History Literature / FireAndHemlock

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* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Laurel, whose hair is described as "light and floating, of a colour that could have been grey or no colour at all" and has [[GrayEyes eyes to match]].

* TheLadette: Polly tries her hand at this throughout the story, as part of her self-imposed "hero training". She builds her muscles by lifting up her bed, joins the school football team as it's only girl and gets into fights with the local bully. She spends a lot of time looking wild and unclean as a result.

** The ending itself is deliberately vague and confusing about exactly how much of [[spoiler:Polly and Tom's relationship] is being sacrificed or if [[spoiler:they can keep being together]].

* MindScrew: Wait, ''what'' happens at the end again?

* ExtremeDoormat: Polly, who regularly curses her own "soft-heartedness". She spends most of her friendship with Nina being her lackey out of fear of the friendship ending and silently puts up with almost all of her parents' terrible behaviour despite how it affects her. Her entire relationship with Seb - spanning more than six years - is really just a string of romantic events and proposals that she doesn't have the heart to turn down. She finally shakes it off in the end.

* MaybeEverAfter: The MindScrew ending leaves some readers confused about where Tom and Polly's relationship will go. It's possible they might be able to get away with staying together, but it's hard to believe Laurel would let sleeping dogs lie after being cheated.

* BigEater: Sam, who always has food of some kind on his person.

* BadLiar: Laurel relies mostly on her magic and being painfully sweet to get her way, and seemingly has never had to learn the art of lying. Though she puts on a good show of sadness when she tells Polly that Tom is dying, she barely bothers to put much effort into the details, blaming it on "one of those cancer things". Polly is too distraught and caught up in Laurel's spell to notice.

** A silly game the prefects at Polly's school play involves looking into a mirror in a darkened room, where you will supposedly see the face of your one true love behind you. Nothing happens when Polly tries it, but when she breaks into Laurel's bedroom later in the book, a picture on the wall behind her stands out more clearly reflected in the mirror than when she looks directly at it. It's quite some time before she finds out the photo is Tom as a young boy.

* MyGrandsonMyself: Laurel pulls this to avoid anyone figuring out she uses human sacrifices to extend her life. There's also a bit of RefugeInAudacity at play, as it's strongly implied that Seb's mother was not only one of these sacrifices, but Laurel then passed the poor woman off as her own mother at the funeral Polly crashes in the beginning, denying her even the small luxury of dying as herself.

* ParentalNeglect: Even before the above happens, things aren't great for Polly at home. Her mother considers her to be more of a burden than anything else, complaining to her outright about having to "dump" Polly at a friend's house so she can have a social life, and her father disappears the minute things get bad. Even though Tom is ultimately harmless, it's very telling that neither parent is overly concerned about Polly spending so much time with a man more than twice her age.

* PrettyBoy: Leslie, with his long, curly hair and glittery skull earring. He is just as aware of his good looks as Nina is of hers. He is apparently pretty enough for Laurel to overlook the fact that he isn't named 'Tom'.

** A silly game the prefects at Polly's school play involves looking into a mirror in a darkened room, where you will supposedly see the face of your one true love behind you. Nothing happens when Polly tries it, but when she breaks into Laurel's bedroom later in the book,, a picture on the wall behind her stands out more clearly reflected in the mirror than when she looks directly at it. It's quite some time before she finds out the photo is Tom as a young boy.

* ParentalNeglect: Even before the above happens, thinks aren't great for Polly at home. Her mother considers her to be more of a burden than anything else, complaining to her outright about having to "dump" Polly at a friend's house so she can have a social life, and her father disappears the minute things get bad. Even though Tom is ultimately harmless, it's very telling that neither parent is overly concerned about Polly spending so much time with a man more than twice her age.

* ExactWords: As Queen of the Faeries, Laurel is bound to adhere to this.

* BalefulPolymorph: Tan Hanivar in the stories that Polly and Tom write. It bleeds over into his real world counterpart, Sam, who turns into a dragon made of ''garbage'' and gets hit by Tom's car in the process.

* ExactWords: Being a fairy, Laurel is bound to adhere to this.
* FailedASpotCheck: The spell Laurel casts erases all Polly's memories of Tom, and also affects the same memories in her friends and family, so they can't remind her of his existence. What Laurel didn't realise was that Fiona, at the time only a casual school acquaintance of Polly's, saw her and Tom together one night, and reminding her of this is the key to Polly getting all her memories back for good.
* TheFairFolk: Laurel and Morton Leroy, as well as their acquaintances. It's never made clear whether or not Seb, Mr Leroy's son, is one, though he is certainly involved in their dealings. Given that his mother was a sacrifice to Laurel, he might be a HalfHumanHybrid.

* ForcedIntoEvil: Seb. The first time Polly met him was at his mother's funeral, who had been killed to help Laurel live even longer. He grew up knowing he was the second least valuable member of the family, and that if Tom wasn't there to die they would have no compunction about sacrificing him instead. It's strongly implied in the end that, with his father being defeated by Polly and Tom, Seb will now have to take his place as Laurel's consort. He's not the most pleasant of young men, but it's hard to blame him for it.

* MaybeEverAfter: The MindScrew ending leaves some readers confused about where Tom and Polly's relationship will go.

