Completely addicted to each page and thrilled by the story all the way to the end. Such a magical universe of fantasy. I loved it.

This book was....... different. But not bad different. Refreshing different.

We have a lot of the usual elements, 'fantasy' creatures, love, danger, adventure. But Charlie does a great job at taking us new places while making us feel at home.

I wouldn't say this book sucked me in wholly, which honestly isn't a bad thing for me since this book is a standalone. By the time it is over I'm ok with that. I don't feel like I'm missing any information I needed, or like I'm not done with the characters and wish the author had turned the story in a longer read. But I also never felt like I just wanted it to end. It was nice balance of book peace though.

What a pleasurable read. This book is a cozy fantasy rich in monstruous folklore and the value of the soul.

Set in the deep of the woods, against a backdrop of superstition and bigotry, two opposing worlds collide in the form of a bright girl and a wild creature.

I loved it all. I took a liking to Enna right away because she is smart, brave yet cautious, sweet and caring yet driven and hungry for knowledge. She dabbles in herbs, craves to find out the secrets of the monsters lurking in the dangerous forest, and is assertive in the face of threat. Unfortunately for her, that attitude leads her to make a devious pact with a hooved creature intent on trickery and violence. And so the exciting race to live or die begins.

I was mesmerized to learn along with her how to get free from the mess magic had created. And Maekallus is so fascinating with his dark-fairy nature and his netherworld powers. I loved their predicament, how it evolved as well as their complex relationship. It has so much mystery doused in fear, but also tiny seeds of sensuality. I enjoyed learning about the different monsters, the workings of the two worlds.

This paranormal Faustian pact is atmospheric, intimate and metaphysical.

A battle of wills ensues, of faith and trust and forlorn love that left me staggering and breathless. The forest with its primitive beat becomes as much a character as the trapped, red-haired mysting and the valiant girl who never relents in her mission.

This tale may not encompass epic battles, yet it feels trascendental and powerful in its life-or-death pursuit. And the mortal kisses, too!

Enna's despair and broken heart jumps out of the page, the threat from the monster underworld pulses between realms, and the impossible qualities of a soul bring on unforseen consequences.

For a story about stealing and losing souls, this book is soulful. I loved the sacrifices that were made. They cut the characters deep and my heart went out to them. And I loved how hopeless it seemed to be that they would succeed in liberating the tethered mysting or saving the stolen soul, yet I loved even more the painful, poetic ending that brought a different kind of tears to my eyes.

I'm in love with this fabled fairytale touched by Labyrinth and fae folklore in such enticing ways. I wholly recommend it to the curious and the romantic.

Favourite quotes :
Monsters are only ever fascinating from a far.
I'm too tired to cry, so the rain weeps for me.

Enna lives on the outskirts of a small town with her ailing father amongst the woods. The wildwood with the monsters and the mystings. On one casual day, a monster attacks for something in Enna’s possession. Feeling vulnerable, she seeks the assistance of Maekallus, paying a price of her soul in exchange.

I’ve read Charlie Holmberg’s Paper Magician series and absolutely loved it. Her writing is raw and I adore the mysterious and whimsical settings she's able to capture in her books. I really enjoyed both Enna and Maekallus characters; the dynamic between the two worked well and I loved that Charlie was able to bring such a human side to a monster. It was a quick read, the book certainly hits the ground running. The only thing I wish the book had more of was The Deep. I craved to know more of the mysterious realm and the monsters within.

Thank you to 47 North for providing a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bottom Line Up Front

THE WILL AND THE WILDS is an excellent, claustrophobic fantasy that takes place in a small town on the edge of the woods that lead to a demon (mysting) realm. When Enna gets marked for death by a minor demon that wants to steal from her, she summons a stronger demon to do the fighting for her. But it all goes wrong and Maekallus gets trapped in her world, which is deadly to him. They have to find a way to break the spell keeping in the human world, all while he can't leave one tiny glen and Enna can't leave because...you know. Ye Olden Times. Walking places takes a while. Overall it's a wonderful, focused novel that really makes you care about the two main characters and their troubles, and the magic and worldbuilding is delightful. I had a lot of fun with it.
First Off

Yes I know there's plenty of fantasy that doesn't focus on royalty, but I ain't seen it in a minute so just let me be excited, okay?
Anyone out there looking for some low-stakes fantasy (which I have seen asks for) then...okay, this is more mid-stakes, but seriously.
Ain't no worlds or countries about to end, it's just two knuckleheads that did an oops with magic and now they have to fix it or they die. Not everyone. Just them dying. But that's plenty!

