Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Title: Wicked Lovely

Author: Melissa Marr

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Wicked Lovely #1

Hardcover, 437 pages 

Publication: June 12, 2007

Source: Personal Library
Buy|AMAZON|BN|

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. 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.

MY THOUGHTS

Wicked Lovely was one of the most well-known and loved Young Adult series back in the day. If you were reading Young Adult or Fantasy back in the mid-2000s, chances are you've read it or have heard about it. I owned the series back then but never got around to reading it until now.

In Wicked Lovely, the Faerie Realm exist, and Faeries roam around alongside humans. The more powerful Faeries could glamour themselves as human. Which brings us to our main characters, Aislinn, who has the sight and could see Faeries. She has known about them her whole life and made it her purpose to avoid them and stay under the radar. Until the Summer King, Keenan has Aislinn in his sight. It's been centuries that he's been looking for his Queen. And he believes that person is Aislinn. 

Wicked Lovely was a solid and well-written young adult. While it's aimed at a younger audience, I thought the subjects and themes tackled were very adult and mature. There were some adult things I've never seen in YA books and Marr incorporated it flawlessly. I thought the overall plot was okay, there wasn't as much action as I expected. However, the ending and turn of events took me by surprise. Especially when it came to the main male and female characters. As I've mentioned before, Keenan is looking for his Queen and normally, with most books we'd assume XYZ will happen...that if Aislinn is the Summer Queen, she must automatically end up with Keenan. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. 

For the most part I enjoyed Wicked Lovely but the story didn't make a long-lasting impression. I don't feel compelled to pick up the rest of the series. The sequel features different characters we met in the first book and then it goes back to the main couple...but with how things ended, I'm not left wanting or curious enough to know what happens next with the characters. which is unfortunate.