Wicked Lovely – Melissa Marr

Read for the Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge.

Aislinn can see the Fae – an ability shared by her grandmother, who has taught her to hide that gift, for if the faeries ever found out she could see them, terrible things would happen to her.    One place she’s found a sanctuary is her friend Seth’s home – an old train, surrounded by iron, where the Fae can’t go.    Her life isn’t too bad, the Fae tend to avoid her school, and if she spends some time with Seth, she can manage to get through most days.

Things change the day she realizes that two Fae are actually following her – and they’re no ordinary Fae.    She can tell they belong to one of the Courts, and the man actually enrolls in her school, pretending to be a mortal her own age, clearly to get closer to her.

Keenan is the Summer King, but he’s been bound by the power of his mother, the Winter Queen, until he can find the Summer Queen – a mortal girl who will become a Faery.    The stakes are high – those that fail become Winter Girls, beholden to his mother.

I can’t say I loved this book.    It wasn’t bad, but there was just something about it that I didn’t quite like.     I liked the resolution to the story – definitely a different twist on the usual mortal interactions with Fae tale, but the whole lead up was just somehow lacking something to me.     I think the back story could have been fleshed out just a bit more, and maybe something else about the characters was lacking, but I just can’t put my finger on what that might be.