Teh Problems

Not the book's problems. The character's problems.
They had so many!
Every time you think 'okay, they'll figure out the spell this time' NOPE.
Okay, the page count should have given it away, I mean they can't solve the main problem at 65% Whitley, get it together.
But in keeping with the scale of the book they had such personal problems that all stacked on top of each other and made shit so complicated.
It wound up being very tense, which I loved in something that was also so narrowly focused on a small cast.

Oh, there was a romance

Kinda.
Okay, no, for realsy, and it was present throughout the book.
No lie, I wanted her to hook up with the other guy, though.
IDK, I'm either too ace or not ace enough because I wasn't feeling the main pair. Too much tension and magic conundrum and cool demon stuff, you guys basically only kissed you didn't have any of the shmoopy part of a romance line.
Don't get me wrong, I liked that he cared about her and how that came about, but...HEA? Okay, if you say so.


Will I read this author again? Her Paper Magician series is totally on my TBR and might have moved up a few slots after this. (Metaphorically. We all know I'm not organized enough to number my TBR.)

Will I continue this series? Pretty sure it's a one-shot, alas.

(to be published 12/18/2019)

I wish I could say I loved this book, but that wasn't the case. I was very intrigued by the premise of the book, but sadly I didn't feel the author made the story live up to it. The writing was boring, the characters flat. There wasn't much liveness to the main character, she just described things as if they weren't happening to herself. I couldn't care less about the mysting romantic love interest. This book just wasn't for me, I hope other people will like it, but I'm sad I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would when I requested the arc.

I've read many of Holmberg's books and there are a couple of overriding comments about why I like her writing.

1- She develops new worlds and doesn't rehash all her old ideas
2- Every magic system in the new world is unique and has a set of rules
3- How the characters don't know how to solve their problems, but they keep going anyhow

One of the strengths in The Will and the Wilds is the relationship Enna has with her father. It feels so genuine the way he is slipping away with dementia and how she guides or misdirects him because of his failing memory. When she discovers the root of his mental problem, I felt like it brought the issue to a new level.

I also enjoyed her relationship with Tennith and Maekallus. In both cases, she is tentative but for different reasons. Tennith is kind and handsome, and the boy she's crushed over, so her hesitancy is believable. Maekallus is a supernatural being with a horn and knife-like tail, so there is no need to describe her hesitancy in this case. Who does she fall for? The good boy or bad monster? The biggest component of the relationship with the possible male romantic lead characters is how Enna's compassion grows. She is multidimensional and takes the reader on a trip through all her emotions as she works out her feelings and problems.

This story was being written at the same time as The Paper Magician. I didn't know this fact until after I'd finished. The awesome thing about this is seeing how different the two worlds are.

If you're a fan of fantasy with a fairytale bent, I think you'll enjoy The Will and the Wilds

Enna and her father live on the edge of the Wildwood,a forest where mystings can enter the mortal realm and pray on human bodies and souls. But when a group of mystings attacks Enna in search of something very powerful that she possesses, she has no choice but to strike a deal with another mysting,Maekallus, for help. The synopsis got one thing wrong though. It is not the kiss that tied Maekallus to the mortal realm but a curse. The longer he stays the more he suffers and will eventually die. A kiss willingly given can restore his strength but it chips Enna's soul every time they share a kiss. So the plot is really this:Enna and Maekallus try to undo the curse to save both their lives while also trying to figure out what is going on with the other mystings.
I think I'll go with 3.5* for this one. I've read the Paper Magician series by this author and was not a fan of it at all but this book was a pleasant surprise. It had a rich atmosphere to it that I could almost feel. Enna was a good protagonist, strong yet vulnerable and very smart. It was interesting to watch Maekallus slowly change and become more human with each piece of Enna's soul he received. The mystings reminded me a lot of fae.
But essentially this a romance, so there is not much world building or history or politics, and not much background on mystings themselves, only little theories here and there. I wish it was deeper than that. Also,the big bad problem was resolved so easily and quickly that it anticlimactic.
Overall, if you enjoy romances in a fantasy setting I think you will like this one.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book early thanks to #NetGalley!

