Review: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Release Date: June 12, 2007
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 328
Overall:
Source: puchased (also had it signed at the SMART CHICKS KICK IT TOUR)
Interest: Faerie
Challenge: 111 Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon 

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.
Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.
Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.
But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. His is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; everything.
Faery intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning twenty-first-century faery tale. 

I have no idea why this took me so long to read. I absolutely love reading about faeries, so I am unsure why I hadn't really heard of this series prior to 2010. I picked this book up at my local used bookstore mostly because the cover was so gorgeous and then a month later I heard the the author Melissa Marr would be in Toronto for the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour. I was excited that I had a book by the author to have signed, but disappointed that I hadn't read it yet. 

I finally decided to pull this book off my shelf and read it. I have been pulled into this series now and cannot wait to read the rest. It was slow at first to try to get into, though I had great hopes that it would pick up and some interesting things would happen - and I was right. I loved how the typical faerie story about searching for a Queen turned into so much more. Many of the characters learned that some of the rules they were following were being carried out too literally and that maybe over the centuries things truly have changed. There is always that fight of good vs. evil - and this time it's no different with Summer vs. Winter, except that it also has the added fun of being Son vs. Mother - what an interesting twist.

Aislinn's character is a little blah at first, she seemed like she had no backbone, but as the story progresses it's like she finds her voice and finally just tells the people and faeries around her how it's going to be instead of her feeling like she is going through the motions or being told what to do. I liked her better about a third of the way through. I am not sure if it is because of what happens to her or if she just gets fed up and decides to be the one to dictate what will happen in her future, but I liked her better for it.

Seth - mmmm Seth - he is the bad ass, pierced, rugged, leather-clad guy that your Mom doesn't want you hanging around. But what I find most intriguing about him is that he isn't just a bad ass, he actually cares to learn things and is genuinely a good guy. He seems to have an eclectic personality (his home, his taste in music, his friends). He cares about Ash and what happens to her, to the point that he evens goes out to learn as much as he can about the Fae so that he is prepared for everything. He is like the mixture of the bad boy and the guy next door - plays it all tough, but deep down he is just a hopeless romantic.

I am not sure if I like Keenan that much. He seemed quite weak at some points and whined quite a bit. He had his moments though when he finally showed emotions involving love and compassion - especially when it comes to Ash and Seth. But I am still unsure if I truly like his character.

One of my favourite characters is Donia. I loved how she bared her emotions - they were more real than any of the other characters and I hope to see more of her in the following novels. She had been dealt a crappy hand in life and she deserved so much better than she was given. At times she seemed to let it get her down, but finally she realized that she needed to do what was right and this is why I love her. She had more sense to her than some of the others... though I guess some are Fae and they do what they want no matter the consequences. 

I really cannot wait to read the rest of this series. And the covers are just gorgeous - I must own them all!