I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Did not influence my review.

I really hope this book will be featured in an upcoming book box as I really enjoyed it and the cover is stunning. It's a romantic fantasy with so many beloved YA tropes. Magical forests, fairies, witches, and curses but it's melded with real world life. The story flowed really well and the protagonist handled some very traumatic events really well.

Get lost in the enchanted woods as you follow singer, Emiline Lark, on an adventure to save her grandfather after he mysteriously disappears. Sprinkle in a Forest King, small town folklore, and bits and pieces of magical darkness and you have the perfect YA fantasy.

As a reader I think I connected with Emiline a little deeper than some. My grandmother suffers from Alzheimer's and I understand the pain when someone you love is starting to lose themself. This is an ongoing theme that she has to deal with throughout the entire story - not just in relation to her Pa.

The author created magic out of everyday moments and the writing was done in a way the flowed beautifully. I truly enjoyed this journey and the characters in it.

So why not 5 stars? I would have liked to get to know a couple of the secondary characters a little more. Rook felt like his character should have had more story. I also love DARK magical books. I know this is YA and it's probably why the author pulled back a little but it definitely felt like a couple of parts in the story could have gone a little darker and deeper with magic.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think there will be many YA fantasy readers who will love this book, but it was just not for me! From the very start, I disliked Emmeline and her skepticism about the Woods– it's not like I didn't know her skepticism was coming... it's right in the description! I suppose I prefer fantasy protagonists who are a bit more credulous. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself connecting with the characters or the prose, and had a hard time keeping my attention on the page.
One scene I did appreciate, though, were descriptions of the practices of Edgewood, and how Emmeline practiced without understanding when she was a child. Interesting, but not enough to keep me engaged.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Emeline Lark is trying to escape the forest of Edgewood, but it always comes for her with its scents and the woods of her childhood are trying to get her back. But she doesn't want to remember superstitions and fairytales. But when her grandfather disappears, leaving behind only a mysterious orb, she has to enter the forest, where she's persuaded to stop looking by a brooding tithe collector. Refusing to give up, Emeline finds herself drawn to the court of the Wood King, making a deal to get her grandather back, giving up her own voice, but finding herself involved in a plot much more complex with a curse and an enemy turned ally. Trying to set things to right, get her own voice back and discover the truth, Emeline sets out.

I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this time I was right. As the cover is hauntingly beautiful and eerie so is the book, a story about love and fairytales, superstitions and magic and everything in between.
Romantic and creepy, Edgewood is a compelling fantasy novel, with Emeline as main character, a stubborn and strong woman finding herself involved in fae magic, curses, enemies turned into allies and so much more. The writing style is involving and captivating, the prose truly beautiful and I loved the descriptions, the plot twists and characterization. The whole journey is compelling and thrilling and I felt so involved in the story and how the author mixed romance with mystery. A strong book, impossible to put down and a great fantasy absolutely recommended.

I really love novels with the Fae as part of the story. In Edgewood, by Kristen Ciccarelli, the Fae are varied. Some are kind and others are cruel. And there are many other kinds of creatures that create a rich universe for the story. But this is also a novel about the "real" world, where Emeline, the main character, is torn between helping her grandfather, who has dementia, and following her dreams of becoming a famous singer. I found the exploration of Emme's relationship with her grandfather, and how she deals with the guilt of not being there for him, to be the real heart of the story. There is a romance with a human who is living with the Fae, which I found somewhat problematic. And there were some interesting quests for Emme to fulfill which helped keep the book moving. Overall, I would say this would be a good library read.

What I Liked:

World-Building:

I really liked all the various creatures that inhabit the world of the Fae. There is the wood king, who is predictably cruel, and un predictable. But there are also creatures, such as the terrifying fire-horses who can spirit someone away, bog spirits who suck your blood as payment across a body of water, as well as dragons, and many other magical creatures. I liked that some where relatively harmless, but others might kill you without a second thought.

There was also a complex mythology that the people of Edgewood, the small town on the edge of the forest, believe. They make sure to pay tithes to the Fae to keep dangers away. If anything bad happens to someone, the Fae are almost always to blame. Emme doesn't really believe any of it. Which makes the townspeople seem delusional to her. She can't wait to get away from these people!