I love Charlie N. Holmberg! I sped through this book, and enjoyed every minute of it. The world building was fantastic, as was the character development. The different races of Mistings were really interesting. I hope this is a long running series!

Enna has lived her whole life in fear of the mystings that roam the woods near her small village. When one of these monsters breaks into her home and attacks her for the mysterious stone she wears around her wrist, Enna decides to take matters into her own hands. She summons Maekallus, a trickster Narval, to track down the Gobbler who attacked her, but she soon learns his help is not for free. His price? Just one kiss from Enna. The catch? She'll lose her soul.

After the pair strike a deal, Maekallus gets trapped in the mortal world which slowly starts to eat him alive. Only a willing kiss from Enna can help slow the process and save him. Although it's a temporary solution for Maekallus, the more pieces of her soul she offers up, the more he starts to feel emotions he has never felt before. If Enna isn't able to find a way to break the binding spell on Maekallus, he'll be consumed completely taking her soul with him.

I thought the premise of this was really solid, but I didn't fully love the execution. I felt the romance between Enna and Maekallus fully took over the plot, and the mysting army that the pair were supposed to be fighting sort of fell by the wayside. I also didn't feel any chemistry between them, so the romance just didn't seem believable to me. I wish we learned more about the Deep, the land of the mystings, and just more about them in general because all the different varieties seemed so interesting. Despite that, I did think the world was fun to read about and it was definitely very whimsical and a bit dark, I was just hoping for slightly more.

I'm in love. I get very strong fairy tale vibes from this story which is my (bread, butter, and) jam. We follow Enna, a young woman living in a cottage in the woods with her ailing father. The woods surrounding them are dangerous because they contain mystings, a broad term for different types of monsters/creatures. To protect herself and her father from a relentless attack, she strikes a deal with a mysting that looks very much human. This was the angsty romantic fairy tale that I needed.

I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this title.

**I was provided an electronic ARC by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Charlie Holmberg's The Will and the Wilds is part fairytale, part love story, and all adventure. Readers follow Enna, a budding herbalist who has learned about the creatures of the wildwood (mystings) from her grandmother. When Enna strikes a bargain with mysting Maekallus, she becomes bound to him, and he to the mortal world. They then must aim to sever the binding before it is too late.

I very much enjoyed the concepts Holmberg presented in the mystings. They came across as fae/monster blends, and the lore she introduced surrounding them was very interesting and refreshing. I honestly could have just read the encyclopedia of mystings and would have been happy with that.

I wasn't super fond of Enna as a main character, as she seemed to personify the YA female MC trope sort of situation. That being said, I did like her devotion to her father, even if she bailed on him whenever was convenient for her and regularly used his memory loss to her advantage. I liked Maekallus, but he kind of personified the roguish sort of lad that I'm prone to liking anyhow.

Holmberg's strength, therefore, was in the world-building glimpses that she provided and in the whimsical writing style that lent itself well to the setting she created.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and would read more from Holmberg in the future.

Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Enna is living with her sick father on the outskirts of the Wildwood. There is an increase in Mystings which alarms Enna when they evade her barriers and break into her home. She takes it upon herself to make a deal with a mysting in exchange for dealing with these creatures. Things do not go as planned thus begins our adventure.

The mysting Enna calls upon is called, Maekallus, a Narval from the Deep. I enjoyed this character a ton. From the way he is described to his mischievous sass. I really loved seeing him grow and change due to Enna’s soul.

My only complaint is the lack of a strong antagonist. The antagonist was promising and I was expecting an epic showdown but there was nothing like that. It was very anticlimactic.

Overall, I enjoyed the characters – would love to know more about this world and the Wildwood and its inhabitants.

Holmberg’s stories continue to be an enjoyment.

Enna knows to fear the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. When one tries to kill her to obtain an enchanted stone, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.

