Emily's Quest

I read the entire Emily series in about two weeks because of how quickly captivating I found Emily and her life. Anne will always be my favorite, but I loved how tangible and relatable Emily felt throughout the books. I could relate to her in a way I never could with Anne. That is, until this final book. I sincerely cannot remember the last time I was so disappointed by book's ending–it truly soured this whole series for me. It's not that this books is sadder or more morose than the other books, it's that it's sadder and depressing for no reason! This book absolutely TANKED characters and storylines I just can't believe this is how I leave Emily's story. Here are (just a few) of my biggest qualms:

1. Ilse starts the series as this wonderful, wild, temperamental child but who truly has a heart of gold. Despite her rages and Emily's pride, they have a beautiful deep friendship. Then the third book happens and Ilse becomes the biggest B***H EVER. She treats Emily awfully and practically abandons her. Somehow they're so close but she can't see or WON'T see how miserable Emily is or how much she cares for Teddy? And then she leaves Teddy at the altar, ruins a wedding, and NEVER EVEN FEELS BAD. I. CAN'T. STAND. HER.

2. Teddy is possibly worse than Ilse. Obviously set up to be the main love interest from the beginning. He and Emily share this inexplicable, sweet bond that means they understand each other on the deepest of levels. As they mature, a romance blossoms and they are trying to understand these new feelings. Then the third book happens and Teddy becomes such an Ahole and treats Emily like garbage for a DECADE, almost marries her BF, then chalks it all up to several misunderstandings and they finally get together in the last 5 pages of the book. This whole “will they, won't they” feels SO contrived I can't believe LM wrote this. You mean to tell me these two characters who have an unexplainable soul bond, can't tell each other how they really feel? STUPID. I HATE Teddy, Emily deserved better.

3. Perry just falls off the face of the earth in this book. I was so excited to see him show everybody what Stovepipe town can do and instead we learn about him through random offhand mentions every now and then. We don't even get to read about his and Ilse's romance, it just happens and the story moves on. Perry deserves better.

4. Emily?? WTF?? Where did your intuition go? Your second sense? Your brain?? Emily is shown from an early age to be very, almost unnaturally, perceptive, especially with people. Yet, this whole damn book, she thinks Teddy doesn't love her for some reason, can't tell that Dean is a walking red flag, and still thinks Ilse is her friend. Everyone treats Emily so badly and all she does is forgive them all their sins and deal with the fallout alone. What happened to the proud Emily that turned down the opportunity to go to New York because she had a strong sense of who she is and that she will make it, HER way? Also, when her life sucked, why didn't she go to NY later? Pretty sure the offer still stood. Anyway, Emily gets turned into this sad, weepy martyr, who just gets abused and takes it. It doesn't come across as maturity or a sign of personal growth, it comes across as a sad look at life draining away youthful essence and Emily just bearing it as a part of life. Again, I don't mind that Emily had these sad things happen to her–it's part of what makes her compelling. But in previous books, she persevered and came out the other side. Changed, but in a good way. It doesn't feel like her character should be celebrated by the end, just pitied somehow. Emily, you deserved better.This book died in a whimper. It started out really strong, I was captivated watching Emily slowly lose herself because I wanted to see how she'd come out of it and triumph as she always had. But chapter after chapter it got sadder and sadder and contrivance after contrivance popped up to keep it going. I really think that LM wanted this to be a happy ending but it wasn't. It was pitiful.

Reread again, 2019. I have a habit of rereading all Lucy Maud Montgomery's books about once a year... I don't usually even count them into my reading any longer :-D