Characters:

I did like Emme. She was very torn about leaving Edgewood to pursue her dreams of musical superstardom. She knows that she has an abundance of talent, but she is also close to her grandfather, who has raised her. When Emme moves to a large city and see strange things happen when she sings, she wonders if maybe she is having mental issues. She also starts to question all the other compromises she has to make to become a "popular" singer. She is told her own music that she has written doesn't have pop appeal. So she starts using a songwriter, and is more successful. But is this really the kind of music she wants to perform?

Emme's grandfather is the kind of person we all wish we had in our lives. He has raised Emme ever since her mother left Emme as a baby. But her grandfather has taught her about living a life filled with friends and neighbors, so that Emme rarely felt unloved. He is even the one to insist that she leave Edgewood to pursue her music.

What I Was Mixed About:

Tone:

While the book shows Emme as an adult who has had several lovers, it also tries to dial it back when she gets to the world of the Fae. Then,, she refers to a young man about her age as a boy (I'm paraphrasing, but several times Emme says to herself, "Since when do you blush and stammer when talking to a boy, Emme?"). She's not an awkward, inexperienced young teen!

Spice:

Emme is supposed to be nineteen in the book and makes no bones that she is not a virgin. That's fine. Teens have sex, and an nineteen year-old is an adult. However, the book has two sex scenes in it. The scene when she is nineteen gets hot and heavy and then fades to black. But the other scene takes place when she is about fifteen and is a complete, sex on the page, play by play. I personally find it wrong for a writer to describe children having sex. She could have easily been more descriptive during the scene when she was of age. I don't understand why she chose to do this. This is my own opinion and I do not judge others if they disagree with me.

Characters:

I felt that Hawthorne, the young man that Emme meets in the Fae world, was a bit two-dimensional. I get that he needs to be mysterious so that Emme will want to know more about him. But we never learn some key facts about him, such as how he came to be in the Fae world in the first place. He only has one motivation (which I won't spoil by revealing it here), and you never understand what he really wants or what would make him happy.

Edgewood is a mix of contemporary and fantasy that's full of things that should make it overly complicated yet manage work in tandem to weave a grand story full of music, passion, and magic.
It's a slow-boil plot that takes its time in introducing the world and characters before really getting going, but it's a roller coaster ride once it gets going. There's actions, reveals, secrets, danger, and lots of delicious romance.
Emeline Lark dreams of hitting it big as a musician and getting as far away from the little town she grew up in surrounded by people who swear there are magical folks in the woods that surround them. She's days away from taking the first big step towards achieving that dream when her beloved grandfather goes missing and she's forced to return to Edgewood and venture into the forest she's always been told is full of magic and danger. No big surprise to readers that the woods are indeed full of magic and danger and Emeline gets pulled into a court in decay that places her and everyone she loves in danger. This is how Emeline's adventures in finding the music to appease the crazed, cursed king begin, leading her to also find truths about herself, her past, her desires, and her future.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the magical early read!

3.5/5 stars. Full review can be read here: https://twincitiesgeek.com/2022/02/music-and-mystery-abound-in-edgewood/

As longtime readers of my review probably know, I’m a sucker for books that are about the fae, or even books that only might be about the fae. While the synopsis doesn’t explicitly state there will be faeries… well, there is a creepy forest, a Wood King, and a mysterious curse. I admit the lovely cover was also part of the reason I was so excited to check this out.

The book starts off with Emeline Lark being called home to Edgewood when her grandfather goes missing from the care home he’s been living in. He has dementia, but the residents of Edgewood know he didn’t just get confused and wander away - he was tithed to the Wood King. Emeline stopped believing in the fabled Wood King long ago and then she left her hometown entirely to pursue a career as a musician. She longs to be famous, singing under the glaring stage lights for adoring fans but now that she’s been called home she won’t escape so easily. She can’t leave her grandfather in the Wood King’s hands, so she goes to find him and bargain for her grandfather’s return. There is always a price though and she agrees to try to impress the Wood King with her musical talents so that she might become the next Song Mage and in return her grandfather will be free. If she fails to impress, her life is forfeit.

Edgewood and the Wood King’s court are magical, but ultimately somewhat shallow and lifeless. There’s a curse devouring the woodland, weakening the court and soon it will turn all the “shiftlings” as the fae-like creatures are called, back into their original forms. The tithes they take have been keeping the curse at bay, but they can no longer hold it back. It all sounds pretty cool, right? Sure, but it’s also something that’s been done about a hundred times and nothing about this felt unique enough to really stand out from the masses. Even the love interest is a shallow veneer of a character, with unmemorable looks and a somewhat vague history that isn’t outlined until the last little chunk of the book. I did however enjoy the sense of familial devotion Emeline had for her grandfather - nice to see a character risk life and limb for someone who raised them rather than for a handsome boy or girl.

