Melissa Marr

Story of 17-year old Aislinn who can see spirits, and Summer King Keenan who wants to make her his weapon to fight Winter Queen Beira and Darkness King Irial A 21st fairy tale for teenagers.

Wicked Lovely

This book was recommended to me by a friend over ten years ago when I saw it on her shelf and it was a ‘childhood book’ to her then. It was written in 2007 and I don’t know how to explain it but it certainly felt that way. The YA romantasy market was not as saturated back then so I think it allowed for simpler narratives.

Aislinn grew up being able to see faeries. Raised by her overprotective grandmother, she makes every effort to avoid the fey. All she wants is to get through high school and live a normal life and continue being friends with the guy that she is 100% in love with but afraid of starting anything with for fear of losing his friendship. As expected, Aislinn is actually slated to be in the running for the position Queen of the Summer Court. It’s not a choice. She has to find a way to keep the world from ending and also her relationship with her mortal lover.

The Summer King, Keenan, is desperate to secure his Queen so that he can finally overthrow his evil and tyrannical mother. Not his stepmother but his birth mother, who also killed his father to have more power. Very interesting portrayal of a dysfunctional mother-son relationship here, having a monstrous maternal figure be an obstacle to her son’s manhood. Obviously she has to die for him to finally ascend to his throne and be with his one true love.

Monicap

Okay, firstly, I will have you know that the date I finished this book is merely the last time I finished Re-reading it, not the date when i finished reading this book the first time.
I love Faeries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus, Aislinn is full of Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Melissa Marr Created this complicated world with courts and rules and relationships and this weird game and dropped us (us meaning Aislinn) in in the middle of it and was just like "Yeah. Here it is. Deal." Aislinn dealt and was bad--okay, she wasn't quite badass. but she was awesome about it. 
and that's what counts, right? the Awesome. 
don't bother answering. Of course its the Awesome that counts.

Alina

** spoiler alert **
           Aislinn has been hiding a secret her whole life: She can see fairies, and has resisted attracting their attention for as long as she can remember. Unlike popular belief, fairies are capable of mischief, torture, cruelty, and harm. Despite Aislinn’s best efforts, she found herself stalked by two fairies, Keenan and the Summer King, who had been seeking the lost Queen for decades. Donna, the Winter Girl and ex-lover of Keenan, who always suffered from Keenan’s betrayal. What chance did Aislinn have of being the Summer Queen Keenan was looking for? Which would she choose, a life as a fairy or a mortal life beside her love interest, Seth?

Let’s start with the positives. Marr’s fairy mythology concept intrigued me and I liked the ideas behind it. Although this book isn’t great by any means, her apparent grasp of fae lore and the interesting concept of Summer and Winter Courts makes it worth reading. My favorite parts of the book were the prologue and the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I appreciate detailed research.

Why did it not work for me? It’s definitely the writing. This book seemed overly simplistic in its sentence structure, but I found the narration itself to be confusing. It was difficult to follow the flow of the sentences within the paragraphs. I didn't feel emotionally attached to any of the characters as well. Aislinn was annoying in the book but got better by the end. Seth was presented as good but had many sexual encounters, and Keenan was uninteresting.

The long-suffering Donia is the only character that holds my interest. It filled the relationship between her and Keenan with conflict and raw emotion, and it is the bright spot in the story for me. Donia’s strength and resilience in the face of adversity make her an interesting protagonist. I root for her and hoping for a happy ending. Her story arc is the most intriguing part of the narrative for me.

The first book of the Wicked Lovely series has potential, but the author had put little effort into making the most of them. In this book, the author shows she did not plan well before beginning the series. The characters are flat, and the world building is weak. As a result, the story lacks depth and does not draw me in.

This series is not something I would discourage anyone from reading. For me, Wicked Lovely didn’t work.

Briar's Reviews

I severely wanted to read this book when it came out. I stared at this book every time I went into the book store but I never walked out with it. For years, I had hoped I would come across this book on my shopping journeys (because the hunt is half the thrill) but I never did. Finally, this year - time had come. I found the book! I grabbed it, bought it, and decided I would pick it up FINALLY. And, I wasn't disappointed!

This was one of those YA books that I snuggled up with a blanket, a cup of tea, and my cats. I binged the book rather quickly and enjoyed it thoroughly. Add in that this book DOES NOT leave off in a cliffhanger... Yes, Melissa Marr is on my good side. Wicked Lovely was FABULOUS. I am so happy I picked it up and I am screaming from the rooftops for people to give Melissa Marr some love. Fairies, prophecies, love squares AND NO CLIFFHANGERS AT THE END. It's my kind of book.

This book is a little darker than the YA I used to read back in the early 2010s, but it wasn't really all that dark. There are some rougher topics, but it's easily a PG-13 rated book. You know there's drugs and bad people around, but it doesn't linger on those facts for too long. It stays in the realm of mostly lighthearted deviance (since fairies are, ya know, pretty wild). 

Aislinn is a fairly relatable character. She has a bit of a rough start in life, but she just wants to be a teenager and hang out with Seth (who may or may not be a good match for her, depending on your viewpoints of him). Seth does seem like quite the nice dude and a good friend to Aislinn. Keenan, fairy king bro, is not all that charming in my opinion, but maybe the YA book crowd will like him. I'm not sold, but hey - that's just my opinion. I did LOVE Donia. She was my favourite character and I will stand proud and say that. 

Will I continue reading this series? Maybe. If I'm able to stumble across the books in my journey, sure! But, I'm also severely happy with the ending. I almost don't want to ruin it. Although, I now really want to support Melissa Marr because I loved her writing. Binging a good book and not wanting to stop doesn't always happen with me, and Melissa Marr cracked the code.

