Book review - Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Aislinn has always been able to see faeries. Her grandmother taught her three rules – don’t stare at invisible faeries, don’t speak to invisible faeries and don’t ever attract their attention. She has spent her life following these rules, pretending to be oblivious to the faeries as everyone else is, but somehow she has broken rule number three – two faeries are following her and she doesn’t know why. She does know that they are extremely powerful court fey and she also knows that she doesn’t like faeries. At all. But as she notices more and more faeries watching her and one in particular, Keenan, won’t leave her alone, she realises that she has to break all of her rules to save herself.
I really enjoyed this one. Aislinn is fighting to create her own destiny, not blindly following her Gram’s rules, but also fighting not to fall for Keenan’s faerie charms. The idea that her relationship with Seth is developing alongside her unwanted relationship with Keenan is especially gripping. Keenan is determined to snatch her away from her old life regardless of her own wishes and the cost of this for Aislinn is increasing throughout the book. The idea that Aislinn’s life up until this point has been almost entirely revolved around faeries and avoiding their attention added an intriguingly self-controlled aspect to her character. The romance was wonderfully developed, although the ease with which Seth accepted that faeries were real was more than a little bit unrealistic. The romances were tangled up and many went against the characters ‘destinies,’ the classic forbidden love that makes the audience support the matches far more.
When I first saw this book in shops months ago, I loved the cover. Really, really loved it. The colours are so gorgeous, and somehow evocative of faeries and magic. But for some reason, I kept not buying it. Until recently. I’m glad I did because I loved it and I recommend it. Please be aware though that some references may not be appropriate to younger readers. It’s not too bad, but it’s worth pointing out.