slowing down occasionally.

The pacing was this installment’s biggest weakness and it really weakened the plot. The story felt like it couldn't sit still, trying to fit in too many different storylines without spending enough time on significant plot moments. I didn’t love that the entire plot was motivated by this connection to stories and the idea of stories repeating themselves. Perhaps I’m missing a connection to previous installments, but it felt like a weak basis for the plot at times. The entire last arc of the story felt completely unnecessary and contrived. This page time could have been better used to flesh out other character arcs or to give more time and weight to other plot moments.

I would read twelve more of these books. This series perfectly balances a charming romance and whimsical world-building with just enough tension and darkness to keep you hooked.

I have loved the Emily Wilde series thus far, and was super excited to read this one! And while I enjoyed this one, it seemed to be missing a lot of the banter and action that made the last 2 books great for me.

I enjoyed some of the side characters and I wish we would have gotten a bit more of them!

3.5 stars rounded up, I think?

I am obsessed with this series. I have thrown Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries at every single person I have ever met, and then some. I dream about Emily and Wendell. I am 100% convinced that Orga is based on my own horrible little black cat. There were large swaths of this third installment that I really, really, really loved. The middle section, which lays bare all at once the strangeness of Fairy, the the depths of the love Emily and Wendell have for each other, and the importance of fairy stories and storytelling, was one of my favorite sections in the series, and possibly in recent memory. (I have dabbled as a fairy tale scholar/academic as well, so of course it really deeply spoke to me.) But the rest of the pacing was a bit askew, the enormous stakes too easily handled, and the characters a bit flatter than I have seen them before. There's a lot to love here, with a gorgeous plot, lovely themes, and what should, on paper, be an immensely satisfying conclusion (?) to this series, but it just didn't click quite as much as I had hoped.

Well worth a read, and I was very glad to have had the opportunity to review it, but something didn't quite scratch the itch for me as well as I'd hoped. Maybe it was just that I was missing the gorgeous audiobook narrator's Wendell Bambleby voice. My little American brain was trying too hard to capture his Irish accent. Don't recommend that.

4/5

Nothing like helping your once rival now fiance reclaim his throne in a faerie kingdom slowly falling prey to a magical curse. As the comforting and wonderfully strange Emily Wilde trilogy draws to a close, Heather Fawcett brings old magic into the centerfold as academia meets fae lore in one final adventure. For two books Fawcett has amped up to a homecoming that would pit the fae and human world against one another, and in Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, Wendell and Emily attempt to reconcile their future together. Caught in an environment completely unlike her own, Emily musters her courage and scholarly abilities towards uprooting a dark curse that has sunk its teeth into Wendell’s kingdom.

The atmosphere of this fantastical faerie court is stark and overtakes much of this narrative in a way quite unlike its predecessors. Where once Emily would peek beyond the barrier into the fae worlds and interact with the various creatures across her travels, this third installment sees Emily firmly in Wendell’s kingdom with scattered moments back in the human world. I thoroughly enjoyed this tension of a life sundered as Fawcett increasingly tests Wendell and Emily’s bond. Seeing Emily take on the mantle of queen was another satisfying thread completed in this finale. Emily made quite the unconventional figure as queen, but that has always been her charm and Fawcett stays true to her roots as a Dryadologist and penchant for scholarly inquiry even as she takes the crown.

This final novel is not without its heartbreak (seriously) and I’ll admit Fawcett had me worried there for not an insignificant amount of time. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales recaptures the enchanting quality of its former installments in an action packed and tender finale. I wandered through its pages not wanting to discover their end but trusting that Fawcett had the skill to bring it all together. Hopefully this is not the end to our glimpses into this world, though Emily and Wendell’s tale has drawn to a close.

A fun entry in the Emily Wilde series, this book pulled us further into Wendell's world while keeping Emily at the center.

*mild Emily Wilde spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!*

I….. do not have words accurate enough to describe how much I loved this book, this entire trilogy, this world, MY DEAR EMILY. I’ll try my best but man, some things are just so loved it’s hard for me to put it into words.

The world building in this book, as it built on the previous two books in the Emily Wilde trilogy, was incredible. The details, the lost tales, the imagination it takes to come up with this stuff is beyond my comprehension. Heather Fawcett is a true talent.

Seeing the world through Emily’s journal entries is (still) one of my favorite things about this book. It allowed us to see who Emily is, how she problem solves, how she sees the world, and I think this piece of the book is especially creative. I loved to hear Emily’s inner voice and how she perceived the world around her. This author’s writing style is so witty and makes the reader feel as though Emily is a true friend. I was hanging on to every word in every sentence.

I adored each of the characters in this entire trilogy and loved seeing some of the original characters make an appearance in this book. Everything came full circle perfectly and the pacing in which we got these appearances and the whole novel was perfect.

I also have to say that I adore a neurodivergent coded FMC, and Emily is certainly one of my all time favorites in this category. Emily coming into her own and learning how to lead as well as balance all the other pieces of her was soo well done. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention Wendell, the ultimate partner. I adore them both more than words can say. I was not ready to say goodbye to these beloved characters!

I do feel like the ending wasn’t written in a way that would lead me to believe we are completely done with Emily Wilde.. However, I also know sometimes the best endings are the ones that aren’t wrapped up in a perfect bow and are left to our own interpretation. Either way, this trilogy was 10/10, 5 stars all around. A piece of my heart will always belong to this cozy academia fantasy adventure! This trilogy is absolute magic. I shed real tears over how much I loved it.

Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballentine- Del Rey for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I can’t believe I got to read this book early, and was beyond excited to share this review with all of you!

Emily Wilde is BACK
Again, Heather Fawcett has woven a tale full of adventure, academia, and of course, fae. Definitely recommend reading the previous two books before going back into the world of Emily Wilde because the third book picks up right as book two ends. I had to go back to do a little refresh myself. Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit for and ARC of this lovely book! Pub date: February 11, 2025

This book was a delightful return to the Emily Wilde series. It was a joy to be in Emily’s head again, and the plot was much easier to follow in this installment since her thoughts were not as twisted up due to Faire magic as they were in the other two books.
The prose this book is so beautifully done, it made the reading experience very pleasurable.
Overall I would highly recommend reading this book and this series as a whole if you enjoy fun characters of all shapes and sizes and temperaments, a main character who uses her smarts to best anything that comes her way, and a romance as a side plot that still was able to stand up adorably to everything else going on around it.

Thank you to Netgally and Random House Publishing House for the e-ARC.

Another fun and installment starrring a cranky academic.

Picks up right where the last one eneded--Emily and Wendell go through the fairy door to his home. They meet allies new and old, including members of the common fae. Wendell may even be accepted by most people and the land itself, but all is not well. Wendell and Emily each have to (re)integrate into royal life while a blight spreads across the land. Yes, there is heirosgamos, if that is your jam.

I love Emily Wilde's adventures and this book is no exception. Each installment is cozy, adventurous, and magical. I loved the twists and turns this one takes, I was completely engrossed and had to know what happens next. Another great installment in the series. I truly love these characters so much.

A book that absolutely sticks the landing for the Emily Wilde trilogy. It gives everything that the first two did, and fans of those will enjoy this.

I loved how this one really asked the question of what it means for Emily to commit to living in the faerie realm. I also appreciated the emphasis on scholarship and research in the middle of the battling and power struggles.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel, @ChloeFrizzle, in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Heather Fawcett’s newest adventure for Professor Emily Wilde is her best yet!

Emily proves yet again that she is the smartest dryadologist; there’s nothing she can’t do! I am constantly in awe of her brilliance—much like her fiancé Wendell. Emily solves puzzles no one else can, making her research on the subject of Faerie all the more remarkable.

In book three, Emily is faced with being accepted as Queen of the Silva Lupi, as she herself is human. When a curse proves to be the potential downfall of her and Wendell’s kingdom, Emily dives headfirst into the fray, with a pencil behind her ear and a notebook in her hand.

I love Wendell and Emily both, so very much. Wendell is incredibly charming, especially with his humorous attitude in the face of danger. Emily is the ever-practical partner, her focus on tangible evidence at odds with the adventures she finds herself in with Wendell, yet this makes their relationship so unique and beautiful. Despite their differences, they are enamored with each other and would do anything to protect each other.

If I were to sum up this series, I would say knowledge is power. All three books have showcased Emily’s scholarship and research trips. It’s going to take every piece of knowledge she has gained to guarantee her happy ever after with Wendell.

All in all, book three was everything I could have ever dreamt of for Emily and Wendell’s “final” adventure.* There was more of Orga, Wendell’s cat—which, of course, I fell head over heels for! Emily and Wendell’s relationship was a pivotal focus of the book, much more so than books one or two, and there were generous cameos from the characters we’ve come to love throughout the series.

Fawcett dedicates this book entirely to her readers, in that it is written with love. Every reason readers have to adore this series and these characters are evident in book three. Fawcett remarked in one of her recent newsletters that this has been her favorite book in the series to write. I can promise that this has been my favorite to read. :)

Thank you to Del Ray and NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reader copy. I am always honored to work with you and for the opportunities you grant me. Thank you to Heather Fawcett for creating this series, that has always felt like coming home.

*Nothing could make me happier than the open ending Fawcett gave this series. I cannot wait for the day I get to say “hello, again” to one of my all-time favorite worlds. While I have no definitive proof, I sincerely hope there will be a novella or a fourth book.

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen. Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world: How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

While the writing style isn't for everyone, anyone who's enjoyed the first two in this series will love this book! You need to read the first two in the series to enjoy this. That said, this is a beautiful love story, a fun fantastical world, and gorgeous writing. Highly recommended! 5⭐

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

This is one of my favorite cozy fantasy series and I hope it’s not the last in the series.

I love the world that Heather Fawcett created and her characters. I was so glad to see Poe come back for a few ch and even though the end was a little lackluster I would definitely reread this whole series

💗 thank you NetGalley for giving me access to all three arcs in my now labeled favorite series!!!

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is a beautiful conclusion to the Emily Wilde series. It picks up right where the last book ended. I love the banter throughout, and I’m glad we got so much of it even with everything else going on. Wendell is his same endearing self and brings so much humor to the book. He is one of my favorite romantic interests ever in a book. I adore him.

This was much more romantic than the previous entries and I loved seeing Emily and Wendell together. Emily uses a lot of her faerie knowledge as usual to help figure out how to save the day. I was surprised by the direction this story went, and I loved every minute of reading it. Also, I’m glad we got to see most of the other characters from the previous books again.

The Irish folklore is one of the best parts of these stories, and it was probably the best in this one out of them all. Hopefully, Heather will return to this world someday because I would read anything with Wendell and Emily together. My biggest hope is that she writes companion books to the series of each of the books Emily is writing, along with commentary from Wendell. I would love to read the lost tales with annotations from them both.

I highly recommend this trilogy. It is definitely a new favorite for me, especially because of Emily and Wendell.