This was definitely not the book for me, but it was a quick read that kept me engaged enough to finish in a single evening. I may have skimmed a bit when my attention waned, but I don’t believe I missed much. This was a standalone so there’s no issue of committing to multiple installments, which is great (I hope we see more standalones in SFF). Ultimately, I just didn’t love this - not enough happened in the beginning of the book to emotionally invest me with many of the characters and all these big plot events happened in the last 10%, so the ending felt very rushed.

I love a book with fairies. This is a magical fantasy. Good love story. Set in modern times. Gorgeous book cover.

I wanted to love this one but it just didn't work out. I felt that the writing and story was closer to juvenile fiction vs. young adult. And there isn't anything wrong with that. But I tend to read more mid to higher ya. I think this would work great as a transmission book for those moving from juvenile to young adult.

Fae books are always difficult for me. I want so badly to read them, and am always not *quite* happy with how the fae are portrayed. For me, Edgewood continues that pattern, but had many enjoyable features. When Emeline Lark's grandfather is taken by the Wood King, she races into the woods, determined to get him back.
To deepen the storyline, we have Emeline's subconscious link to the woods, an unbreakable tie that summons the woods to her when she sings. In addition to her latent magic, we get additional weight from Emeline's grandfather, whose declining mental state means he no longer recognizes his captors nor Emeline when she comes to save him.

Edgewood is an atmospheric novel that depends on setting just as much as its characters. In fact, the forest, which is essentially and extension of the Wood King, is a character in and of itself. Character and setting are organically combined, creating an immersive experience.

Author Kristen Ciccarelli does a fine job setting the stage; however, it isn’t until Emeline returns home that her story really finds its footing. I suppose the juxtaposition between the two worlds is intentional, but it lacks the “magic” found in other places throughout the novel.

Though the publisher’s suggested age is simply young adult (ages 12 and up), it seems a better fit for older teen/new adults as the romance elements are more detailed than standard YA books. That said, Edgewood moves quickly, and fans of romance will likely eat it up.

Music is life for Emeline Lark. Chasing her dream of becoming a singer-songwriter, she left her small town of Edgewood behind, moving to the city. No matter how far she goes however, she's constantly reminded of home. As she performs, with the music coursing through her, she can smell the damp woods of Edgewood; moss and other flora have even been known to sprout from the stage at her feet.

Emeline does her best to ignore it. She feels like in order to succeed, she has break ties with the past. When she receives news from a friend, however, that her beloved Grandfather has disappeared, she hightails it back to join the search. He is the only family she has left; she can't lose him too.

With just days left before Emeline is set to go on her first tour, as the opener for one of her favorite bands, she needs to find Pa quickly, so she can return to the city and the life she's built for herself there. Edgewood is undeniably a quirky little town, full of superstitions. It doesn't take long for Emeline to discover that there may actually be something to all the local lore and thus, a more magical than mundane reason for her Pa's disappearance.

Unexpectedly, she finds herself following her only lead, a mysterious orb left on her Grandfather's pillow, said to be evidence of a tithe paid to the Wood King. Into the woods she goes and a fairy tale is born!

I really enjoyed my time with this audiobook. I knew going in that Ciccarelli's writing is fantastic and that she knows how to sweep her Readers away into another world. I loved her entire Iskari series and feel it's highly underrated in the YA Fantasy space.

In this story, I enjoyed how modern it felt. I actually didn't know too much about it going in and assumed it was set entirely in a Fantasy world. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Emeline is a girl very much of our world, who travels to a magical realm to perform a quest; to find her beloved Grandfather who has been stolen away.

This is one of my favorite set-ups for magical stories. It gives me nostalgic Labyrinth vibes and I'm so here for it. Also, it felt sort of Beauty and the Beast reminiscent as well towards the beginning, which is another one of my favorites. Edgewood gave me many good feels throughout. There was a lot packed into this story; numerous reveals and great growth of character for Emeline.

On a more serious note, I really enjoyed how Ciccarelli explored the relationship between Emeline and her Grandfather. When he started losing his memory, he became unable to live on his own and Emeline had to make the decision to have him placed in a home.

