Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely Book 1) by Melissa Marr Review

Hi ForeverBookers, how are you? Hope you’re well! 

I’ve just finished Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, a reread from over 10 years ago, and I really enjoyed it! 

I read Wicked Lovely for a few readathons again:

• For the Fae readathon hosted by my Facebook friend because it’s a Fae read...https://www.facebook.com/events/174558623203831

• Book Bingo...for a book that’s won an award. Wicked Lovely won the award for: the RITA award by romance writers of America...https://m.facebook.com/events/491251081331385?ref=bookmarks

4 Stars!

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

Aislinn has always seen faeries, her whole life. Her Grams has warned her away from them but that doesn’t stop her from seeing them. When the Summer King, Keenan comes into Aislinn’s life, she has a choice to make. To join the fae as their supposed queen, to become a Winter girl or to stay human but watch as the Fae world disappears before her. What choice does Aislinn make? You’ll need to read to find out! 

There’s faerie law in Wicked Lovely. The Fae are still a part of our world though. Humans can’t see them except Aislinn...

Spoilers Below...

Aislinn lives with her Grams, who has a very minor role in this story. Her role is to tell Aislinn to

“stay away from them as much as you can. Remember the rules.”

The “them” is the fae. Fae can’t be seen by everyone unless they’re powerful, like Keenan, the summer king. Keenan ends up going to school with Aislinn to try and get her to accept him as her future partner. 

Leslie, one of Aislinn’s friends says “looks like Seth has competition...” when they’re at school one day, meaning that she thinks Keenan will date Aislinn. Aislinn doesn’t want this though. It’s clear throughout the novel that Aislinn is only ever Seth’s. When I read this when I was younger, I can remember wanting Aislinn and Keenan together but now that I’m older, I see that Seth is the safer of the two men. Aislinn has known Seth her whole life. She knows that she can rely on him, whereas she’s only just met Keenan, and faeries are tricksters. 

“She pays too much attention to the mortal boy...The summer king oughtn’t to put up with it.” This again is significant because it’s one of Keenan’s advisors’ opinions on Aislinn’s relationship with Seth. It’s not his role to point out who is right for Aislinn, however. Only she should and does decide that. 

A faerie showing thanks is seen as a negative thing in Wicked Lovely. “Thank You is a shallow phrase.” When later in the book Aislinn almost says thanks to a faerie she says, “Thank” - she caught herself before she said those uncomfortable mortal words - “I mean it’s kind of you,” because it’s seen as an insult in the faerie world to say thank you. It certainly isn’t an act of kindness. 

“The other option - giving up her mortal life to be either a Summer Girl or the Summer Queen - didn’t work.”

Aislinn doesn’t want to become a summer girl or the Summer Queen. In this folklore if Aislinn tried to become the Summer Queen and she’s not the right girl, she would end up as a servant to the ruler. Like Donia, who tried to be the Summer Queen but ended up as a Winter Girl, when it was found she wasn’t the right girl. As a winter girl, Donia is under Biera, Keenan’s mother, the evil character’s rule. 

Biera is horrible. She tortures those who don’t do as she wants. I don’t want to spoil it here but she’s one of the worst villains I’ve read about. She’s not quite as bad as Magus from the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry, though, as this is more fantasy than that series. What Magus does happens in reality. 

“A job. His consort viewed their union as a job?” 

Aislinn doesn’t consider Keenan as hers. This annoyed me when I first read Wicked Lovely as a young teenager. I now appreciate how Aislinn is standing up for herself, and what she wants out of life, though. She isn’t going to fall into Keenan’s arms and just be his, like so many other YA heroines fall into the easiest option’s arms. She’s going to do what she wants. This was refreshing to read. “No. I am keeping him. There’s no asking involved.” This is what Aislinn says to Keenan, when he wants her to be his. She wants to and will remain with Seth, she’s telling him. 

Overall then, I really enjoyed rereading Wicked Lovely. It was more enjoyable than I remember it being. That’s why I’m giving it 4 Stars. It’s not getting a full 5 because I look for more in my novels than I did when I was a young teenager, when I first read this. I think I would have given it 5 Stars then! 

I won’t read the next book for a while because it doesn’t fit into any of the readathons, I’m taking part in at the moment but I should be reading Ink Exchange before the end of 2018, I’d have thought. 

Stand by for my next review, coming soon...