Maekallus's help isn't free. His price? A kiss. One with the power to steal her soul. But their deal leaves Maekallus bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Only Enna's kiss, given willingly, can save him from immediate destruction. It's a temporary salvation for Maekallus and a lingering doom for Enna. Part of her soul now burns bright inside Maekallus, making him feel for the first time.

Enna shares Maekallus's suffering, but her small sacrifice won't last long. If she and Maekallus can't break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely--and Enna's soul with him.

My Thoughts:
So imaginative, and entrancing!! I loved the magic and the monsters and the characters!! Enna and Maekallus' relationship is to die for!! There is banter, action, and of course romance. As well as lies, trickery, and heartbreak!! The twists were subtle but spectacularly done!! It was completely un put down-able and I loved every word of this fast paced, romantic story!! Totally recommend to fans of her other writing, as well as V. E. Schwab, Sara Dennard, etc.

Enna has been taught to fear the mystings that visit the wildwood near her home, but she is fascinated by them at the same time. When a mysting attacks her for an enchanted stone she possesses, Enna uses her knowledge of the demons to bargain with another mysting for protection.

The mysting Enna summons, named Maekallus, agrees to the deal she offers, but can not complete his task before he becomes trapped in the mortal world, a place that is deadly to mystings that linger within its borders too long. The unfinished deal binds Enna’s fate to that of Maekallus, forcing her to help him to free herself.

Maekallus requires a kiss, freely given, to heal himself and buy them time, a kiss that instead of stealing Enna’s soul, only takes a portion of it, giving him human emotions for the first time, and forcing Enna to experience Maekallus’ suffering. The exchange is only a temporary fix and the two must now work together to free themselves before the realm devours them both.

I’ve been a fan of Charlie N. Holmberg since the first novel in her Paper Magician series. I love the quirkiness and depth of the worlds she creates, and this new novel is full of both of these things. The characters are written with flaws and realistic motivations and qualities that a make them jump off of the page. She weaves a sustainable world around those characters and quietly brings them to life within the story line. The plot is intriguing and grasps a reader’s interest right from the beginning and stays interesting throughout the novel. All of these things blend together to fashion a unique and delightful book that is easy to get lost within

Reading this book was like falling into a dream world: mesmerizing, beautiful, and magical. It's the kind of story that retains its essence of magic even after you've finished, like somehow this book sitting on your shelf is truly a porthole to another world.

Essentially a fantasy fairy tale with an equally fantastic and folkloric quality, its romantic and wild, woodsy and lyrical, with a little bit of Jim Henson's Labyrinth and Guillermo del Toro* (Pans Labyrinth) vibe: there's a darkness that's alluring and beautiful too. Its too easy to say this is a take on "Beauty and the Beast", because it is definitely its own story, richly drawn and evoking a magic all its own; but yes we do have a maiden, and an unusual beast of a man (deftly created and easy to picture from the point of his deadly tail to the tip of his spiraling horn) along with curses, magic, and plenty of creepy goblin-like underlings of the nether world.

For me this one is an instant classic, one I will happily re-read in years to come, perfect for fans of Naomi Novik's Uprooted, Margaret Rogerson's An Enchantment of Ravens, and Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy.

*With her careful crafting of the Mystings and their various castes I couldn't help but think of Guillermo's eerie animalistic creations in both Pan's Labyrinth and The Golden Army (Hellboy 2)

Thank you once again Net Galley for the ARC of this book! (in exchange for my fair review and honest opinion)

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an absolutely delightful fairy tale. Enna and Maekullus are on otp worthy duo.

Their relationship begins with one attempting to use the other and it blossoms into a heady romance.

Charlie does it again! Another zippy, binge-able YA fantasy with moving passages and fully formed main characters.

3.5 stars rounded down.

A new stand-alone book from Holmberg with magic, monsters, and love story all mixed together. I liked this book but it never really grabbed me in a way that made me excited to finish the story. Something about it just left me feeling uninspired although I can’t really put into words what was missing about it.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an arc through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a charming little story. Obvious parallels to something like beauty and the beast can be made but I think it’s distinct enough with the magical aspect to be a more engaging read for YA looking for something in a fantasy genre. I think the story was just a little too short to develop the characters enough that they felt fully rounded, but on the whole it was fun to read.