This is such a tough real life issue; one that hits particularly close to home for me. Emeline struggles with guilt surrounding her decision and I appreciated that Ciccarelli included that. Instead of making it glossy and pretty, you could really get a sense of the complexity of Emeline's feelings. This hasn't been as easy for her as it may first appear.

In spite of that heavier points in the narrative, this also managed to be magical and fun. There were many great mythical beings, a deal with the Wood King, a long-standing curse and the truth of Emeline's past coming to light. Oh, and also, a sweet romance. That's probably what some of y'all are here for. It was swoon-worthy, a little heartbreaking, yet also uplifting. It was really good, although not my personal favorite aspect of the overall story.

At this point, I will pick up anything Ciccarelli writes. Her imagery is stunning and she never fails to guide me out of reality for a while.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with an audio ARC to read and review. I'm already excited to see what Ciccarelli comes up with next!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a requested advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Oh my heart! This was so devastatingly beautiful. I was not expecting this book to affect me so much, but the story and the themes were so powerful and so well-done. I loved Emeline and Hawthorne so so so much.
This is a book about dreams, longing, what we'll do for love, the pain of forgetting, the pain of being the one that remembers, what sacrifices hurt the most, and how love never leaves us. Honestly I cried so much reading the last 100 pages and I'm tearing up again just trying to write this review. And the author's note at the end just completely had me a sobbing mess.
I really can't emphasize enough how beautiful this story was. Yes, there's Fae, and shifters, and a secret world, but it's also just so much more than that. It's a love story to family and remembrance and I can't recommend it enough.

4.5 stars

A beautiful, haunting yet modern story about the fae courts, magic, mythical creatures and love.

This definitely had that lyrical writing that Kristen does so well! I loved the mystery of the forest and the magic intertwined with the main character’s dream of being a famous singer. There’s also family drama with her now missing grandfather, a hunt to find him and a battle within herself of what she’d truly give to keep those she loves safe.

If you like dark magic, angst and love and yearning mixed with being young and wanting to explore the world, see what it has to offer amid dangerous missions, dragons and mythical horses, a magical forest, an evil king and more, you Need to check this one out!

4/5⭐️

Wow! First off thank you to Wednesday books for letting me read an early copy and Secondly, that cover is stunning. The synopsis drew me in and intrigued me and that’s how I felt reading the book. Kristen has a magical way with words.

Emeline is an aspiring singer waiting for her chance to get a contract. Struggling between her music and life is tough, but when her grandfather disappears and a mysterious orb is in his place, she starts to believe in the wild tales she has always heard about her family. This sets in motion her quest and drawing herself closer to the Wood King, a fabled creature. She makes a deal to free her grandfather and teams up with an unlikely alley along the way.

The story was unique and I love the journey, but the plot line was a bit predictable. And the book read a bit middle grade to me, young YA. I didn’t really care for the main character. She could be a bit childish. The romance I really enjoyed. It added the extra touch of whimsy magic. All in all, I still really enjoyed the story and can’t wait for my finished copy

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Edgewood follows Emeline Lark who is a singer chasing her dream of getting signed and a record deal. But Emeline is being called back to her hometown, Edgewood. Her grandfather goes missing just before Emeline is supposed to set off on her first real tour. She returns home and gets pulled into the mystery and magic of the forest. But even though she finds her grandfather, she’s left with so many questions that she just can’t let go.
I really enjoyed this story. It was fast paced and engaging. I was never bored or wondered where the story was going. I was eager to find out how all the pieces were going to come together. I think my only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed. I don’t know if that’s just because I wanted more or what. There were a few twists that I guessed early on, but those predictions didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story.
I think aside from the fantasy/fae aspect of the story the romance was my favorite part of the story. It was easy to see who the romantic pair was going to be, but I still thoroughly enjoyed following them as they came together. Outside of the romance, I liked the family aspects of the story. It was a compelling struggle for Emeline to feel guilt about leaving her grandfather even though he doesn’t remember who she is. And the mystery with her mom was an interesting one too.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fast paced story that had interesting world building and characters that were easy to get invested in. I will definitely be recommending this one.

I always love reading about musicians and magical woods, and EDGEWOOD is loaded with both those things. Emmeline’s struggle for her career and her conflict about her home and the weird things her neighbors believe about the woods drew me into the story. I loved the cast of characters from the woods, too– Rook, Sable, and Hawthorne. This is the kind of story that sets itself up perfectly for fan fiction to be written about those characters. I would absolutely read that.

