All Hallows Read - Wicked Lovely

I keep saying that I am not a fan of books featuring fairies or the fey, and yet, here I am, reading another book featuring the Fair Folk. I thought that this might be a good read for Halloween for those among us that aren’t the biggest fan of horror. So, here we are. 

Title and Author: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HaarperCollins

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought

Buy from (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org 

Aislinn has seen faeries all her life. She hides this secret as she knows what will happen to her if the fae discover this truth. So, she lives by three simple rules: don’t stare at the invisible faeries, don’t speak to an invisible fae and don’t attract their attention.

She thought these rules would keep her safe. But now powerful and dangerous faerie are stalking her, including Keenan, who is positive she is important to his and the Summer Court’s survival. But Aislinn isn’t going to give her humanity so easily… but it might already be too late.

I remember this series from the mid-2000s. It seem to explode on the scene around the same time as the Twilight Saga hype train while every publisher was trying to find the next big thing to ride on Stephenie Meyer’s success. But I didn’t know much about this, expect that the original cover was very weird (I will see if I can find it and put in the post somewhere so you can see). 

And you can tell that it was written in the 2000 YA. It hits all the YA supernatural romance troupe. It reminds me of an Instagram video of someone gently-poking fun at YA heroines (search for “Lavender Arsenic Avocado Basket” and you’ll see what I mean). There was something nice and easy about reading this and I am tempted to read the sequel, Ink Exchange, if it is ever really cheap on my kindle or if I see it in my local library randomly. 

However, it wasn’t the most filling read. Does that sense? It feels like a sunny, beach read rather than a Halloween read. Plus, we have come a long way from the 2000s and the YA fantasy romance off the time. We’ve all read Twilight, Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, Need by Carrie Jones, The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and many others from that time and some were strongly written and have survived the test of times and others… not so much. 

While the writing is solid and I get why many readers hold this series close to their hearts, this isn’t really for me. It’s readable, but bland.