ŷ������

Like the previous installment in this series, this book could should have been a horribly cozy and despicably fluffy fest, with zero action and sappy moments aplenty (The Spellshop anyone? *shudders*). ⚠️ Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

Okay, so I won't deny the revolting coziness of it all. Or that this isn't exactly the most action-packed story ever.

BUT.

�� Mayhem and mischief and severed limbs, oh my!

�� As in book 1, the research journal format (those footnotes 😍) is fantastic.

�� Super Extra Clever Writing (���������).

�� Hahahahaha.

�� Gloriously reversed gender roles: a damsel in no bloody shrimping distress on a mission to save a fop knight in no armor whatsoever? Yes, please!

�� Watch out, archetypal kickass female leads of the book world, Emily Wilde is out to get you! Em is one of the most refreshing, atypical female MCs ever. A rather plain, curmudgeonly professor with vigorous pencil-scratching tendencies and an addiction to blackboards? And one who "never had much use for romance" at that? Color me slightly flabbergasted and utterly delighted!



�� Looking for your average, cliched as fish macho man lead? Well sorry to disappoint but Bambleby is definitely not the droid stereotypical alpha male you were looking for. The guy is basically a lazy as shrimp, lovestruck dandy with obsessive tidying tendencies and a severe interior design obsession. But hey, don't worry, he's not a complete wimp and loves nothing more than channeling his inner bloodthirsty barbarian and going on deadly rampages 🤗.

�� Poe. (Neither Edgar Allan nor his feline relative.)

�� Slightly homicidal aggressive furry pets creatures with wonderfully appointed homes (those human fingers as decor pieces, such a fabulous idea!).

�� Taking directions from mummified faerie feet (don't ask) + ears fastened backward (oops) + bumbling human oafs + Swiss Army Knife-like apparel + fanatically hygienic bears + weapons of mass destruction hails of carrots + pens that turn into swords (handy that) +faerie cats that exist in a state of perpetual resentment and dissatisfaction (don't they all?) + half-headless horses and tumbling heads and ripped off hearts = yay and stuff!



Need I say more? Didn't think so 😬.

· Book 1: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries ★★★★
· Book 3: Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales ★★��



[Pre-review nonsense]

Bloody shrimping hell, not again! This book is horribly cozy, the characters are revoltingly endearing, and there are some repulsively heartwarming moments. The whole thing is despicably charming. And yet I liked it. It's official, the end is nigh.



�� Review to come and stuff.