Oak King Holly King

I wanted to love this book. I tried to love this book. but here i am with 400 questions, no answers, confused and slightly concerned.

tldr; this could have been a good cozy fantasy if it had been a couple hundred pages shorter and if it wasn't 100 plot holes taped together.

lets start with what i did like:

• the fae world. i love the description and all the different places we get to see.
• Shrike. i adore him and his house and his chickens and goats. 
• how the book was split up into seasons

• this book is riddled with plot holes. like so many plot holes. 
  • how are wren and felix able to able to get through the fairy ring alone? is this something anyone can do? if so, why are there not more people missing? the fairy ring isnt exactly hidding or out of the way. 
  • why does shrike grow antlers?
  • how is wren a mortal but he also has magic? are there other mortals with magic? can they only use their magic in the fae realm? (and so on..)
• There is no romantic build up between Shrike and Wren. they see each other and are in Insta-lust which i'm totally cool with but it turns into insta love there's no falling in love period. theyre just immediately struck on each other but dont really know anything about each other. 
• Wren just immediately accepts that there is a fae realm and all these different fae creatures. no questions, no qualms, nada. 
• Wren.... is not a great person. honestly Shrike deserves better. Wren regularly lies to Mr. Grigsby regularly, he is selfish, and has mean girl energy and not in the fun way. he's apparently worked for Mr. Grigsby for 10 years but he is never once said to actually be working, just doodling or daydreaming. how does he even have a job still? he's also had 10 years to work on his shit and still has zero character growth throughout the whole book.  i honestly kept forgetting he was 30 ish because he acts like a teenager. 
• why are there so many plot lines? this book did not need to be 600 pages long. and since it is you would think that the plot lines would make sense or be wrapped up but most of them are not. things just seem to happen with no other rhyme or reason than something needed to happen to get S&W from point A to point B even if it doesnt make sense. 
• and speaking of NOT MAKING SENSE wtf is that ending. where the hell did that come from. not only was it comepletely out of the blue it was also comepletely out of character for wren. and what did it accomplish? wren and shrike have a “duel” which is basically a scripted sword dance and then to fit the rules that the Queen has set (the Oak King must die by the Holly king for the seasons to change) without killing one another they have sex on the battle field and fulfill the ritual with La Petite Mort (orgasm). this makes no sense. Wren has never been comfortable with public affection in the form of kissing or simple touches like hand holding so how the hell did he get over that in the span of a few pages and be confident enough to f*ck Shrike infront of hundreds if not thousands of people??