Book Title: Wicked Lovely

Author: Melissa Marr

Publishing Company: Harper Teen (Harper Collins) www.harperteen.com

Year: 2007

# of pages: 328

ISBN: 978-0-06-121465-3 (trade bdg.),

ISBN: 978-0-06-121466-0 (lib. bdg.)

Price: $21.50 CAN, $16.99 US 

Reviewed By: Breanne Cursley  

4.5 stars 

Wicked Lovely has a classic good vs. evil storyline, but it’s not your typical black vs. white clash; just when I thought a conclusion was approaching, yet another conflict was created, complicating the storyline further.  With ups and downs, this complex, adventure-filled novel is complete with a bit of everything; love, destiny, discovery, romance  and, of course, what teen novel would be complete without a few good-looking guys? 

The story follows Aislinn, a seventeen-year-old girl who has The Sight; the ability to see faeries.  Now, we must keep in mind that these faeries are not the faeries that we picture in our minds from childhood books – small and friendly – but rather life-sized creatures that can choose to be invisible (or not) to humans.  And from what Aislinn has observed her whole life is that faeries are not very friendly either.  They wreak havoc on humans, tripping or groping them without their knowledge, and just generally cause trouble (but that that is not entirely true).  What has kept Aislinn safe from the faeries gaining knowledge of her abilities is her Grandma’s (who also has the Sight) constant warnings to always ignore the faeries, and pretend that they’re not there.  This is something that Aislinn has trained herself to do, even though the faeries are everywhere.  The only place Aislinn feels safe is behind steel, the one material that barricades faeries.  And, coincidently, Aislinn’s best friend (and somewhat boyfriend) Seth, lives in an old train (which has been completely refurbished to look like a real home inside) and this is the place where she spends most of her time; such circumstances help their romance bud.  

When the novel begins Aislinn is noticing that not only does she see the faeries, as usual, but there seems to be a couple of faeries that are stalking her.  She doesn’t know who they are or why they are following her but the author reveals to the reader that one of the faeries is Keenan, the Summer King of his people who has been looking for his queen for the past nine centuries, and he seems to think the Aislinn is the one.  The other faery is Donia, Keenan’s former love whom he thought would be the Summer Queen but it turns out she wasn’t the one.  So she ended up being a faery that does the bidding for the evil Winter Queen, Beira, who is Keenan’s mother.   

When it comes time for Aislinn to take the ultimate test, this question remains; is she the real Summer Queen? Or will Aislinn become like Donia, trapped with the Winter Queen? And will Aislinn have to give up Seth, the one she loves?           

What I really liked about the style of the writing in this novel was how it was difficult not to become emotionally involved with the characters as I dove deeper into the story.  When Aislinn was worrying about being separated from Seth it communicated those emotions right off the page and I could feel her heartache; this really made the book more personal and made it more enjoyable to read!  

Wicked Lovely is what I consider to be a truly modern faery-tale.  The faeries that Melissa Marr creates are not you typical ‘flower petals for clothes and living under a mushroom’ creatures, but rather a new breed who party at night clubs and tote around cell phones.  The way she portrays this new image of faeries was one of the aspects of this novel that really captured my attention, because it was a fresh and unique idea.