Product Description

The clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in this cool, urban 21st century faery tale. Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world, and would blind her if they knew of her Sight. 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 and 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! Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working any more, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2679 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
"Marr offers readers a fully imagined faery world that runs alongside an everyday world, which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into" Publisher's Weekly, starred review "The fantasy of being pursued by two young men is alluring in itself, but when one is a pierced and tattooed sexy outsider and the other is a blindingly beautiful King of Faery, how much better can it get? Readers will beg for a sequel" Washington Post "This is a magical novel! the first book in a trilogy that will guarantee to have you itching for the next instalment. * * * *" Bliss "It is a read that pushes boundaries and is not afraid to be honest. All the things that make a great teen novel are there, including angst and romance, but in a refreshingly edgy way that may well entice a new audience to teen fiction. 'Wicked'!" From Bump to Grump "An assured debut! I look forward to seeing Marr's future work." Locus Magazine "I thought this book had a really great storyline and writing style! The alternative universe was well-explained, and the plot, though complex, was not difficult to grasp. I think anyone over 12 years old should read this book, or they would be missing out on something brilliant." Red House Reader, aged 13 'Riveting and dark: I love this tale of a smart, tough girl who walks the razor's edge between an ancient fairy curse and her future!' Tamora Pierce

About the Author
Melissa Marr was voted in high school the "most likely to end up in jail". Instead, she went to graduate school, worked in a bar, became a teacher and did a lot of writing. Wicked Lovely is her first novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
PROLOGUE

The Summer King knelt before her. "Is this what you freely choose, to risk winter's chill?"

She watched him - the boy she'd fallen in love with these past weeks. She'd never dreamed he was something other than human, but now his skin glowed as if flames flickered just under the surface, so strange and beautiful she couldn't look away. "It's what I want."

"You understand that if you are not the one, you'll carry the Winter Queen's chill until the next mortal risks this? And you'll warn her not to trust me?" He paused, glancing at her with pain in his eyes.

She nodded.

"If she refuses me, you will tell the next girl and the next" - he moved closer - "and not until one accepts, will you be free of the cold."

"I do understand." She smiled as reassuringly as she could, and then she walked over to the hawthorn bush. The leaves brushed against her arms as she bent down and reached under it.

Her fingers wrapped around the Winter Queen's staff. It was a plain thing, worn as if countless hands had clenched the wood. It was those hands, those other girls who'd stood where she now did, she didn't want to think about.

She stood, hopeful and afraid.

Behind her, he moved closer. The rustling of the trees grew almost deafening. The brightness from his skin, his hair, intensified. Her shadow fell on the ground in front of her.

He whispered, "Please. Let her be the one..."

She held the Winter Queen's staff - and hoped. For a moment she even believed, but then ice pierced her, filled her like shards of glass in her veins.

She screamed his name: "Keenan!"

She stumbled towards him, but he walked away, no longer glowing, no longer looking at her.

Then she was alone - with only a wolf for companionship - waiting to tell the next girl what a folly it was to love him, to trust him.

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
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 the world of the fey is masterfully done. You'll almost believe faeries are all around you.

Reviewed by: Karin Perry

The most enchanting story I've read in a long time!
I read this delightful book in one eight-hour sitting, torn between taking it slowly to savour every emotion and gobbling it up quickly to discover how all these wonderful characters fare in the end. It's totally unputdownable!

Melissa Marr's worldbuilding skill is superb. I found myself immersed very quickly. She gives us characters we can love, plunges them into difficult situations, then drives them rapidly and inevitably towards danger. I particularly like the way her main players have to juggle with moral pros & cons, in a world where taking one of the "right" options might harm as many innocent people as doing a "wrong" thing.

A wonderful read! Enjoy!

Wicked and lovely?
I waited a long time to read this book, so by the time I finally found the time for it, I did have big expectations. Luckily, WICKED LOVELY managed to live upto them.

The story follows Aislinn, a young girl who can see faeries all around her. Although it makes life a little disturbing, she has lived by 3 rules, passed onto her by her grandmother:-
Rule #1: Don't attract the attention of faeries
Rule #2: Don't talk to invisble faeries
Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries

The only problem is, the faeries don't seem to be abiding by the rules which govern them. Increasingly they are following Aislinn around, going to places where they are not meant to be able to follow. Aislinn's world no longer seems safe; she knows she should not trust faeries, but what do they want from her, why are they so interested in her?
And then Keenan comes into her life; a man who is unbelievably attractive. As Keenan pays more and more attention to Aislinn, she finally learns that he is The Summer King and he believes that Aislinn is his Summer Queen.
What follows is an examination of what happens when love, desire and destiny all seem to be at odds against each other. For, if Keenan is right, what will that mean for Aislinn's future?

Marr has done an excellent job at creating a fairytale for the twenty-first century. Unlike women in other fairytales, Aislinn is not the sort of girl to just accept her apparant destiny without a struggle, or even some form of negotiation. She creates a world which is believable and even wickedly tempting, when she talks of the fey folk walking alongside us. By including extracts of old books on fey belief and legend, Marr has also added a further touch of magic.
The characters are well developed - my personal favourites being Donia and the Winter Queen. I do not know if this is the first in a series, but Marr leaves us with an ending which could easily be a way of revisiting these characters and this world. I personally hope she does write a sequel, as it would be fantastic to see how the characters manage to live with their various roles.