About the Book
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Author:
- L.M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Cover Story: Blarg
BFF Charm: Why Are You Doing This To Me?
Swoonworthy Scale: What Is the Number For HEARTBREAK?
Talky Talky: A Little Less Magic
Bonus Factors: Proposals, Publishing
Relationship Status: I Will Wait For You
Spoiler Alert: This is the third book of the Emily series.
Cover Story: Blarg
Uh, these covers. They are just so boring. And taken out of context, I would totally think this was about a girl on a LITERAL quest, maybe trying to find treasure and possibly pirates are involved. There are more covers, sure, but they are more or less all varying levels of ridiculous. Like, the one I used for the header image? ALL LIES, because this is NOT A HAPPY BOOK.
The Deal:
When we last left Emily, she had just graduated from high school and was experiencing minor success getting her poems and stories published in magazines. Emily was given the chance to move to New York City and live with a wealthy publisher friend, but turned the opportunity down to keep pursuing her literary career from New Moon and Prince Edward Island. This book follows Emily through her early adult years as she experiences successes, failures, love and heartache.
And because this is the final book in the Emily series and because I have FEELINGS I need to TALK ABOUT, there will be MASSIVE SPOILERS from here on out.
BFF Charm: Why Are You Doing This To Me?
In the two previous books, I gave Emily my BFF charm with all of my heart and soul. But I’m just not sure about anything anymore. I mean, I love Emily, but girl made some SERIOUSLY POOR LIFE DECISIONS. Where to begin? Well, how about the fact that she GETS ENGAGED TO DEAN PRIEST. I mean, WHATDAFUUU???! Dean is, objectively, THE WORST. He’s insecure and needy and possessive and selfish and cruel. Never mind the fact that he had basically GROOMED HER since she was TWELVE YEARS OLD. He constantly puts insane amounts of pressure on Emily because he doesn’t have anyone else. And he doesn’t want her to be happy with anyone or anything else besides him. He is willing to sacrifice her happiness because he honestly doesn’t give two shits about what is best for her. But ALL of that aside…I understood why she did it. After her accident, she was depressed and miserable and Dean was really the only one there for her. And that is what was so tragic. Seeing Emily bargain and settle because at such a young age she’d already convinced herself it’s impossible to get what we really want and that “good enough” is an acceptable option. We’ve all done it at some point. Maybe some of us are doing it right now. Seeing her try to convince herself she could accept that future was painful. And so heartbreaking because as ridiculous and horrifying as it is watching Emily make this mistake, it is ALL TOO UNDERSTANDABLE.
And even though Emily (thankfully!) breaks it off with Dean, that doesn’t stop her from doing other martyr-ish things. Like sitting back and doing NOTHING while her BEST FRIEND Ilse is about to marry the LOVE OF HER LIFE Teddy. But more on that later. It’s painful watching Emily make so many mistakes. And even more painful knowing that simple things, like THE USE OF WORDS could have prevented so much unhappiness. If only I WERE Emily’s BFF, I would have meddled the SHIT out of these situations and made everything better.
Swoonworthy Scale: What Is the Number For HEARTBREAK?
Number? What are numbers? What is anything? I could barely move as I read the second half of this book. There was obviously NOTHING swoonworthy about Emily being engaged to Dean aka THE WORST HUMAN EVER. But that I could handle. I gnawed my lip and sped-read through, knowing it MUST end at some point and that Emily would come to her senses. But Teddy? Oh Teddy. Emily and Teddy, WHY DID YOU TWO DO THIS TO ME? Here these two were…they had loved each other THEIR WHOLE LIVES and yet they let the most ridiculous misunderstandings get in between them. For years. YEARS AND YEARS. All of these awkward moments together and then FINALLY someone does something. Teddy sends Emily a letter, confessing his love. BUT SHE NEVER SAW THE LETTER. Why? Because Teddy’s HELL DEMON OF A MOTHER DESTROYED IT. So Teddy just thought Emily had rejected him. Which is why WE DO NOT DECLARE OUR LOVE IN LETTERS/EMAILS/TXTS/CARRIER PIDGEON/ETC. We do it IN PERSON. Because we are NOT PUSSIES, people! So instead of marrying Emily, THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE, he proceeds to try and marry her BEST FRIEND. Because that is what CRAZY PEOPLE DO. AND IT ALMOST HAPPENS. And Emily just LETS IT HAPPEN. Even though Ilse keeps saying she doesn’t love him. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING EMILY!!! But Ilse leaves Teddy at the altar. And yet Emily STILL DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING. And then Teddy’s mother tells Emily about the letter. AND EMILY STILL DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING. And finally, Teddy shows up YEARS LATER and they are finally like “Oh, let’s do this now!” ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME????!!?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!?? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELVES. And more importantly, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MEEEE?? How could you hurt me like this? Normally when two characters can’t get it together, I don’t care, because I usually don’t like them. But this is EMILY AND TEDDY. And this devastated me. DEVASTATED. I feel like this book destroyed me a bit. My husband found me bawling and was all “What on earth is wrong with you?” and I’m like “Booooook, waaaaaaa!” I know there are plenty of books and movies that are devastating, but usually they’re so contrived (deus ex cancer). While I was yelling at Emily to just GO TALK TO HIM and fix things, I still felt like her and Teddy’s star crossed relationship was sadly realistic.
Talky Talky: A Little Less Magic
Maybe it was just the nature of the subject matter, but everything seemed a little less magical than the first two Emily books. Sure, LMM’s over abundant descriptions where there, but everything seemed a darker, sadder beauty. But then again, I could just be projecting because due to my HEARTBREAK.
Bonus Factor: Proposals
How many proposals did Emily receive? 7, 10, a million? I couldn’t keep track. But it was fun to see Emily reject so many potential suitors.
Bonus Factor: Publishing
For any writer, having that first book published must be the greatest moment of their lives. It was wonderful to see Emily finally achieve that dream. And hilarious to see Emily and her family go through all of the reviews, bad and good.
Relationship Status: I Will Wait For You
Even though this book KILLED MY SOUL, I loved it. Having spent so much time with Emily, there was no going back now, even if that meant going through some serious rough patches. Much like Emily waited for Teddy, I would wait for this book for a LONG TIME, but luckily I have the good sense to tell it how I feel!
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Emily’s Quest is available now.
