Wicked Lovely

It wasn't bad but it also wasn't good which was how I was able to finish it to the end. What bothered me the most was that the main character was such a coward throughout the whole book even though the book tried to claim how strong she was. It was filled with teenage angst and drama that made no sense sometimes and some of the events that occurred made no sense at all like it was throw in. The plot and story had so much potential but wasn't well written, I won't be reading any of the sequels after reading this it just wasn't what it could have been.

I normally read books that involve vampires but I gave this book a try because of the reviews. I am glad I did. I am almost thirty and still really enjoyed reading this YA book. I have ended up just skimming through plenty of books of the same genre due to boredom. This was definitely not one of those books. I was fully interested from beginning to end. Something different about this book is that it has different character viewpoints, which I liked. I did not find it confusing switching from character to character because each character's narration is a separate section. Another book I really like is Need by Carrie Jones (which I also give five stars). Both Wicked Lovely and Need have similarities, but Need is not a rip-off.

How wonderful it is to read a good faerie story! It's original and fresh, and sticks to the folklore. People of all ages will enjoy this piece from Melissa Marr. She sweeps you right into the story, not wasting time with lots of explanations, but everything is explained as you discover with Aislinn the world of the Fey. Marr has set Wicked Lovely up to be an intruiging and lovely series, with a wide range of characters. I highly recommend this book to anybody wanting to slip away to another world for a while.

Aislinn has always seen faeries; as a young child, her grandmother gave her three essential rules for dealing with the fey folk that most people cannot see. Above all, she should not let them know she could see them, though Aislinn has found that particular dictate trying over her almost eighteen years. She knows how evil some of them can be, pinching, pulling hair, and tripping people, and she fears what will happen if she calls attention to herself. So when she realizes that several fey folk are singling her out, it's with understandable alarm that she finally decides to share her secret Sight with her friend Seth, hoping he can help her find a way to cope with the unwanted attention. Aislinn is a typical teen but her Sight gives her an added dimension that puts her on edge and leaves her distracted. Though her friend Seth (who wants to be more than friends) believes her tale of faeries, Aislinn begins to realize that perhaps she's going to have learn to deal with them differently than her grandmother has taught her. When it becomes apparent that Aislinn's been chosen by Keenan, the Summer King, to become his Summer Queen, her desperation to escape this fate makes her choose unwisely in weighing her options. Will she lose everything, especially after the battle of power against the Winter Queen? This is an extremely imaginative story. In the beginning I was a little concerned due to the focus on the faeries; I wanted to see more than just a magical world a girl is hiding from. Luckily for me, this story develops solidly into a romance tense with physical attraction, a flight from evil, and a reluctance to admit who you really are. The resolution to the story is satisfying, and all the elements involved add up to a creative story filled with interesting characters and a complex world. Recommended, particularly for those who enjoy a strong fantasy.

Aislinn has always followed the rules. Her Grandmother has drilled them into her since she was a young child. Don't stare at invisible faeries. Don't speak to invisible faeries. Don't ever attract the faeries' attention. Aislinn has developed the skill to ignore them. She walks past them without flinching, even when the faeries are pinching or touching others around her like they love to do. Faeries come in many shapes and sizes and Aislinn has seen them all. She's seen them in the glamours they wear in order to pass as humans and can pick one out of a crowd even when they are trying to blend in. Aislinn has never been surprised by what she has seen them do - that is, until they start breaking the rules. Faeries don't like steel. It causes them pain and weakens them. Because of that, Aislinn's "safe" place has always been Seth's house. Seth is a long-time friend who happens to live in a converted steel train car. Aislinn always knew that if she could make it there she'd have peace, because the faeries could never follow her into the train yard. But, something has changed. They are creeping closer and closer and paying more attention to her. They are even gathering outside Seth's place. Aislinn really begins to worry when two faeries, Keenan and Donia, approach her and speak directly to her. She gets away from them as quickly as possible, now hyper-aware of the growing number of faeries surrounding and following her. She hears them say things like, "Do you think she's the one?" Aislinn realizes that in order to figure out what they want from her she is going to have to break the rules she's grown up with all of her life. Keenan is the Summer King. His mother, the Winter Queen, has limited his powers and is slowly taking over the elements. Days are colder and eventually everything will be covered in ice, unless Keenan finds the girl who is meant to be his Summer Queen. Together they would have the power to overcome the Winter Queen's chill. Keenan thinks Aislinn is the one and she is in danger because of it. The Winter Queen will do everything she can to prevent her son from getting the power he needs to overthrow her. Another problem, of course, is that Aislinn doesn't want to be Summer Queen. She has avoided faeries all of her life and she sure doesn't want to become one now. Especially when her feelings for Seth have developed into more than friendship - and becoming the Summer Queen would mean spending an eternity with Keenan. Melissa Marr has written a wonderfully inventive story that incorporates actual quotes from books written on the subject of faeries dating back to the 1800's. Her ability to keep a complicated story with several important characters clear to the reader is phenomenal. The relationship she creates between Aislinn and Seth is heartwarming, leading the reader to fall in love right along with them. If you aren't usually a fan of faerie stories, you might want to give this one a try. The blending of the realistic world and