* Really700YearsOld: It's not stated exactly how old Laurel is, but the ballad of Tam Lin dates back to the 1500s, and it's implied she's even older than that.
* ReallyGetsAround: Nina develops an incredible figure seemingly overnight, much to Polly's jealousy, and wastes no time putting it to good use on any man she can get her hands on. By the time they are in their late teens, she is famed for her sex life. Leslie is basically her male counterpart, and they "cross paths" more than once.
* RewritingReality: The stories that Polly and Tom make up have a habit of turning out to be true, though usually with a bit of a twist.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Fiona. She is pretty much a background character during Polly's childhood, until she becomes Polly's flatmate while they are at university together. It is exactly this relative lack of importance that causes Laurel to overlook Fiona, and her reminding Polly of the time Tom came to see her at a school pantomime is what finally confirms to Polly that she wasn't just making him up and spurs her on to confront Laurel.
* StalkerWithACrush: Seb to Polly, though oddly enough he only develops the crush ''after'' he starts stalking her, on his father's orders after she accepts the titular Fire & Hemlock photograph from Tom at the beginning.
* ThisIsReality: Part of Tom's criticism of Polly writing PurpleProse. Namely, he takes her to task for describing man's back as having "rippling muscles beneath silken skin", and dictates to her a fairly graphic depiction of the types of things more likely to be discovered on men's backs.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Tom. It's established that he can get away with this because his life is protected from danger until it's time for Laurel to claim it, so he can behave as recklessly as he wants until his seven years are up without fear of dying.

* PurposeDrivenImmortality: Tom's purpose is to be sacrificed to extend Mr Leroy's life once his seven-year contract with Laurel is up. During that seven years, though, it is magically impossible for him to die. It's not that he recovers from mortal wounds; the world just bends around him to prevent him from getting injured. This is the reason he DrivesLikeCrazy.

* YourSoulIsMine: Laurel has a claim over Tom's soul, and she plans to take it after seven years. She has done this many times over the years, including to Polly's own grandfather.

* BadLiar: Laurel relies mostly on her magic and being painfully sweet to get her way, and seemingly has never had to learn the art of lying. When she tells Polly that Tom is dying she barely bothers to put in much effort, blaming it on "one of those cancer things". Polly is too distraught and caught up in Laurel's spell to notice.

* AdultsAreUseless: A depressingly realistic version with Polly's parents. Her mother is paranoid, controlling and nagging, but believes that she is a long-suffering martyr who gives up everything for other people, and she sinks into spiky moods when thing aren't to her liking. Polly's father is a feckless, DirtyCoward who tries to coddle his wife by treating her moods as a joke, which only makes them worse, and they both attempt to use Polly against the other, without much thought or care for her at all. They aren't related to the main plot outside of their effect on Polly's state of mind because they care too much about themselves to get involved in it.

* DirtyCoward: Polly's father, Reg. Even his own mother believes he is "only too happy for someone else to do his dirty work for him". Polly's mother sends her to live with Reg full time, but he is too afraid to explain to his new girlfriend that it's more than just a weekend visit. When Polly elects to leave, Reg is ''relieved'', and happily sends his young daughter out alone into a strange town with no money or transport or place to live.

* [[EvilDetectingDog Evil-Detecting Cat]]: Or magic-detecting, at least. One of the first signs that there might be something odd going on with Tom is when Granny's cat Mintchoc, usually very friendly, runs away at the sight of him, and refuses to come out until after he's gone.

* FailedASpotCheck: The magic Laurel uses erases all Polly's memories of Tom, and also affects the same memories in her friends and family, so they can't remind her of his existence. What Laurel didn't realise was that Fiona, at the time only a casual school acquaintance of Polly's, saw her and Tom together one night, and reminding her of this is the key to Polly getting all her memories back for good.
* TheFairFolk: Laurel and Co.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Polly is manipulated into agreeing to forget about Tom. Subverted, though, as while they removed all her memories of him, they didn't (or perhaps couldn't) remove all the memories and knowledge he was linked to, leading to bits of information she couldn't have possibly learned anywhere and conflicting memories. These open the door to remembering Tom.

* PrettyBoy: Leslie, with his long, curly hair and glittery skull earring, and he is just as aware of his good looks as Nina is of hers. He is apparently pretty enough for Laurel to overlook the fact that he isn't named 'Tom'.

* ThisIsReality: Part of Tom's criticism of Polly writing PurpleProse. Namely, he takes her to task of writing of a handsome man's back "rippling" and explains why the prose is sentimental drivel.

* DontMessWithGranny: Polly's Granny is extremely kind and loving towards her, but woe betide anyone else who gets in her way or defies her wishes. She makes bank tellers quake with fear.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Nina becomes extremely fond of this kind of outfit in her teens, and her breasts (as well as other parts of her anatomy) become something of a legend in Polly's small town.

* RewritingReality: Tom and Polly's stories have a slight tendency to come true.

** The whole story is based on the ballad of Tam Lin.

* AdultsAreUseless: A depressingly realistic version with Polly's parents. Her mother is paranoid, controlling and nagging, but believes that she is a long-suffering martyr who gives up everything for other people, and she sinks into spiky moods when thing aren't to her liking. Polly's father is a lazy DirtyCoward who tries to coddle his wife by treating her moods as a joke, which only makes them worse, and they both attempt to use Polly against the other, without much thought or care for her at all. They aren't related to the main plot outside of their effect on Polly's state of mind because they care too much about themselves to get involved in it.

* PrettyBoy: Leslie, with his long, feathery hair and skull earring, and he is just as aware of his good looks as Nina is of hers. He is apparently pretty enough for Laurel to overlook the fact that he isn't named 'Tom'.

* FatAndProud: Nina, though her pride shifts to [[BoobsofSteel something else]] once puberty kicks in and her body change quite dramatically.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Both of Polly's parents are deeply, but her mother is worse because she's convinced herself that she's entirely self''less'', sacrificing everything for others and resenting them for it, even when it's completely unjustified.

* FatAndProud: When they are young teenagers, Polly admires Nina's body because it is curvier than her own. Towards the end of the book Polly also is somewhat plump.