Overall, I liked this book! It's a twisted story of fairies who are manipulative and scary, but it also has quite the love story. It's a great read.

Four out of five stars.

Jennifer Eggleston 

This was selected for me for the April Pick It for Me Challenge ... I enjoyed reading it and am curious about the remainder of the books.

Kirsten Simkiss

Honestly, I'd give this 2.5 stars if I had half-star options, but I elected to round down.

The book wasn't a bad read. It flowed fairly well and the pace of the story seemed pretty even. But there is nothing worse for me than characters that I don't believe. The only character who I really believed wanted what they wanted was the Winter Queen, Biera, who was a terrifying dictator. All the other characters seemed almost hollow to me. The author had the flaw of telling people how in love her characters were instead of showing acts of that love. There was plenty of sexual tension, sure, but nothing to show more than that really. Even the sexual tension was weak. All the characters are self-centered. Their reactions and their choices underwhelmed me consistently. They were all just boring characters, to be honest. I never really believed that anyone was capable of being in love with anyone else because they were all so wrapped up in themselves that they couldn't see what another person might actually need.

The plot was equally boring, unfortunately. The events that transpired meant that the main character, Aislinn, had no choice in what happened to her. It essentially boiled down to all the characters trying not to sleep together and than trying not to pick up a fated staff to end eventual permanent winter. Biera was the only character that was actually convincing for me, but she was the villain who had to be defeated. Even then, it's not clear what her motivation really was aside from amassing power. 

(view spoiler)[This book would have been way more interesting if they had gotten her to take the staff and she hadn't been the one. (hide spoiler)]

I think one of the biggest problems with this book is that the author clearly loves the concept and the world of the fae. Unfortunately, she just didn't make me love it.

Gemma Reilly

It's not that I dislike this book now that I've finished it, but it took me so long to actually like it, to be interested in the outcome, that I can't find it in me to give it more stars. It's not until 80% of the way through that I felt anything towards any of the characters at all, they lacked depth. The story was surface deep, skimming the basics and leaving it at that. I hope that when I decide to read another faery series it will be more detailed because the world has such potential but I won't be rushing to read Ink Exchange.

Autumn 

The book was amazing.Gothic,dramatic,bold,very very mysterious!The perfect beginning and the fabulous ending.It's about time to find something as good as Fallen and Hush Hush.

Kathryn Reyes

** spoiler alert **
           Things I Liked:

1. Faery (Or is it Fairy?) World - I have never read a book about or explored the world of fairies before, and it was a pleasant change from all the Vampire/Zombie/Post-apocalyptic stuff that's out there these days. It's particularly interesting because of the bad rep. the fairies have. They're dangerous and malicious just to be malicious. This makes them truly villainous compared to the villains that kill just because they're hungry. Also, I like the variety of the "species". Would not be hesitant to read more about "fairy kind."
2. Emo/Goth vibe - I really liked the kind of risk taking that went with writing from a particular teen group's perspective. Marr was gutsy doing this, and it was really quite fun to re-live my wannabe different/rebellious days. Skinny guys with tats have it going on too!
3. Ending (Ash's choice) - Yea! Tell that cocky Summer King how its gonna be! Nice to have her not succumb to his seemingly irresistible charm.

Things I Didn't Like:

1. Plot - Not too crazy about the "have to have heroine/main character girl or the world will end" situation. Too much pressure on Ash and the reader throughout the book, but I did like how it was resolved at the end (See above #3).
2. Seth and Aislinn - Whoa. Relationship moved way to fast for me. She says she needs time, and the next day they're a couple. Don't have a lot of respect for the both of them because of this. She's too flighty, and he's too pushy.
3. Moira and Summer King - Wait. They were together. She died after having a baby. The baby was Aislinn. Couldn't the Summer King be Aislinn's dad?!?!?!?!? Did I totally get this wrong?!?! Gross...

Kerry Gibbons

Super quick. Far more interesting and inventive than I anticipated. Will definitely do the second book. 

Only negative feedback: it sounded like there was chewing in the background for almost this entire audiobook which was gross and distracting

Jade Flynn

I'm not usually fond of fey books, but ever since reading 'The Iron King' I thought...'Hey why not?'

I'm finding it really hard to express what I think about this book. I dont know if thats a bad thing or a good thing. I found it confusing at the start and found it hard to get through, I found myself looking to see how many pages there were left until the end of the chapter. It just seemed to drag. But about 3/4 of the way through I found myself enjoying reading the book more and more. I thought Aislinn was ....well just a nice person. Not annyoing like some other protagonists I've encounterd. One character that I felt no feeling for was Seth - I dont know why, but whilst reading i found myself thinking 'just go away and let her be with the Summer King'. And for some reason the Winter Queen reminded me of the Queen of Hearts from Alice and Wonderland which I didnt like. But, the writing was easy enough to understand. So overall I did think it was an 'O.K' book, and I dont regret reading it. I just would NOT recommend this to a friend. 

P.S I LOVE THE COVER!

Anastaciya

Shirley Krijnen

3,5 stars.
Oke so I enjoyed it, BUT I didn't love it. I'm not a fan of love triangles, and I didn't like the fact that the plot of the book build on that.

Heather Killeen

I love the premise and hello gorgeous cover art, but this dipped a little too far into the overly romantic for me. Although I like the message of the book, and the strength and independence in the main female characters, the male characters weren't quite believable in my opinion. Still, it was a fun read and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Erin 

I really really wanted to like this book, but it didn't go well for me. I think it may have been that it was too supernatural, or perhaps it is because I'm just not a fan of fairies.