Book Review: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

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. He 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; her life; 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.

*Review*

I was so excited to read the series because, “FAERIES”. I’m literally in love with Faeries! After reading The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, which is my first faery read and my favorite, I looked for more fairy tales on Goodreads. Then I found this… and then I got so excited, I just had to purchase the books. And lucky me! I got my copy of Wicked Lovely on Ebay. It’s pre-loved and in hardcover format which only costs PHP150. So cheap right?

I stacked it on my shelf for 8 months before reading it. I had to complete the books on the series first, that’s what I thought. But after reading about 20% of the books, I was sad. I was really really sad.

Okay. Maybe because I have a very high expectation for this book that I became so disappointed when it just failed to meet that expectation I was hoping for.

So this book is about Aislinn, a mortal girl who’s living a pretty normal life except that she has the Sight – it is the ability to see faeries. Having the Sight runs in her blood, it’s not just her. Her mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother and so on, can see faeries. These faeries are living like a normal human beings using glamour in the mortal world. There are rules (see blurb) to keep her safe from these mythical creatures. They must not attract the attentions of these faeries, because they are dangerous and cannot be trusted. So to do that, even if she can see them, she pretends not to. She ignores them.

But one day on her normal life, on her way to her best friend – Seth’s house, she noticed that she’s being followed by faes. She tried her best not to freak out so she can’t attract them, but they’re already following her and maybe it’s too late. Keenan – a beautiful male faery; and Donia – a cold and pale female faery with a wolf named Sasha are the ones who are following her.

Keenan is the Summer Court’s king. He has this mission to look for his concubine, so that he can get his power back, which is sealed by her mother, Beira – the Winter Court’s queen. Keenan must choose a mortal girl that will love him and will sacrifice herself to lift Beira’s staff in exchange for cold or to be the Summer Queen. It’s do or die or somewhat like that. Once you are chosen by Keenan, you cannot escape your fate. So apparently, Donia is a former mortal just like Aislinn, but she’s unfortunately not the summer queen, so she risked herself for cold. That’s sad.

I actually did like the idea and the plot, but for some reason it seems lacking to me. I don’t know. Even I can’t seem to find what’s lacking. I didn’t like the characters too. Seriously. I can’t seem to connect with them. I mean, there’s no connection, or attachment. I can’t feel them. There are 3 POVs – Aislinn, Keenan and Donia and I don’t know. Maybe, Donia is my favorite, at most. But I didn’t grow to love any of the characters, no matter how much Keenan was described as a very beautiful fey. No. Just nope.

I. Was. So. Bored. To. Death. I almost DNF this at around 60%, because I don’t know what’s happening anymore. Aislinn is so boring. The story is just killing me. And one more thing I’m not really sure is who’s really the main male protagonist or love interest of Aislinn. Seth or Keenan? It’s like Keenan for me, but at the same time it’s not. And I’m confused. Keenan gives so much weak aura. He’s not the “you’ll-love-me” character.

I don’t want to compare this with The Iron Fey series because I think comparing two different stories just because they’re both about faeries is just wrong. But maybe there’s just too much comparison going on my head while reading this that’s why I can’t really accept it or make the story pull me to it. But that’s just it. I didn’t like it.

But even so, I’ll still give the second book a try. Maybe the rest of the books will help improve the characters and will save the entire series. I hope. I don’t want to lose hope.