There were a couple of things that felt weird to me about the book, though. I guess Emmeline had to be older in order to be on her own, but the fact that she was nineteen but paired with other story elements and writing that felt definitively YA left me feeling a little off-step or something.

I also thought it was kind of weird that no one else in the woods knew who Emmeline was. Because of some other circumstances, it seemed like at least somebody would have put two and two together before she did. (Trying to avoid spoilers, sorry.)

At any rate, I liked the woods and its magic and the mystery of the curse. Overall, I’m not sorry I read the book. I think I was expecting something more like INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD by Joanna Ruth Meyer, and it’s a different kind of story.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Emeline wants to become a famous singer and her hard work has finally brought her close to getting a big break when she receives a call from her hometown informing her that her grandfather has disappeared. She returns to Edgewood, a town where mysterious occurrences near the woods are not uncommon and the people are all rather superstitious and firm believers in the magical forces that dwell within. The rumor is that her grandfather has been tithed to the Wood King and now belongs to his court deep in the woods. Emeline has never believed in these stories, but having exhausted all other options, ventures into the woods, determined to get him back, only to find out that all the stories were true.

I was admittedly very nervous to read this book (hence why I put it off until a week before release date) because the last book I read by this author, The Last Namsara, really did not work for me. Luckily, this was a very different type of story to that one, and it caught my interest almost immediately. The world building was beautifully executed and really brings to life the magical forest and all its inhabitants. The parts of the story set in the real world on the other hand didn’t feel as well written and I was just turning the pages until the plot returned to the woods. It has several common fantasy and fairytale tropes, but puts a unique spin on them, resulting in quite a fascinating, not to mention entertaining read.

As for the characters, I have to say I couldn’t really connect with them, and I felt that the characters didn’t have enough depth to them. Some of characters Emeline meets in the Wood King’s court did seem really interesting and it would have been nice if the story had taken time to develop these arcs better. I was also not too impressed with the romance. Initially, it seemed like it had a lot of potential, but there was so much else going on that this arc ended up feeling rushed. My focus was entirely on what would happen next on Emeline’s quest to save her grandfather and how it would all end, so definitely plot over characters with this one.

The pacing was quite good at first, but soon became rather inconsistent and choppy, and it took nearly 40% of the book before Emeline’s quest is finally revealed. Also, the magic system remained extremely vague right to the end, and considering how important a role it played, some clarity on the situation would have been helpful.

Overall, I found Edgewood to be a pleasant read. Despite a few issues, the story was engaging enough for me to keep reading to the end and it was a satisfactory conclusion to this narrative. Fans of these tropes are sure to enjoy this book and I would definitely recommend it!

Edgewood is a typical YA fantasy about 19-year-old musician Emeline Lark who is about to go on her first multi-city tour, just like she's always dreamed. However, strange things start happening when she sings, like moss and ferns growing at her feet and thorns creeping up her mic stand, and when Emeline learns that her grandfather has gone missing from the nursing care facility she has placed him because of his dementia, she knows she must return to Edgewood to find her grandfather and do whatever she can to get him back.

We then follow Emeline into the forest where she runs into a strange boy who refuses to take her to the Wood King to see if the King has taken her grandfather. It's at this point in the story that the book started to feel very troupy to me. The connections between the characters felt a little off from the beginning, and even though by the end of the book, I could understand why the characters acted the way they did around each other in the beginning, for the majority of the book I found myself not caring or believing in their relationships.

There were also convenient plot devises used and the too often romance tropes that come with the YA fantasy books. There were some steamy scenes that were fairly graphic for a YA book, and at the same time they seemed a bit cringy to me and I couldn't feel the chemistry between the characters.

One of the main things that took me out of the story, though, was the writing. There were so many details that were repeated word for word. If I had to read for the twentieth time about Hawthorne's "maple-dark hair" or river rock eyes" I was going to hurl my Kindle across the room! It was also hard to imagine what the forest looked like. The prose was sparse and not as lush or beautiful as I would have liked for such a magical place.

There were aspects about the plot that I did like, especially scenes where Emeline talks about her music and songwriting, and I did appreciate Emeline's character arc, but this was just a standard, average YA fantasy for me. I would recommend this to readers of YA fantasy who are primarily plot-based readers who enjoy when there is a mixture of both the real world and fantasy.

*Many thanks to Wednesday Books/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital arc copy in exchange for an honest review.