So we all know that I like dark stories, especially dark stories with fairies in them (otherwise, I wouldn’t write dark fairytales). You Let Me In, with the promise of fairies that drink your blood, appealed to me instantly. The book definitely fulfilled the promise of dark fairies but I didn’t expect the abuse was going to be covered too.

While there are a few documents from third parties in this book, most of You Let Me In consists of a manuscript by the author Cassandra Tipp to her estranged niece and nephew. The only reason why they’d read this is to get a codeword that will allow them to claim her estate, but I’m pretty sure that they weren’t expecting a tale about fairies.

To an outsider, Cassandra Tipp killed her husband, and possibly was involved in the murder of her father. But in her telling, things are very different. From as early as she can remember, Cassandra has had a companion named Pepper-Man. Pepper-Man brings her gifts of nature, fairie food, brings her to the mound, and takes her blood regularly. Pepper-Man is the reason why everything has happened the way it did.

“Without Pepper-Man I was nothing, just a sad and angry girl. Without him, all I had was the shrinking white room and a family that loathed me. No magic, then, no crowns of twigs – no midnight flights in the otherworld and dancing until dawn. No mound and no woods, just me, all alone. No one would love and take of me then.”

From Chapter 14

If we take Cassandra’s account at face value, then fairies are real and their possessiveness have held her hostage her entire life, to the extent that the only choice she can make is to be with them. But throughout the book, an alternative narrative is proposed: that the fairies are nothing more than a coping mechanism that Cassandra created to deal with the sexual and emotional abuse that Cassandra had suffered from a young age. Cassandra herself denies this possibility, but it did make me wonder if this is Cassandra trying to control the narrative so that she isn’t as much a victim, the same way Vanessa from My Dark Vanessa kept denying that she was purely a victim? I’m not sure which narrative the author intended to be true, but I think the ambiguity added depth to the story and will keep me thinking for a while.

Overall, this is a dark and entrancing tale that can be read two ways. I think some people might want more clarity as to what the truth actually is, but for me, I like the book the way it is.

P.s. I’m pretty sure that since fairies are in this, this counts as a Wyrd and Wonder book review post! Also, I need to relook my tags to see if I have one for “maybe fantasy but definitely dark fairies”.