An offbeat urban fantasy by Megan Smith,
Everything's Better With Elves is a collection of interconnected short stories featuring a mischievous elf named Sal, his various relations, and a hall of female college students, headed up by Laura, "the upright and virtuous RA".
Tropes this work uses include:
- Curious as a Monkey: Sal has shades of this, especially in the prequel, "If You Give an Elf a Cookie".
- Doomed by Canon: Adrav has to die, because it was established in the first book that Sal only has one living sister.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Sal instantly falls for the pretty blond roommate.
- Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: Laura and Kim are the only humans with names; everyone else is known by various descriptions, most prominently the girl with improbably long hair, and her roommate, mostly called the "Elf Goddess".
- Extreme Omnivore: Sal's primary diet consists of trash, and he'll eat pretty much anything besides ceramic. It hurts his teeth.
- Footnote Fever: Easily the best part of the work
- Friend to All Living Things: Laura
- Good Samaritan: Laura again
- Grumpy Bear: The girl with improbably long hair
- The Heart: Laura, yet again
- Lemony Narrator
- Mouthy Kid: Many of Sal's children, particularly Addie
- Nephewism: Sal's 11 nieces/nephew/adopted children come to live with him.
- Our Elves Are Better: Averted, despite the title. These elves are more like perpetually hyperactive children.
- Retcon: Sal went from having only one sister to only one living sister...and a whole mess of nieces (and a nephew)
- Shallow Love Interest: The "Elf Goddess"
- Sweet Tooth: Sal. His children inherited his taste buds, apparently.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Addie and Tully
- Why Couldn't You Be Different??: Sal's mother apparently felt this way about Adrav
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