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Emeline Lark grew up in the small town of Edgewood, raised by her grandfather in a house right next to the forest. She grew up hearing everyone talk about the Wood King in a magical city in the heart of the forest, about the tithes people had to leave for him. But she’s far away from all that superstition now: She’s living her dream as a singer. Even so, the forest comes for her every time she’s on the stage: When Emeline sings, moss creeps along the stage and she can smell earth. The woods call to her, asking her to sing a true song. Now, she’s about to get signed with a record label, and she just has to manage to ignore the woods. Somehow.
Then her grandfather disappears from the memory care facility he had recently moved into, and Emeline rushes home to try to find him. She finds a small pearly orb on his bed, which everyone in her town knows is a sign he’s been taken as a tithe. But Emeline won’t accept it. Her search takes her into the woods, where no one else will venture.
Soon after Emeline enters the forest, she encounters the handsome but brooding (and honestly grumpy) Hawthorne Fell, the tithe collector for the king, who does all he can to keep her out of the woods. But she gets help from another inhabitant of the forest to get to the city, and there she makes a bargain with the Wood King: She will sing for him, and he will set her grandfather free. There’s a catch, though: Emeline will have to prove herself; if the king doesn’t like her music, she’ll be killed.
With Hawthorne’s help, Emeline works hard to get ready to perform. The stakes are even higher than Emeline knows: The woods have been under a curse that is only getting stronger and will soon ruin the kingdom. As Emeline learns more about herself, Hawthorne, and the power of her music, she may be able to change her fate and that of the forest.
Edgewood is a lovely young adult fantasy book featuring romance and magic and the strong love of family. I particularly appreciated how it concluded; the various threads of the story came together in poignant ways.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 3 uses of strong language, around 10 instances of moderate profanity, about 10 uses of mild language, and 6 instances of the name of Deity in vain. There are some kissing scenes, a couple of sex scenes that are just understood to have happened; a sex scene with little detail, and one that’s not lengthy but has a good amount of erotic detail; it could almost put the book into high territory. The main character says she’s had a number of casual lovers/relationships. Violence includes references to the many people the wood king has killed, with a scene showing their skulls and bones; a witch cutting off the head of someone and delivering it in a bag; some fighting and peril and threats of death.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
